Beside a small patch of raised garden beds, ringed by a modest fence, bees moved in constant motion, slipping between wooden boxes. When Kobe Phillips laid eyes on the apiaries at the USF Botanical Gardens, he did not imagine he would one day be designing tools and habitat systems for their restoration. Now a fresh graduate of program, Phillips is crossing disciplines to innovate solutions to ecological challenges.
As a first-year Judy Genshaft Honors College student at USF in 2020, Phillips expressed a fascination with honey as a treatment for allergies, having struggled with them all his life. He was encouraged by an Honors advisor to get involved with beekeeping at the USF Botanical Garden. He quickly became a leader in revitalizing the Judy Genshaft Honors College Community Garden – at that time a small group of tired-looking beds just steps away from the bees.
With the support of mentors and peers, Phillips developed and taught the Honors course, “Rooted in Place,” which maintained the garden and covered topics from regenerative agriculture and food security to urban ecology. His work earned him a United Nations Millennium Fellowship to continue the project.
Finding Direction
Kobe inspecting a beehive frame
Phillips had begun working with the Office of National Scholars early in his first year, and together they identified a summer research experience for undergraduates (REU) suited to his growing interest in bees and agroecology. With their support, he applied and was accepted to an REU at Cornell University in partnership with the Boyce Thompson Institute in the summer of 2022.
“I learned from researchers in evolutionary biology and entomology who helped me understand which questions and projects genuinely excited me,” said Phillips. “Later, when I discovered my interest in design, ONS supported that pivot and helped me find new opportunities, including the UC Berkeley Design and Innovation for Sustainable Cities (DISC) program, where I was first introduced to climate-adaptive architecture and planning.”
In 2023, Phillips began working on bioreceptive structures and sculptures, which host living organisms. He helped start USF’s 3D Habitat Laboratory with Professor Tina Piracci, which is known for its .
Phillips then took the building blocks of what he learned as an undergraduate to his
graduate program at Cornell University.
“Cornell's Design Technology program was brand new when I applied, and I was drawn
to the freedom it offered,” said Phillips. “Coming out of the University of South
Florida, I was working at an unusual intersection of evolutionary biology, art, and
technology, and I wanted a place where I could pursue that intersection rigorously.”
Phillips worked in two labs during his master’s program. In the , under the mentorship of Jenny Sabin, he worked alongside plant, heart, and tumor biologists to study morphogenesis, the process by which living things grow into their forms. They then worked on translating those principles for adaptive architecture – structures that dynamically adjust to changing environments. In the , Phillips studied bio-based material programming, which led to the development of microclimate habitat pods for ecological restoration.
Kobe's knit textile design on a sneaker
Both labs placed Phillips alongside architects, engineers, and biologists building scalable systems and designing visualization tools, which provided him the skillset he needed for his thesis project.
That thesis – The Data Apiary: Microclimate Visualization and Knit Material Tools for Apicultural Communication – combined his interests in computational design, ecological monitoring, and honeybee ecophysiology.
“I developed a software tool that tracks and visualizes honeybee cluster morphology through the winter. From those visualizations, I created two outputs: communication tools that help beekeepers manage their colonies and knit textile designs. The knit fabric can be used to physically warm the cluster during winter while also serving as cultural pieces — wearable fashion in public spaces,” Phillips said.
The design on the knit illustrates the structures that bees form by gathering together to regulate temperature, survive cold, and shelter during swarming using colorful patterns. Phillips wanted the knit textiles to turn data into something people could touch, feel, and learn from – “conservation and conversation,” he said.
Continuing at Cornell
Kobe building a design created by students and faculty at Cornell and Syracuse universities at the Bethel Woods Art and Architecture Festival
After defending his thesis and graduating this spring, Phillips was offered a position as a visiting lecturer in the Department of Design Technology at Cornell University. He will continue his research with the Sabin Lab while teaching a course on design and making across disciplines.
In the long term, Phillips aims to continue designing tools and systems that support ecological restoration, scientific monitoring, and public education.
About his mentorship at the Office of National Scholars, Phillips said, “ONS didn't just help me find my story; it helped me grow and communicate it to others, giving me the room to explore across fields and build a learning experience that was truly my own.”
As a senior at USF, Phillips was named a finalist for the prestigious Marshall Scholarship for graduate study in the United Kingdom. He was not ultimately selected for the award but looks back on the experience without regret.
“There will always be moments that don't go perfectly, and I've had plenty of them. But each application is a chance to build skills that prove invaluable,” Phillips said.
He advises current undergraduates to take their time exploring many different disciplines, saying “With so many tools at your fingertips, there's something to learn from everyone in the room.”
As Phillips becomes a mentor for his own incoming graduate students at Cornell, the Office of National Scholars continues to support the next generation of changemakers at USF. Students interested in meeting with an advisor should make an appointment today.