Five students will soon begin a two-year research project examining the potential social justice and public health impacts of living in neighborhoods that have experienced the historical discriminatory practice of redlining. That is a practice where, for decades, financial institutions designated certain neighborhoods—primarily Black ones—as poor credit risks, making it difficult for residents there to own homes or improve their properties.

The students, recently named 2024-26 Lender Center for Social Justice student fellows, will work with Miriam Mutambudzi, assistant professor of public health in the , who is .

They are:

• Tomiwa (“Tommy”) DaSilva ’26, dual major in public health in the Falk College��and policy studies and citizenship and civic engagement in the
• Adara (“Darla”) Hobbs ’22 G ‘26, a graduate student in Pan African studies in the (A&S)
• Jamea Johnson ’25, a psychology major in A&S
• Sabrina Lussier ’26, a triple major in geography, citizenship and civic engagement, and environmental sustainability and policy in the Maxwell School
• Shreya Potluri ’27, an architecture major in the

DaSilva, from Newark, Delaware, is interested in promoting health equity through health promotion policies and community-based practices. On campus, he has been involved in the Student Association of Public Health Education and Connect 315. In the community, DaSilva has interned with the YWCA of ���ϲ����� and Onondaga County, ACR Health and the City of ���ϲ����� Department of Neighborhood and Business Development.

Hobbs, of ���ϲ�����, earned a bachelor’s degree in��communication and rhetorical studies from the . She has worked for more than a decade with the ���ϲ����� City School District as a teaching assistant, art teacher and as a diversity, equity and belonging building lead.��Hobbs is currently researching the historical and contemporary impacts of redlining on ���ϲ�����’s Black and Latino communities.

Her project, “The Past, Present and Future: An Overview of Redlining in the City of ���ϲ�����,” examines the legacy of residential redlining and resident displacement from the 15th Ward and the ongoing I-81 viaduct project. She also contributed to the development of themes and aesthetic elements for the Barner-McDuffie house, the University’s first Black student center.

Johnson, from Grand Prairie, Texas, has extensive experience in public service, entrepreneurship and community engagement. She is a Congressional intern for New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, working on legislative research, policy development and constituent service. She’s also founder and chief executive officer of Black Girls Garden, an organization that teaches young Black girls and women in low-income living situations to grow their own food to combat food insecurity and poor nutrition.

She took first place in the 2023 Blackstone LaunchPad Small Business Pitch Contest for that startup and also received the 2023 Black Honor Society’s Community Service Leadership Award. On campus, she is Residence Hall Association president and a member of the Black Celestial Choral Ensemble.

Lussier, from the Washington, D.C., area, is an honors student and Maxwell Leadership Scholar. She is a STOP Bias peer educator, a resident advisor for the MORE in Leadership Living Learning Community and has spent the past year working for the ���ϲ����� Neighborhood and Business Development Office.

Her research and academic interests focus on how urban planning intersects with community engagement, social justice and sustainability. Her citizenship capstone and honors thesis looks at the effect of freeway demolition on marginalized communities, focusing on ���ϲ�����’s East Adams neighborhood near I-81 in the historic 15th ward.

Potluri, of Frisco, Texas, is interested in research pertaining to social justice, urban planning and housing. She has researched student learning environments, minority students’ experiences and accessibility to community spaces and facilities in the ���ϲ����� community, along with how architecture is connected to social justice.

Potluri says she wants to determine how architecture can be used to provide people with opportunities and the agency to combat the consequences of redlining.

Miriam Mutambudzi

Mutambudzi’s project examines how Black adults who reside in what have been historically redlined neighborhoods can experience a disadvantaged occupational life course and subsequent health consequences. She says that while redlining began in the 1930s, it has resulted in decades of urban decay and poverty for those neighborhoods that has left a legacy of social and economic disadvantage that continues today.

In addition to Mutambudzi’s role as an assistant professor of public health, she is also a faculty affiliate of the , and at the Maxwell School.

Doctoral student Cijun Zhang explains his research to BioInspired Symposium attendees. Zhang studies in the Xiaoran Hu functional organic materials lab.

The event featured poster presentations by 79 undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. Several researchers presented “lightning talks” on topics such as how and how the human body reacts; fabricating and creating and new technologies to address��problems from clean energy to robotics to medicine. Guest speakers from several universities made special presentations. Awards were presented to recognize researchers in multiple ways.

Three recipients were chosen in the Best Overall Poster category:

• ’25, a dual mathematics and physics major in the (A&S), for “.” (Principal investigators are , physics professor, and Antun Skanata, research assistant professor of physics.)
• , a doctoral student in physics in A&S, for “.” (Principal investigator is , William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Physics.)
• , an M.D./Ph.D. student in cell and developmental biology at SUNY Upstate Medical University, for “.” (Principal investigator is , associate research professor of biology.)

Two presenters were recognized as Stevenson Biomaterials Poster Award winners:

• , a biomedical and chemical engineering doctoral student in the (ECS), for her work on “.” (Principal investigator is , associate professor of .)
• G’21, a mechanical and aerospace engineering doctoral student in ECS, for “.” (Principal investigator is , associate professor of .)

Two researchers received awards recognizing Best Lightning Talks:

• , a doctoral student in chemistry in A&S, whose topic was “.” Her work involves testing to find an improved diagnostic biomarker��for prostate and other cancers. (Principal investigator is , professor and director of biochemistry.)
• , a doctoral student in biomedical and chemical engineering in ECS, for her research on bone tissue, described in “.”(Principal investigator is , professor of biomedical and chemical engineering.)

A project by , “,” was recognized as having the best commercialization potential. Can is a biomedical and chemical engineering doctoral student in ECS. (Principal investigator is Mary Beth Monroe.)

Receiving honors for her “social impact” initiative was , G ‘22, an assistant teaching professor in the , for her work, “ The project explored an interdisciplinary collaboration between the University’s Departments of Chemistry and Architecture that aimed to foster societal impact through sustainable innovation in architectural materials.��(Her collaborator was , associate professor of chemistry in A&S.)

Winston Oluwole Soboyejo, SUNY Polytechnic Institute President, asks Alexia Chatzitheodorou, a graduate research assistant, about her work on “Shape Morphing of Twisted Nematic Elastomer Shells.” Soboyejo was one of several university representatives to speak at the symposium.

Winner of the People’s Choice Award was , a biomedical and chemical engineering doctoral student in ECS. His project, “”

His research examines how hemostatic materials with antibacterial and antibiofilm properties can reduce infection rates and enhance the healing of traumatic wounds. (Principal investigator is Mary Beth Monroe.)

Best Publication Awards went to:

• G’22, a graduate of the applied data science program who is now a doctoral student in bioengineering and biomedical engineering in ECS. He is exploring the use of hiPSC-CMs to study and understand cardiomyocyte biology through biology with artificial intelligence. His paper, “,” published in Cell Reports Methods in June, presented new methods for investigating the physiological functioning of cardiac organoids using machine learning algorithms.

• , a doctoral student in bioengineering at ECS, studies wound healing and tissue regeneration. His paper, “,” was published in the journal ACS Applied Biomaterials in February.
• , a doctoral student in bioengineering at ECS, received an honorable mention. His paper, “” was published in the journal ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering in June.

The six recipients are the following:

• Dominique Camp ’24 (David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics), founder of clothing brand Camp Collective, will use the funds for the organization’s first collection inventory, photo shoot and mockup designs.
  

  Dominique Camp

• Olutosin (Tosin) Alabi G’25 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), founder of Diabetech, will use the grant to develop a proof-of-concept prototype for the smart sensor/bandage for diabetic foot ulcer monitoring.
• Aidan Turner ’25 (School of Architecture), founder of clothing brand Grater Things, will use the grant for legal services, including project and membership agreements and privacy policy, as well as website development and product research expenses.
• Antonio (Tony) Goncalves ’27 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), founder of fitness app GymIn, will be using the grant to incorporate and other legal business processes.
• Lars Jendruschewitz ’27 (Whitman School and S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), founder of Photos by Lars, will use the funds for equipment.
• Ania Kapllani ’25 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), founder of Sunset Music, will use the grant to register as an LLC and to create a logo and website.

Applications must specifically define the need with identified outcomes to be achieved within a set time. Initial money in the fund was provided by Jeffrey Rich L’67, partner at Rich Michaelson Magaliff LLP, and a member of the ���ϲ����� Libraries Advisory Board. Rich provided a multi-year pledge of $25,000 per year for five years from 2020 to 2025. “I wanted to contribute in a way that directly supports student new ventures and removes any obstacles to startup development,” Rich says.

Jess Myers

As the flagship program of , Exhibit Columbus is an exploration of community, architecture, art and design that activates the modern legacy of Columbus, Indiana. Through a two-year cycle of events, conversations are convened around innovative ideas, and then site-responsive installations are commissioned to create a free, public exhibition.

Now in its fifth cycle, this year’s theme, “,” invites contributors to explore the legacy of Columbus by adding to the multiple and overlapping lives of buildings and spaces. Originating in improv theater, “Yes And” is a technique for affirming and building upon an idea to create a shared narrative.

This year, University Design Research Fellowships were awarded through a national, open-call competition for full-time university and college professors whose work explores community-based urban design and the challenges facing activating historic downtowns. Applicants were asked to respond to the “Yes And” theme and work from existing material to shape positive change. UDR Fellows were then shortlisted and selected, from nearly 50 submissions, by the 2024-25 based on the Request for Qualifications process.

“The high level of research represented by these six University Design Research Fellows is inspiring and we are honored to showcase their work in this cycle of Exhibit Columbus. Together, these professors place emphasis on the curatorial theme, ‘Yes And,’ in their own way, and collectively allow us to build an exhibition that has curatorial depth across the country,” the five curatorial partners said in a joint statement.

Through a cycle of events, the fellows—along with four —will work with community members in Columbus to create installations at various locales, encouraging the public to collaborate in the creation of the ongoing performance of the city. Whether it’s recovering architectural remnants, reflecting on cultural legacy, staging a dramatic spectacle, or reimagining public play, “Yes And” invites everybody to the public spaces of Columbus to expand what forms of togetherness and collaboration are possible. Winning fellows can request a budget of up to $15,000 to support the realization of an installation during the three-month exhibition in downtown Columbus.

The of Myers, César A. Lopez (University of Virginia), Amelyn Ng (Columbia University), and Germán Pallares-Avitia (Rhode Island School of Design) bring a strong interdisciplinary track record in public installation and exhibition, material experimentation, and historical architectural research to the UDR Fellowship and the legacy of Exhibit Columbus.

Jess Myers (second from the left) is one of four faculty members to be named Exhibit Columbus University Design Research Fellows for 2024-25.

“What unites [us] is a commitment to leveraging our unique experiences and expertise to create impactful public installations that resonate with the community,” says the team. “As former architecture students turned educators, we are dedicated to learning about and shaping the built environment while inspiring future architects.”

Building upon Columbus’s exemplary modern architecture in conversation with its community, the team’s proposed project, “Public School Grounds,” aims to extend their admiration for modern architecture to children and the larger Columbus community by fostering an environment that encourages hands-on learning, imaginative exploration, and meaningful interactions for individuals of all ages.

The project installation will draw inspiration from the dynamic rooflines and material patterns found in mid-century modern-designed schools in Columbus. Throughout the fellowship, the team will work with the students, educators, and staff at these schools to scale down and collage these rooflines to create an engaging sensorial platform for children.

“Public School Grounds” will become a tactile experience, potentially constructed from reclaimed local brick or colorful recycled foam, drawing from the vast range of brickwork and bond patterns found across Columbus’ modern architectural landscape. By creating an interesting and interactive space at ground level, the new public space will showcase the influence of educational architecture on the city, highlight the significance of children in the community and prioritizing hands-on play as a learning tool.

Designing and planning for a longer life cycle for the project and its materials is a critical objective of the installation. By finding a reuse after the Exhibit Columbus programming concludes, the mission of exposing a broader community to the wonder and beauty of the built environment will have a longer legacy. Recognizing that not all schools have equal resources, the team aims to design their project in pieces or sections so that it can easily be assembled, disassembled, transported, and distributed to schools needing recreational equipment and/or to communities as public furniture. Alternatively, if the project is donated to a single school or after-care organization, the team hopes its design can be “re-collaged” in various configurations, rather than remaining in its original consolidated form, allowing the project to evolve according to the new client’s needs and contexts.

The built installation will be accompanied by a series of workshops and programs facilitated by the “Public School Grounds” team who will work directly with students, educators, and staff at select local schools through key partnerships with two related organizations—the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation (BCSC), ��which oversees the public schools in Columbus, and the Bartholomew Consolidated School Foundation (BCSF), which supports the learning experience of Columbus youth.

Myers, an urbanist whose practice includes work as an editor, writer, podcaster and curator, will bring her expertise in sound to the project and explore the sonic breaks and flows of a young student’s day.

“There is an auditory schedule that schoolchildren keep that vanished from the public soundscape during the COVID-19 lockdowns,” says Myers. “I will be researching the bells that organize quiet and frenzy, the many languages that Columbus students use and the organized bustle of drop-offs and pick-ups to develop a light, soothing soundscape that activates the physical playscape.”

Throughout these events and the Exhibit Columbus programming, the team will observe and document how children and community members engage with their project, with a goal of creating a series of diagrams that can inspire future educational spaces.

By using a collaborative and community-engaged approach, “Public School Grounds” seeks to bring the tactile and sensory elements that have enriched educational environments within schools to the broader public and inspire inquisitive play within the city of Columbus.

As University Design Research Fellows, Myers and her team recently attended the two-day where they were paired with BCSC’s and . Working at these unique sites, they will create an installation that will become a focal point during the 2025 Exhibit Columbus event in August 2025.

In this fourth edition of the competition, sponsored by , architects, designers and visionaries from around the world were asked to redefine the future of residential architecture by designing a dwelling for the year 2124 that focused on innovation, sustainability and adaptability.

With issues like climate change, urbanization and technological advancements at the forefront, the competition invited participants to think beyond the conventional and explore the uncharted territories of architectural design by pushing the boundaries, challenging preconceptions and creating visionary concepts for homes that will define the 22nd century.

Guided by Marcos Parga, associate professor at the School of Architecture, the ���ϲ����� student team of Yifan (Ivan) Chen ’25 and Yue Zhuo ’25 designed “The Domestic Nomad,” a project that, rather than a housing solution, serves as a statement and provocation that redefines nomadism at a contemporary, domestic scale to address the rigidity of private enclosures promoted by the capitalist market.

“The Domestic Nomad”

Inspired by Gilles Deleuze’s notion of nomadism in “A Thousand Plateaus,” the team proposed a radical rethinking of residential spaces and household activities, prioritizing public, communal living over private ownership—even in cold climates like Chicago, their chosen site. Their project manifests as a versatile framework of four distinct levels, each offering unique combinations of height, light, acoustics and thermal properties designed to foster shared experiences and reduce the requirement for extensive private areas.

The design of “The Domestic Nomad” promotes efficient use of resources and energy, enhancing adaptability by allowing domestic activities to shift between indoor and outdoor settings. Sustainability and thermal consideration drive the formal output of the building. Throughout the project, tested building technologies and passive thermal systems that support dynamic living configurations are deployed on different levels, unified by a 22nd-century “hearth,” as theorized by Semper in his “The Four Elements of Architecture,” 1851, that serves as both a heat chimney and a vertical transport system.

Modular, multi-functional ‘creatures,’ a tribute to Hejduk’s “Victims,” 1984, become the catalysts for domestic mobility and community engagement by carrying practical function (sleeping, dining, etc.) and migrating to different levels through the “hearth.” Moving as shared infrastructure between the indoors and outdoors depending on the time and season, these nomadic apparatuses redefine interaction with the neighborhood and challenge the constructed borders of space, enclosure, program and privacy on a domestic scale.

Overall, “The Domestic Nomad” encapsulates a proactive approach to residential architecture by blurring the boundaries between private versus public living. The project invites residents to rethink their interactions with space and aims to set a precedent for how homes can evolve to foster a communal life in the century ahead.

“We wanted to use the Home2124 competition as an opportunity to present our thoughts on the future of living in a communal way and exhibit how novel spatial relationships and technologies could foster alternative forms of a collective domestic life,” says Shen.

After being critiqued by a jury of leading architects, designers and academicians of international repute, the ���ϲ����� team’s project was selected to receive the competition’s first-place prize. Shen and Zhuo were awarded a certificate of recognition, interviewed by competition organizers, and their project will be included in an upcoming publication.

In addition to winning the Home2124 international award, “The Domestic Nomad” received the overall design prize in the Spring 2024 competition at ���ϲ�����’s School of Architecture competition at ���ϲ�����’s School of Architecture.

“Shen and Zhuo’s project successfully merged creative freedom and real constraints, two critical challenges of my Integrated Design Studio course: it demonstrates an absolute commitment to experimentation and uses constructive imagination to celebrate an unapologetic approach to tectonics,” says Parga. “Their project encourages us to look closely at the dwelling spaces we live in and think deeply about the domestic landscape we would like to see in the future.”

“The Domestic Nomad” was also recently selected for a student design award from the American Institute of Architects Central New York Chapter (AIA CNY), which will be presented to Shen and Zhuo at the event on Friday, Nov. 15.

“We hope “The Domestic Nomad” will be remembered for its legible approach that not only redefines living spaces but also inspires a new generation of architects and students to think critically about the role of design in society’s progression,” says Shen.

Shikha Nangia

is professor and interim chair of biomedical and chemical engineering in the (ECS). is a distinguished professor of physics in the (A&S). They succeed outgoing co-directors and .

Nangia joined the University in 2012 as a tenure-track professor. Her work involves the creation of computational models to examine the body’s blood-brain barrier at the molecular level. Those findings help develop drugs that can penetrate the barrier to advance medicinal treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Marina Artuso

Artuso is an experimental physicist who works in experimental particle physics. Her research focuses on interesting properties of beauty and charm quarks and on the novel instrumentation needed to study their decay properties. She came to the University as a research assistant professor of physics in 1993, was appointed a professor of physics in 2005 and recently was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

WiSE faculty co-directors serve as advocates, engaging with university leadership, the campus community and external audiences. They also develop strategic vision for the organization, offer budget input, and actively participate in programming. WiSE was created by and is led by faculty. Its goals are to increase the representation and retention of women faculty members in STEM fields, to highlight women scholars and to develop advising and mentoring programs.

WiSE serves members across 18 departments in six colleges and schools: A&S, ECS, , , and the .��It presents social, academic and professional development programming for undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and faculty in tenure, tenure-track and non-tenure-track positions.

One of the programs WiSE hosts is the career-focused Future Professionals Program (top).

Faculty present workshops, act as mentors, offer portfolio reviews and serve in many capacities to support learning and teaching, says WiSE director Sharon Alestalo.

“Their active involvement helps direct how we can support faculty success. We do that through programming for them and by providing activities and events that support the students and scholars they work with,” Alestalo says.

WiSE also supports the recruitment of women faculty in STEM. When the program was founded, there were 18 women faculty members teaching in 10 A&S and ECS departments. Today, there are 174 tenure, tenure-track and non-tenure women faculty members working in 18 areas, Alestalo says. STEM women faculty in WiSE have also attracted more than $104 million in research funding during the last five years, she says.

WiSE also supports programming for Women of Color in STEM.

The organization is open to all. Undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and faculty women and their allies of any gender, race, ability and identity who work, study or are interested in the STEM fields are welcome.

Selected from submissions made at the foundation’s annual application deadline in February 2024, these projects—exhibitions, publications and other public presentations—expand understanding, methods and platforms of contemporary architecture discourse and feature work by architects, archivists, artists, curators, designers, educators and other professionals working with organizations worldwide in cities such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Nashville, Athens, New York and Chicago, where the Graham Foundation is based.

‘Ethical Narratives: Essays by Richard Ingersoll (1949–2021)’

Richard Ingersoll

School of Architecture faculty , associate professor (lead editor), and , architecture field studies coordinator at ���ϲ����� Abroad Florence; along with , and have been awarded funding to support their publication, “Ethical Narratives: Essays by Richard Ingersoll (1949–2021).”

The book, under contract with Actar Publishers, assembles key texts, drawings and images by and of Richard Ingersoll, the prominent architectural historian, critic and educator who wrote prolifically for the world’s leading architectural publications from the 1980s until his passing in 2021.

Ingersoll was a rare voice in the field, admired for his global and ethical perspective that relentlessly challenged architects and students to consider the environmental and social impacts of their work. He rigorously contextualized his topics within larger historical and cultural frameworks, tying them to today’s pressing ecological and political imperatives.

“Ingersoll’s writing was characterized by its gentle persistence and foresight, setting him apart in his field. This book seeks not only to capture his nimble intellect but also aims to underscore the creative, playful and generous aspects of his life and personality,” says Davis.

This compilation of more than 30 of Ingersoll’s most impactful texts (selected from over 350 essays and lectures) are organized thematically, centered on Ingersoll’s primary polemics, including social justice and climate change. Observations and recollections offered by his colleagues, friends and students, including Margaret Crawford, Luis Fernandez-Galiano, Liane Lefaivre, Pippo Ciorra and others, offer additional insight into the extraordinary man behind the words.

Richard Ingersoll, “Istanbul,” ca. 1982. Watercolor on paper, 18 x 12 inches (Photo courtesy of the Ingersoll Estate)

“Professor Ingersoll, a long-time faculty member of our Florence program, was an impressive intellectual figure and this collection of essays—which also includes reflections by some of the most important architects and critics in contemporary architecture—will be of great interest to anyone interested in architecture’s ethical and political impact on late 20th and early 21st century culture,” says Michael Speaks, dean of the School of Architecture.

“Congratulations to Associate Professor Lawrence Davis and the entire team of architects and editors on receiving a prestigious Graham Foundation organizational grant to support the publication of this important collection of essays by Richard Ingersoll,” says Speaks.

“Our international editorial team is extremely grateful for this vital funding from the Graham Foundation,” says Davis. “The book editors would also like to thank Caroline Bowling, graduate research and design intern, for her ongoing work and Dean Speaks for his support.

The new grantees join a worldwide network of organizations and individuals that the has supported over the past 68 years. In that time, the Foundation has awarded more than 44 million dollars in direct support to over 5,100 projects by individuals and organizations around the world.

Alessandro Arienzo and Isabel Abascal (LANZA)

Alessandro Arienzo and Isabel Abascal

and will teach the visiting critic studio, “���ϲ����� Spiral,” where students will explore spirals and the architectural possibilities that come with this inherently infinite geometric shape. Before ���ϲ����� was established in 1820 in Onondaga County, another city named ���ϲ����� flourished on the Italian island of Sicily. This first ���ϲ����� is known as the birthplace of great astronomer, mathematician and engineer Archimedes, and the place in which he set the basis for the famous Archimedes’ spiral. Inspired by such history, this studio will look at spirals—from Archimedes to the golden ratio, the phenomena of curves reveal themselves across nature, governing distant galaxies and our own DNA—from the design of a city to the design of a seat. Through hand drawings, hand models and prototype building, students will test the growth systems hidden in these geometries.

Pablo Sequero (salazarsequeromedina)

Pablo Sequero

will teach the visiting critic studio, “Platform Surfside: The Adaptive City,” that foregrounds coastal adaptation and flood mitigation strategies for the existing residential block of the town of Surfside, Florida, a town in Miami-Dade County on a coastal barrier island in the northern extension of Miami Beach. As a continuation of the research initiated by the spring 2024 visiting critic studio led by Laura Salazar and Sequero—and part of a multi-year campaign around coastal resilience in collaboration with the Surfside community—students will use the previously produced work as a reference and starting point to shift their scale and depth of study to analyze the entire town of Surfside, allowing for a comprehensive approach that’s scalable, phased and flexible. However, where the spring studio dedicated its efforts to the design of a single-family residence in Surfside, students in this studio will thinking through strategies for residential typologies and the city block simultaneously. As the studio progresses, students will produce an interactive kit-of-parts conceived as a collection of strategies serving resilient housing, which could be redeployed not only in Surfside but in other coastal communities. Additionally, students will work with diverse members from Surfside to engage the community through a series of events including workshops, lectures and publications, as well as an exhibition with students and faculty from the University of Miami School of Architecture.

Katherine Hogan and Vincent Petrarca (Katherine Hogan Architects)

and will teach the visiting critic studio, “Working Backwards,” where students will work backwards to gain a greater understanding and confidence in the process of making architecture and develop a tectonic language, refining their individual instincts of how to approach a project. Through the development of physical models, present details and wall assemblies at large scales and in a variety of media, students will explore how an idea can be tested and ultimately strengthened through a critical analysis of site, context, program, material assemblies, craft and proformas.

Yuyang Liu (Atelier Liu Yuyang)

Yuyang Liu

will teach the visiting critic studio, “A Linear Museum in Suzhou,” where students will envision a linear museum in Suzhou, China—a city renowned for its rich cultural heritage and industrial prowess—that bridges the gap between historical reverence and contemporary innovation, creating a unique urban intervention that celebrates both the city’s rich heritage and its evolving present. Strategically located along a historically significant canal area renowned for its imperial tiles and ceramics dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1911), the linear museum project will serve as a transformative intervention, reimagining the conventional museum as a dynamic, linear element embedded within the urban landscape rather than a singular, monumental structure. Students will approach their designs for the museum as continuous, integrated spaces that combine exhibition areas, retail outlets, food and beverage services and hospitality functions, offering multifaceted experiences to visitors and residents alike, while simultaneously revitalizing the area and reestablishing its historical significance.

Erin Cuevas

The has announced that architect Erin Cuevas is the Harry der Boghosian Fellow for 2024-25. Cuevas will succeed current fellow, Christina Chi Zhang.

The Boghosian Fellowship at the School of Architecture—established in early 2015 in memory of Harry der Boghosian ’54 by his sister Paula der Boghosian ’64—is a one-of-a-kind program designed to give emerging independent creatives the opportunity to spend a year developing a body of design research based on an area of interest while teaching at the School of Architecture.

Fellows play a significant role at the school by enhancing student instruction and faculty discourse while supporting both research and the development of research-related curriculum valuable to architectural education and the discipline.

During the 2024-25 school year, Cuevas will teach an architecture studio and two professional electives focusing on her research project, Redefining Performance, which aims to advance independent, progressive and emerging design practice, stretching architecture into adjacent artistic realms and localities, bridging disciplines and communities alike. Students will push boundaries of animated mixed media representation and discover design opportunities within the unique Venn diagrams of their own interests.

‘Redefining Performance is a growing body of scenographic practice at the intersection of performance art, interactive digital media and architectural installation, participating in the evolution of theater into immersive experiences that blur the line between audience and performer,” says Cuevas. “The interdisciplinary and highly collaborative nature of the research embodies collective creativity and thought exchange between diverse participants across phases of researching, designing, capturing and experiencing the work.”

Like the eight previous Boghosian Fellows, Cuevas will work closely not only with faculty and students at the School of Architecture but will also explore interdisciplinary collaborations within the University and its various centers and colleges. Her research will culminate in a participatory public performance, expanding the School of Architecture beyond traditional bounds of the studio environments, activating spaces on campus, and engaging students, faculty and local artists and communities in a collective scenography.

Dismantling the privileged view in lieu of a shared stage, advances the inclusive potential of scenography by employing storytelling of underrepresented voices, site-specific public community events and accessible emerging technology. Often in collaboration with Jana Masset Collatz, as part of their co-founded design practice, CMLA, Cuevas’s work has been showcased in venues such as L.A. Dance Project Studios, the A+D Architecture and Design Museum, ACADIA and Architektur Galerie Berlin. Her practice has also received recognition through residencies, grants and published work spanning disciplines, including the Northwest ByDesign Film Festival, Cultured Magazine’s Young Architects list, Goldsmiths’ motion capture residency program and the World Stage Design conference, where CMLA received the first-place design award in 2022.

Prior to joining ���ϲ����� Architecture, Cuevas was the director of global retail story design at Nike Inc. in Beaverton, Oregon, where she provided design direction of new global retail and seasonal concepts—most recently focusing on the installation for the 2024 Olympic Games. She received a graduate degree with distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California (USC). Cuevas taught architecture and digital media at the USC School of Architecture from 2017-2022.

“Having followed the work of Boghosian Fellows over the past years, I am inspired by the program’s dedication to elevating diverse emerging talent and fostering new perspectives in the field of architecture,” says Cuevas. “The Boghosian Fellowship is an opportunity for me to expand the traditional architectural discipline through a unique and highly personal concert of elements—dance, architecture, storytelling and creative technology.”

The Boghosian Fellowship has helped the School of Architecture attract the best and the brightest emerging professors. Previous fellows include Maya Alam (2016-17), Linda Zhang (2017-18), James Leng (2018-19), Benjamin Vanmuysen (2019-20), Liang Wang (2020-21), Leen Katrib (2021-22), Lily Chishan Wong (2022-23) and Christina Chi Zhang (2023-24).

To learn more about the Harry der Boghosian Fellowship, the .

���ϲ����� Libraries has selected four students as the 2024-25 Orange Innovation Scholars. This prestigious recognition highlights their dedication to innovation and entrepreneurship. These four students exemplify the spirit of innovation and leadership that the Orange Innovation Scholars program seeks to promote. The four Orange Innovation Scholars are:

• Ava Lubkemann ’27 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) is studying environmental engineering with a passion for sustainable construction, design and entrepreneurship. She founded “Sustainable Concepts,” a business that sells upcycled clothing to support environmentally conscious organizations. Additionally, Lubkemann volunteers with STEM Explorer, helping local middle-school students engage in hands-on STEM learning. At ���ϲ�����, she has been a researcher at the Dynamic Sustainability Lab, focusing on carbon capture sequestration. Lubkemann is a recent graduate of the summer accelerator program.
• Jair Espinoza ’25 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) is actively involved in several student organizations, including the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, the Mexican Student Association, Lambda Alpha Upsilon Fraternity and the ���ϲ����� Men’s Gymnastic Club. Espinoza brings a wealth of experience in organizing large-scale events, securing funding and promoting cultural understanding. As a software developer, his experiences have provided him with valuable insight in full stack development, artificial intelligence and mobile app development. He is a recent graduate of the summer accelerator program.
• Aidan Turner ’25 (School of Architecture), a fifth-year architecture student, is also completing a minor in real estate from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. He is a licensed real estate salesperson in Massachusetts. Turner has been recognized as ���ϲ����� Student Entrepreneur of the Year in both 2022 and 2024. He is the CEO and founder of Grater Things Threads, a premium garment design and supply company dedicated to crafting bespoke, sustainable garments with meaningful designs.
• Thomas O’Brien ’25 (College of Visual and Performing Arts) is an entrepreneur who combines the art of filmmaking with business and marketing. With experience in audience development for music artists and actors combined, O’Brien looks to revolutionize how narrative filmmaking is produced, shared and consumed in the new digital age. His work across all practices has generated millions of views on several social media platforms. He is an Invest in Success Scholar, a member of the ‘CUSE50 steering committee (where he was emcee for last fall’s gala) and a speaker at the ‘CUSE50 student summit.

Orange Innovation Scholars support commercialization programs offered through ���ϲ����� Libraries, including the and the , along with Universitywide entrepreneurship and innovation initiatives such as . They will engage University faculty, post doctorates and Ph.D. students, graduate and undergraduate students engaged in research, technology commercialization, venture development, innovation and entrepreneurship. Orange Innovation Scholars will also engage with SU alumni who are founders and leaders at top innovation companies. Orange Innovation Scholars work across all disciplines and academic units to build a pipeline of innovation and tell success stories.

What does the world’s attention, and huge influx of visitors, mean for these grand architectural sites? Jess Myers, assistant professor in the , looks at the issue through an urban planning lens. Myers lived in Paris in 2012 when the Summer Olympics were held in nearby London.

While hosting the Games is a huge coup for the host city, it is also a huge challenge, particularly regarding infrastructure.

“Hosting the Olympics is a big deal, but it can also be an urban development disaster for cities if they’re not careful about it,” Myers says. “The danger is that you build up a lot of new infrastructure, then don’t end up using it afterward in everyday urban life, or those things end up being abandoned where they could have been repurposed into housing, a new subway line or something to that effect.”

In the case of London, much of the main Olympics infrastructure was located around the periphery, so the city center was not tied up with the security mechanisms that accompany the Games. “You could still walk around and experience the city’s iconic architecture,” Myers says.

This year’s Games—and Paris—present different challenges. Conflict around the world has resulted in extraordinary security at the Olympics. As some events are happening at the landmarks—beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower and equestrian events at Versailles for instance—the experience of these landmarks is affected.

Jess Myers (Photo by Farideh Sakhaeifar)

“The beautiful, fabulous thing about Parisian monuments is that they’re very much integrated into the urban fabric of the city,” Myers says. “You can take a casual free walk down the river Seine and see incredible things. You see the Eiffel Tower, you see the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais. You see the Invalides, you see the beautiful Pont Alexandre III. There is a continuity in the urban fabric. With the security mechanisms put in place, all of that linearity, the way that Paris is a walking city, gets truncated and split up. So rather than seeing the monuments as things that are flowing within an urban fabric, you see them as these objects through security fencing.”

Bringing the events into the city has taken the focus off the periphery, which is where immigrant communities have historically made their home. “These spaces are also beautiful, and people who live there are proud of these places,” Myers says. “By not celebrating the periphery, you lose out on being able to celebrate what all of those communities have brought to Paris, which is so much cultural and political energy and modernization.”

Holding events at historic landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower and Versailles is a great celebration of Paris (think of medal winners posing for photographs at these grand sites), but restricts access to these sites to ticketholders.

“You don’t have that very Parisian happening, that idea that you are walking and just stumble upon something that’s quite striking,” Myers says. “Those are excellent images for tourism, but the downside is also for small businesses who experience a drop in foot traffic.”

Not only do these iconic landmarks serve as locations and backdrops for Olympic events, they will live on after the Games have ended on medals and commemorative coins.

“The Eiffel Tower is a commercial symbol of Paris, and it’s one of those things that’s often more celebrated internationally than it necessarily is in the everyday life of the city,” Myers says. “It is used to represent France in a way that is quite general and doesn’t necessarily get to the specificity of what the city is. This is the nature of trying to put together a unified national vision instead of celebrating the quirks and the specificities of Paris.”

“It seems like while there is a celebration of these beautiful Parisian monuments, there’s also a desire to almost remove them from their context as if they’re hovering just above the city. And that feels to me like a missed opportunity,” Myers says.

What will Myers, a former track runner, be watching during these Paris Games? “I love [U.S. athlete and women’s 100-meter competitor] Sha’Carri Richardson. Also, the women’s Jamaican track team is incredible. I hope we’ll see some very special efforts in track this year,” Myers says.

More about Myers’ experience in Paris can be found in her podcast, “.”

Meetings were conducted with representatives of the University of Seoul, Ewha Women’s University, Korea University and Sungkyunkwan University. The discussions were part of an exploration to consider locating a ���ϲ����� center in South Korea, according to Pamela Young, director of academic strategic plan implementation in the Office of Academic Affairs.

University delegates participated in discussions with Korea University officials about potential faculty research collaborations and study abroad opportunities.

Young says a center there could provide ���ϲ����� and Korean universities with new opportunities for collaborative research, including projects focused on the semiconductor industry and gravitational wave research. It could also facilitate joint faculty and student participation in seminars and workshops, faculty and graduate student exchanges and the development of new partners that support study abroad for ���ϲ����� students in Korea.

The expansion of collaborative efforts in East Asia is an important part of the University’s strategic vision, says Young.��“There is great interest among many ���ϲ����� schools and colleges in partnering with Korean universities to enhance creative activities and the research enterprise, including through faculty and graduate student exchanges. There is also significant space to expand opportunities for ���ϲ����� students to study abroad and engage in experiential learning outside of Western Europe. Each year many students come from Korea to study and earn degrees at ���ϲ�����. Our strong Korean alumni base has many business and industry connections that can provide students with opportunities for experiential learning, too,” she says.

The Korea Center Initiative group visited with officials at Ehwa Women’s University, one of several universities they visited in South Korea.

During the trip, the delegation enjoyed dinner with several members of ���ϲ�����’s Korean Alumni Association. It also caught up with two School of Architecture students who are studying at Ewha Women’s University and a group of ���ϲ����� students who were in Seoul as part of a new Maymester design course led by Seyeon Lee, associate professor in the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Among highlights of the trip was a dinner gathering for ���ϲ����� students studying abroad at Ewha Woman’s University along with a group of students participating in a Maymester program focused on South Korean design and culture led by College of Visual and Performing Arts Associate Professor Seyeon Lee.

At Sunkyunkwan University, the delegation heard a presentation from Youngseek Kim G’08, G’13, an associate professor who earned master’s and doctoral degrees at the School of Information Studies. In addition, the trip allowed Architecture Dean Michael Speaks and Daekwon Park, undergraduate program chair, to meet with high school students and their parents regarding program opportunities.

The ���ϲ����� delegation was also welcomed to Sunkyunkwan University. Among the presenters was alumnus Youngseek Kim G’08, G’13, who is now an associate professor there.

College of Arts and Sciences Dean says he appreciates the opportunity to pursue new partnerships in Korea and strengthen alumni ties.

“I am confident in the potential of these connections and I am eager to work with my fellow deans at the University to develop new opportunities for student exchange, internships and university and industry partnerships in Korea,” he says.

“We all look forward to continuing our efforts to develop new opportunities for student exchange, internships and industry collaborations in Korea with the goal of establishing in Seoul a new Asia center for the University,” says Speaks.

���ϲ����� is a national leader in international education, with a highly ranked study abroad program. The University’s Academic Strategic Plan, “Leading With Distinction,” calls for the expansion of study abroad and study away venues and programs and the removal of barriers to make it possible for every undergraduate to participate. In addition to Mortazavi, Speaks, Young and Park, the delegation included Andrew Sears, then-dean of the School of Information Studies; Nicole Collins, director of strategic partnerships and outreach for ���ϲ����� Abroad; and Brian Kim L’19, international engagement specialist, who served as liaison between ���ϲ����� and the Korean Alumni Association.

Selected from nearly 600 submissions, 84 individuals—including established and emerging architects, artists, curators, designers, filmmakers, historians and writers—were given the prestigious annual grants for their publications, research, exhibitions, films, site-specific installations and digital initiatives that expand contemporary ideas of architecture through innovative rigorous interdisciplinary work on design and the built environment.

“Congratulations to both Professor Brown and Assistant Professor Myers,” says Michael Speaks, dean of the School of Architecture. “These awards are among the most prestigious in architecture and the fine arts and will help these professors and, indeed, our school to advance scholarship and research in our discipline.”

‘Women Architects and Global Solidarity Across the Cold War Divide: The International Union of Women Architects, 1963–1993’

Lori Brown

Lori A. Brown, along with , senior lecturer in architectural design at the University of Melbourne, have been awarded funding to support their research project, “Women Architects and Global Solidarity Across the Cold War Divide: The International Union of Women Architects, 1963–1993.”

Feminist architectural history has frequently been organized around individual figures or national historiographies, but rarely around the transnational networks that connect women architects into a global feminist movement. This project uncovers a key transnational women’s organization: the International Union of Women Architects (UIFA), founded in 1963, to narrate a new global history of women’s organizing in architecture. Spanning a diversity of sites from Berlin, Bucharest, Cape Town, Iran, Paris and Seattle, during the years 1963–93, UIFA’s membership crossed 90 countries, and the organization attracted powerful women patrons—from the Empress of Iran to Princess Grace of Monaco. This geographic reach offers a sharp lens for investigating how women architects organized across the Cold War divide and how nation states mobilized the UIFA global conferences to promote their own political aspirations, including state feminism.

International Union of Women Architects, Ramsar, Iran (Photo courtesy of Noushin Ehsan)

“We are honored that our research project is receiving support from the Graham Foundation,” says Brown. “This grant recognizes the innovative quality of the project which locates women architects in a transnational organization that was advocating for women’s professional equity. This research will redraw the map of women’s architectural history to understand the diversity of places and people shaping architecture in the second half of the 20th century.”

Here There Be Dragons, Season Four: Odes[s]a

Jess Myers

Urbanist Jess Myers has been awarded funding to support Odes[s]a, season four of her narrative documentary podcast, “,” which explores the gaps between residents’ security concerns and the responses their governance structures make visible in policy and design decisions.

After seasons on New York, Paris, and Stockholm, season four of “Here There Be Dragons” turns to the Black Sea to focus on the diasporic and residential communities of Odesa, Ukraine, and how they navigate the question of safety. The podcast’s title is inspired by medieval cartographer’s depiction of sea monsters and demons hovering over unexplored land or dangerous territories, accompanied by the phrase hic sunt dracones, “here be dragons.” The dragons are symbolic of the systems of uncertainty and fear that define the borders of a known territory. Each season explores contemporary urban territories and engages with residents on the concept of security narratives and the “dragons” that perpetuate them. Resident experiences reveal the impact that urban policy, design decisions and social histories have over time, recognizing the shift in the landscape of post-9/11 security politics in which the growth of cities is inextricably linked to the proliferation of securitized development. The podcast navigates the hidden post-occupancy studies that lurk in mundane encounters with city life.

“Studio Collage” by Jess Myers

“The Graham Foundation’s support allows me to refine and elevate research on Odesa, Ukraine in a period where this work is particularly difficult,” says Myers. “I am immensely grateful for funding that will allow me to pursue the rigor that residents’ stories deserve.”

The 2024 grantees join a worldwide network of individuals and organizations that the has supported over the past 68 years. In that time, the Foundation has awarded more than 44 million dollars in direct support to over 5,100 projects by individuals and organizations around the world.

�ճ������funds a range of awards that include English teaching assistantships (ETA) and study/research grants in over 140 countries.

The 2024 recipients are:

• Caroline Barraco G’24, a history master’s degree student in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, English teaching assistantship (ETA), Spain
• Olivia Budelmann ’23 (mathematics; environment, sustainability and policy; and Spanish language, literature and culture in the College of Arts and Sciences), ETA, Andorra
• Jaemon Crosby ’24, an acting major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), study award, United Kingdom—London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA, classical acting)
• Avital Datskovsky, a Ph.D. student in anthropology in the Maxwell School, research award, India
• Jessica Hogbin, a Ph.D. student in history in the Maxwell School, research award, Italy
• Lindsey Kernen ’23 (psychology in A&S and citizenship and civic engagement in the Maxwell School), study award, United Kingdom—University of Strathclyde
• Yasmin Nayrouz ’24, an English and textual studies major in A&S, a public relations major in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program, study award, United Kingdom—University of Sussex
• Anthony Ornelaz G’24, a creative writing M.F.A. student in A&S,��ETA, Poland
• Alec Rovensky ’21 (School of Architecture), study award, Germany—Technische Universität Berlin
• Adriana Rozas Rivera G’21 (magazine, news and digital journalism, Newhouse School), ETA, Spain
• Zelikha Shoja G’24, an art video student in VPA, research award, Tajikistan
• Julianne Strauss ’23 (inclusive elementary and special education, School of Education) G’24 (literacy education), ETA, Spain
• Elizabeth Vanek G’24, a clinical mental health counseling student in the School of Education, ETA, Mexico
• Ciara Young ’24, an international relations and anthropology major in the Maxwell School | A&S and linguistics major in A&S and member of the Renée Crown Honors Program, ETA, Korea

The 2024 alternates are:

• Huleymatu Barrie ’22 (international relations in the Maxwell School | A&S, ETA, Ghana
• Ian Ferguson, a Ph.D. student in history in the Maxwell School, research award, Kenya
• Liam Goff, a senior broadcast and digital journalism major in the Newhouse School, ETA, Germany
• Mary Matthews, a senior international relations major in the Maxwell School | A&S, ETA, Estonia
• Laura Roman Lopez G’24, a master’s degree student in magazine, news and digital journalism in the Newhouse School, ETA, Argentina

Jaemon Crosby

Crosby, while studying at LAMDA, hopes to bring a new perspective and diversify the world of classical acting, as classical texts and acting historically have been written for and performed by white men.

Jaemon Crosby

“Some of these texts, for example Shakespeare, convey a bigger message and an experience that is not unique to just one race or gender, but to everyone,” Crosby says. “There has been a big revamp in the use of classical texts and bringing them to modern eyes, and I want to be a part of that. … I have always been very drawn to language, rhetoric and the power of listening. I hope this training will help me bring that into works that are performed today and give me a new perspective and interpretation of texts to bring into auditions as I begin my acting career.”

Crosby hopes he can be a role model for younger Black kids in that they may see themselves in classical texts. “Representation is very important in television, theatre and film,” he says. “I want to act and play roles that go against stereotypes of what a Black man is and show what we can be and the power in our Blackness.”

He also hopes that in the future, the connections he makes during his time in the U.K. will aid him in producing shows both in the United States and the U.K. “In my time during my previous semester abroad in London (through ���ϲ����� Abroad), I saw so many beautiful, specific and bold plays that are telling important stories that all should see,” Crosby says. “Theatre should tell stories that allow people to see themselves in them and relate, tell untold stories, educate and make people feel less alone. Everyone should have access to that. There are amazing shows I think should be brought to the U.S., and their messages shared with everyone. I want to be a part of that, and this training and the connections I make will help me get there.”

Jessica Hogbin

Jessica Hogbin

During her Fulbright year in Italy, Hogbin will conduct research for her dissertation, which studies how melancholy—a now-defunct medical category from humoral theory—was used and abused by Renaissance scholars and physicians to express and explain mental health and the mind. Her project, “Innumerable Melancholies: Medicine, Mental Health and Human Nature in Renaissance Italy, 1450-1650,” engages with the deeply interconnected relationship between medicine, narratives around mental health and politics in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Hogbin will conduct research in several archives and libraries in the Veneto region of Italy, including the Historic Archive of the University of Padua, the Marciana Library, and the State Archives of Padua and Venice.

“Through this study, I aim to explore the increasing presumption that it was a patient’s responsibility to care for their own mind and body, along with stereotypes that claimed certain people were more likely by birth and social status to be victims of melancholy, concepts that continue to affect how mental health is imagined to this day,” she says. “I am greatly looking forward to spending this Fulbright year building my dissertation project, conversing with Italian scholars and eating plenty of gelato.”

Hogbin plans to transform her dissertation into a book project in the future. “I hope to take everything that I learn during my Fulbright year, both academically and culturally, back into the classroom, where I am looking forward to sharing this information with my students and allowing the content that I find to shape my lessons.”

Lindsay Kernen

During her Fulbright year, Kernen will pursue a master’s degree in work and organizational psychology at the University of Strathclyde Business School in Glasgow, Scotland.

Lindsay Kernen

Her research will focus on interpersonal relationships in organizations and how diverse groups have the power to produce creative, innovative and profitable outcomes as opposed to conventional top-down management styles.

“I hope to bridge theory and practice, promoting the importance of community involvement in psychological research. I’m looking forward to partnering with an organization in Glasgow to improve employee well-being and satisfaction,” she says. “I’m so excited to have a year dedicated to community-based learning and I hope this leaves me exposed to many diverse perspectives in the psychology field and beyond.”

Beyond her Fulbright year, Kernen plans to embark upon a career dedicated to connecting psychological research that informs employee wellbeing with organizational practices and to raise awareness of the benefits of inclusive group dialogue for innovative workplaces. “This experience will allow me to dig deep into these topics while providing many opportunities to collaborate with local organizations to implement these strategies while learning from the local community and diverse cultures,” she says.

In addition to her studies, Kernen plans to attend meetings for worship at the local Quaker meetinghouse and enjoy Glasgow’s vibrant music and arts scene.

Julianne Strauss

Julianne Strauss

During her Fulbright year, Strauss will be an English teaching assistant in the La Rioja region of Spain. “I hope to find ways to promote inclusive education within the classrooms I teach in and in the school community,” says Strauss. “I also want to instill a love of reading in my students and use inclusive children’s literature that I read in my own U.S. classrooms to promote English learning.”

Strauss, who studied in Madrid during her junior year through ���ϲ����� Abroad, hopes to grow as a Spanish speaker and immerse herself in Spanish culture. “I have not had the chance to visit this region previously, so I want to explore all of my new home,” she says.

She plans to use this Fulbright year as a chance to expand her teaching experiences to students who are learning English as a second language. “I want to bring this experience home and draw upon it to support my future students in the Central New York or New York City region,” she says.

Students interested in applying to the Fulbright program should contact the Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising at 315.443.2759 or cfsa@syr.edu. The campus deadline for the 2024-25 application cycle is Sept. 10.

Judith Seinfeld.

Seinfeld is the fourth-generation head of Heritage Management Company LLC, a long-standing real estate investment, development and management company based in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Before joining Heritage, Seinfeld was the founder and president of Judith Greenberg Gallery, a jewelry design company, and she was also an executive vice president at Balenciaga Perfumes. A longtime patron of the arts, Seinfeld is the co-founder of the Nantucket Comedy Festival and the producer of several Tony award-winning plays.

Seinfeld earned a bachelor’s degree from ���ϲ�����’s , and a master’s degree in administration from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1957. In addition to her current role as a life trustee participant on the Academic Affairs committee, Seinfeld’s service to the University includes previous positions on the boards of the School of Education and the . Her service also includes assisting in establishing the Seinfeld Housing Initiative, the Judith Greenberg Seinfeld Distinguished Fellowships and the Judith Greenberg Seinfeld Prize for Creative Teaching Endowment.

Seinfeld resides in Saddle River, New Jersey, and Nantucket, Massachusetts, and is the mother of Jeffrey Greenberg and the late Steven Greenberg.

For more information on the celebration, visit the

Linxi (Jenny) Zhang

Linxi (Jenny) Zhang ’24—a fifth-year bachelor of architecture degree student in the —has been selected for , an elite group of architecture and interior architecture students from the United States and Canada.

Launched in 2021, the award recognizes the top 100 graduating students in North America who, as rising leaders, are defining and reimagining the practice of architecture and interior architecture. Selected from a diverse pool of candidates, Zhang is one of only 21 undergraduate architecture students to receive the honor, selected based on the creativity, rigor, skill and professionalism exhibited by their portfolios and nomination entries. “We were blown away by the quality of work you and your peers submitted, and we feel that you represent a bright future for our industry—one of beautiful, thoughtful, innovative, sustainable and inclusive design,” says Avinash Rajagopal, editor in chief of the magazine, in the award letter.

�ܳ󲹲Բ�’s represents her interest in the relationship between spaces, sequence and formal aesthetic. As an architecture student and future designer, she is especially concerned with how architecture design and the user experience is changing people’s lives.

In the project “LPC Headquarters,” Zhang and her partner designed a building on top of an existing landmark for the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) headquarters. To fully respect the context of 315-317 Broadway, the design incorporates setbacks on all sides. A cantilevered hearing hall is “bitten” into the landmark where the open corner plaza invites the city in to watch hearings on large-scale video boards. Inside, the building features a utility core, an open office and meeting room, bookshelves that act as a lending library for staff, as well as an exhibition space that serves as a museum and area for hearing introductions. The building’s façade pattern and material are highly influenced by the inside programs.

LPC Headquarters, elevation from Broadway

More recently, Zhang and her partner worked on “Sweep Scapes,” (shown below) a project to create a new access point between The 606—a 2.7-mile elevated park and trail in Chicago that was built on what was once an industrial train line—and a green boulevard. Their design incorporates a fully accessible bike ramp that cascades throughout the building, leading up to a green roof and garden for the community and its bikers. Through utilizing ramp circulation, green spaces and sport court projection, these sweep scapes extend the experience of The 606 and provide further recreational space in Chicago throughout the year.

“Among her various attributes, Jenny’s ability to construct architectural tectonics and forms from thoughtful consideration of urban context and user experience is notable,” says Daekwon Park, undergraduate chair and associate professor in the School of Architecture, who nominated Zhang for the program. “Her impressive work consistently shows her commitment to social, cultural and environmental sustainability.”

While at ���ϲ�����, Zhang has served as an undergraduate program associate for a first-year design studio for three semesters, as well as working as a (SOURCE) undergraduate research assistant for Professor Lori Brown’s faculty research team. She has been awarded the Louis Jay Masters Scholarship (2021-22), Robert W. Cutler Scholarship (May 2022), Internship Funding Award (2023), and Integrated Design Studio Prize (Spring 2023), along with being named to the Dean’s List every semester since 2020.

“I am greatly honored to have been selected for Metropolis magazine’s Future100, knowing that my work and design concepts are recognized by the wider audience,” says Zhang. “I will continue to dedicate myself to designing and renovating architecture to benefit the community by solving social issues and using design to improve the quality of people’s lives.”

After graduation, Zhang plans to gain hands-on experience in the practical world by entering the architecture profession as a young designer, but would also like to extend her research further along the way. She looks forward to attending graduate school after a few years with more specific interests and design perspectives.

As part of the Future100 honor, �ܳ󲹲Բ�’s work will be included in a compilation of video segments by , featuring Future100 members, scheduled for release in the spring.

The full Future100 class of 2024 digital showcase is .

“Sweep Scapes” model

The Student Experience Division has announced the selection of Mark Nzasi and Yifan “Ivan” Shen as the 2025 Senior Class Marshals. In this honorable role, Nzasi and Shen will lead their graduating class during Commencement, help to recommend the Commencement speaker, meet with senior University administrators to discuss their student experience and offer insights and suggestions, in addition to representing their class at Universitywide functions, networking with alumni and more.

“Woven throughout the tapestry of Nzasi’s and Shen’s undergraduate careers are their shared passions for academic excellence, campus involvement, personal development and community support. Serving as honorable representatives for the Class of 2025 will only further amplify a positive impact on the student experience now and into the future,” says , vice president for student engagement in Student Experience.

Mark Nzasi
Joining the Orange community from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and starting his collegiate journey in Madrid, Spain, as a Discovery student, Nzasi is a junior majoring in neuroscience and psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences. His dedication to academics, service and leadership has been showcased early and often throughout his undergraduate career as an Invest in Success Scholarship recipient, through Dean’s List recognitions, as a participant in the Renée Crown University Honors Program and the Coronat Scholars Program, a 2024-25 Remembrance Scholar and through the Sanofi U.S. Scholarship, among other honors.

Nzasi eagerly awaits the opportunity to serve as a senior class marshal, representing the Class of 2025 and bridging connections between students, administration and the Orange community. “I would not be here today if not for my family and the incredible Orange community that’s supported me and always challenged me to be better each and every day. I’m excited to give back to this community and advocate for my peers,” he says.

As an aspiring physician, Nzasi has actively engaged in research and academic projects. His undergraduate research focuses on investigating the effects of maternal separation on adolescent CD-1 mice, aiming to shed light on the relationship between early-life adversity and the emergence of neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression. As a project aide, Nzasi contributes to the exploration of intricate cellular mechanisms, and their association with underlying human conditions such as degenerative eye diseases, to develop interventions to mitigate disease progression.

Outside of the classroom, Nzasi has immersed himself into a variety of student experiences including serving as the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., Theta Xi vice president, implementing health care initiatives and promoting representation in medicine through the Black Pre-Medical Society, and as an orientation leader.

During his time as a member of the Black Honors Society, he was the professional development chair and co-founder of the University’s first student-organized Black Excellence Gala, a celebration of the remarkable achievements of Black students and students of Afro-descent on campus. He also supports and or is a member of the Our Time Has Come Scholarship, Men of Color Initiative (MCI) and the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP).

As an active member within the larger ���ϲ����� and global communities and fueled through his passion for hands-on clinical experience, Nzasi gives back through volunteer experiences. Highlights include Riina Education for Innovation, empowering African refugee women through English as a Second Language (ESL) tutoring, and leveraging his immigrant background and Swahili language skills to facilitate learning and essential computer skills. He served in Global Medical Brigades, assisting in sustainable clinical stations such as triage, dentistry and public health education. In his homeland, at Kitui County Referral Hospital of Kenya, he shadowed physicians during emergency surgeries and provided crucial support. Volunteering at Dr. King Elementary School and as a Sigma Beta Club mentor at Nottingham High School, Nzasi has exemplified his commitment to making a positive impact.

Reflecting on his journey, Nzasi draws inspiration from his roots in Kenya and the sacrifices his family made to find better opportunities in the United States.�� “As someone who believes in the ideal that representation is the lens through which we dream, I applied to be a senior class marshal as a testimony to show others that they don’t have to succumb to the stories that society places on them,” shares Nzasi. “I aim to utilize this platform to empower all minority youth, regardless of their background, to recognize that with belief in themselves, they can accomplish anything they set their minds to.”

Yifan “Ivan” Shen
Hailing from Shanghai, China, Shen is a junior pursuing dual majors of architecture in the School of Architecture and music history and cultures in the College of Arts and Sciences, in addition to a vocal performance minor in the Setnor School of Music.

Academic highlights include being named a 2024-25 Remembrance Scholar, Dean’s List recognitions and being a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program. He is a recipient of the Asian Design Award, Alfred L. Kaskel Scholarship, Peter J. Moore Award for Excellence in Architecture Sketching, the Doug Whitney ’80 School of Architecture Global Experience Award and the Maxwell Citizenship Scholarship.

Through immersive learning and a dedication to research, Shen has placed his knowledge into action globally. Across continents he has worked with award-winning offices in Madrid, Kigali (Rwanda), New York City and Shanghai. Highlights of his contributions further include exhibitions, journal publications and supporting peers as a tutor and teaching assistant.

“I attended local schools under the communist regime in China and constantly faced shocks politically, culturally and interpersonally in foreign environments. My years at ���ϲ����� witnessed the possibility of a non-fluent English speaker from a totally different background becoming a campus leader,” shares Shen. “Being selected as a senior class marshal demonstrates the University leadership’s success in making the campus an inclusive environment where international students like me can find ways to grow and thrive.”

As a senior class marshal, Shen hopes to continue to support peers through inspiration and action. “I am excited to demonstrate to my fellow students that your identity does not limit what you can achieve. By showing them the capacities they possess and the opportunities the University provides, I hope to inspire more students to become as involved as I am.”

Reflecting on his own experience as an international student, Shen co-founded the International Mentor Squad (IMS), organizing events to further help international students who were nervous about branching out to make friends and merge into the community. He has been an active member of the School of Architecture Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Committee, a founding member of Architecture’s Honors Society, National Organization of Minority Students design team chair, member of the Hendricks Chapel Choir and member of the School of Architecture social media team. As a Hendricks Chapel Sunday Mass cantor, ���ϲ����� Abroad Global Ambassador and more, Shen further supports others.

Albert Williamson-Taylor

The School of Architecture has announced that world-renowned engineer Albert Williamson-Taylor, director and co-founder of international engineering firm , will address graduates at the 2024 Convocation ceremony on May 11 at 10 a.m. in Hendricks Chapel.

Williamson-Taylor grew up in the United Kingdom, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, and built his career in London, initially working for Price & Myers and for Anthony Hunt Associates, before ultimately co-founding Adams Kara Taylor—now AKT II—in 1996. Today, Taylor and his firm put design and technology at the forefront of engineering practice to find solutions for the planet’s many challenges.

While overseeing AKT II for over 25 years, Williamson-Taylor has worked on numerous high-profile projects with architects and designers in more than 50 countries. Under his technical leadership, AKTII’s service to both the art and science of design has been recognized with 400-plus design awards, including four RIBA Stirling Prizes. The practice has also been named Building Awards 2019 “Engineering Consultant of the Year” and Architizer A+ Awards 2021 “Engineering Firm of the Year.”

Highlights of Williamson-Taylor’s portfolio of design authorship include the Stirling Prize-winning in London; the “groundscraper” in London; the inhabited sculpture in New York; the master planned Google Mountain View campus in California; the demountable for Expo 2010 Shanghai in China; the eco-friendly in the Red Sea; the science city in Abu Dhabi; and the monumental development in Ghana.

Williamson-Taylor’s portfolio also includes several landmark towers, such as the and redevelopments in London, the in Baghdad, and the Villaggio Vista residential development in Ghana’s capital city of Accra. He is presently leading the structural engineering for the Mukaab in Riyadh, becoming the largest building structure on the planet.

In addition to his professional practice, Williamson-Taylor has taught with London’s Architectural Association School of Architecture (the AA) since 2011, where he leads technical tutoring for the master-level architecture course within the institution’s avant-garde Design Research Laboratory (DRL). He has also served as a design-review panelist for the London Borough of Southwark and the London Borough of Newham. Williamson-Taylor is a fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) and an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

In 2023, Williamson-Taylor was the first Black engineer to be awarded the Gold Medal Award—the Institution’s highest individual honor—in recognition of his outstanding contribution to structural engineering and to society. To celebrate this achievement, Williamson-Taylor delivered his Gold Medal address in September 2023 at the institution’s headquarters in London and , where he reflected on his career to date and on the future of engineering.

Williamson-Taylor studied engineering at the University of Bristol and Bradford University from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, while working variously as a site laborer, a chef, a nightclub doorman and an overnight factory worker, in addition to tutoring younger students and mentoring youth offenders.

For many years in parallel, Williamson-Taylor also leveraged a professional Taekwondo career—achieving the elite “fifth-dan master” level and competing globally—to mentor young people from underprivileged backgrounds into higher education. He ran martial arts clubs in London with the specific policy of “no education; no training.”

Today, Williamson-Taylor is integral to AKT II’s outreach with inner-city schools and colleges, alongside the firm’s volunteer STEM Ambassadors who encourage young people from all backgrounds to consider careers in engineering and design. He has also been appointed as the first president of the charity , which aims to make urban design and architecture more accessible to everyone and works to steward young people into the built environment’s design and construction.

Williamson-Taylor is now working—including through his role as a board trustee with the new architecture school, —to enable the sharing of technology for architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) in Africa.

Thirty-five students have been chosen as the 2024-25 ���ϲ����� Remembrance Scholars.

The scholarships, now in their 35th year, were founded as a tribute to—and means of remembering—the students studying in London and Florence through ���ϲ����� who were killed in the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Those students were among the 270 people who perished in the bombing. The scholarships are funded through an endowment supported by gifts from alumni, friends, parents and corporations.

Significant support for the Remembrance Scholarships has been provided by Jean Thompson ’66 and ���ϲ����� Life Trustee Richard L. Thompson G’67 in memory of Jean Taylor Phelan Terry ’43 and John F. Phelan, Jean Thompson’s parents; by Board of Trustees Chairman Emeritus Steven Barnes ’82 and Deborah Barnes; by The ���ϲ����� Association of Zeta Psi in memory of Alexander Lowenstein; and by the Fred L. Emerson Foundation.

Selection Process

Remembrance Scholars are chosen in their junior year through a competitive selection process. Applicants submitted an essay and a reflective response in multimedia, artistic, musical or written format as part of a comprehensive application. The application evaluation committee is composed of University faculty and staff and current Remembrance Scholars. The $5,000 scholarships are awarded on the basis of scholarship, leadership and service to the community.

Additionally, two students from Lockerbie come to ���ϲ����� each year for one year of study through the ���ϲ�����-Lockerbie Scholarships, also in their 35th year. The scholarships are jointly funded by ���ϲ����� and the Lockerbie Trust. Cameron Colville and Anna Newbould were recently selected as the 2024-25 Lockerbie Scholars.

“Remembrance Scholars represent ���ϲ����� at its best through their academic achievements, their leadership skills and their contributions to the University,” says Vice Chancellor, Provost and Chief Academic Officer Gretchen Ritter. “They reflect the talent and promise of those students whose memories they honor. We are very proud to call them members of our University community.”

The Remembrance and Lockerbie Scholars plan the Remembrance activities held at the University each year. The scholars will be recognized during a convocation in the fall.

The 2024-25 Remembrance Scholars, their hometowns, majors and schools and colleges are the following:

• Alba Aljiboury of ���ϲ�����, New York, a policy studies major in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), an information management and technology major in the School of Information Studies and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Linda Baguma of Iowa City, Iowa, a double major in international relations and political science in the Maxwell School and A&S and member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Adam Baltaxe of Arlington, Virginia, an international relations major in the Maxwell School and A&S, a Spanish major in A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Tanner Boshart of Jackson, New Jersey, an economics major and history major in the Maxwell School and A&S, a finance major in the Whitman School of Management and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Danis Cammett of Washington, D.C., an international relations major in the Maxwell School and A&S, applied data analytics major in the School of Information Studies, a member of the Crown Honors Program and a member of the University’s Army Reserve Officer Training Program;
• Natalie Dolenga of Lincolnshire, Illinois, an international relations major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Charlotte Ebel of Urbana, Illinois, a public relations major in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, a women’s and gender studies and German major in A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Luke Elliott of Leesburg, Virginia, a citizenship and civic engagement major in the Maxwell School, a public relations major in the Newhouse School and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Mason Garbus of Hannibal, New York, a music education major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) and the School of Education;
• Joshua Garvin of Houston, Texas, a music industry major in VPA;
• Tabitha Hulme of Saratoga, California, a public health major in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics and health humanities major in A&S;
• Abigail Jones of Mashpee, Massachusetts, a public relations major in the Newhouse School, a policy studies major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Rajan Joshi of Dallas, Texas, an economics major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Sierra Kaplan of New York, New York, a health humanities major in A&S; a political science major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Kelsey Leary of Mahopac, New York, an art photography major in VPA;
• Nadia Lyngdoh-Sommer of Singapore, a sociology major in the Maxwell School and A&S, a law, society and policy major in the Maxwell School and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Sophia Moore of Burbank, California, a television, radio and film major in the Newhouse School, a sociology major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Zachary Murray of Kingston, Jamaica, a political science and policy studies major in the Maxwell School and A&S, a modern foreign languages major in A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Ryan Myers of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, a public relations major in the Newhouse School, a psychology major in A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Mark Nzasi of Scranton, Pennsylvania, a neuroscience and psychology major in A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Cheryl Olanga of Nairobi, Kenya, a computer science major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS);
• Adya Parida of Odisha, India, a computer science major in ECS and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Jenna Poma of Queens, New York, a policy studies major in the Maxwell School and A&S, a citizenship and civic engagement major in the Maxwell School and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Tia Poquette of Brooklyn, New York, a policy studies major in the Maxwell School and A&S:
• Alekhya Rajasekaran of Visalia, California, a biotechnology major in A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Olivia Reid of Richmond, California, a policy studies major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Mason Romero of Olathe, Kansas, a music education major in VPA and the School of Education, a music history and cultures major in A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Alie Savane of Bronx, New York, a biology major in A&S;
• Abigael Scott of Plattsburgh, New York, a neuroscience and biology major in A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Yifan “Ivan” Shen of Shanghai, China, a student in the School of Architecture, a music history and cultures major in A&S, and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Justine Smith of Somerville, New Jersey, a political science and policy studies major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Joshua Spodek of Wayne, New Jersey, a history major in the Maxwell School and A&S, a social studies education major in the Maxwell School and the School of Education and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Alyssa Sutherland of St. Louis, Missouri, a public health major in the Falk College; a women’s and gender studies major in A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program;
• Evelina Torres of Houston, Texas, a political science major in the Maxwell School and A&S, a citizenship and civic engagement major in the Maxwell School and a member of the Crown Honors Program; and
• Leondra Tyler of Cicero, New York, a neuroscience and psychology major in A&S.

The One University Awards Ceremony, an annual event to honor members of the ���ϲ����� community who are making a difference through academics, scholarship, creative work and dedicated service, will be held Friday, April 19, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel.

“Every year, we come together to celebrate the outstanding contributions and tremendous success of our students, faculty, staff and broader community,” says Chancellor Kent Syverud. “The accomplishments of this year’s recipients reinforce what it means to be Orange. This ceremony also shines a bright spotlight on the work being done around campus, much of which happens behind the scenes. I thank the many members of our community who organized this event and look forward to recognizing this year’s winners.”

Two major awards—the Chancellor’s Medal and the Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence—will be bestowed. The ceremony will also include the presentation of the Student-Athlete Award, Judith Seinfeld Scholarship, Meredith Professorship for Teaching Excellence, Teaching Recognition Award, Diversity and Inclusion Award, William Pearson Tolley Medal for Distinguished Leadership in Lifelong Learning and Chancellor’s Forever Orange Award.

���Ի��� will also be recognized. This year’s��University Scholars,��, and Remembrance and Lockerbie Scholars will also be honored.

All members of the University community are invited and encouraged to attend. A reception will follow in the lobby of the Heroy Geology Laboratory.

American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) will be provided at the ceremony. For questions about accessibility or to request accommodations, contact Gabe Coleman at gbcolma@syr.edu.

Award Recipients��

�ճ����Chancellor’s Medal��is the University’s highest honor and is awarded to individuals in honor of their trailblazing and extraordinary contributions to the University, to an academic body of knowledge or to society. This year’s recipient is��, Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence and professor of electrical engineering and computer science in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

�ճ����Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence��recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions in four overarching categories:

• The award for��Excellence in Student Research recognizes students who have engaged in collaborative research that has the potential to make a deep and lasting impact on greater society. This year’s recipients are Jingjing Ji, a doctoral candidate in chemical engineering in the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (graduate), and Ashtha Singh, an international relations major in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and citizenship and civic engagement major in the Maxwell School (undergraduate).
• The award for��Outstanding Contributions to the Student Experience and University Initiatives acknowledges faculty and staff who, through their work, enhance the undergraduate experience for students or make invaluable contributions to supporting and advancing the University’s mission and goals. The recipients are��, associate professor of communications in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications (faculty); , chief operating officer for the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families (professional staff); , program coordinator of citizenship and civic engagement in the Maxwell School (professional staff) and , events coordinator at Lubin House (support staff).
• �ճ����Faculty Excellence and Scholarly Distinction award is intended for faculty members who are collaborators in work of intellectual richness that has the potential for future impact. The work of these nominees offers possibilities for collaboration within the University and outside in partnership with others. This year’s honorees are��, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Art and Music Histories in the College of Arts and Sciences, and , associate dean of research and professor of Public Health in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics.
• Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence, Lifetime Achievement Award. This award honors those who have made extraordinary contributions toward advancing all four pillars of excellence over the arc of their careers while at ���ϲ����� and beyond. This year’s recipient is��, Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence and professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

The other awards to be presented are:

• �ճ����Student-Athlete Award recognizes the top female and top male student athletes and are presented to the senior student-athletes with the highest cumulative grade point average over the course of their academic and athletic careers. This year’s recipients are Izabela Krakic, an international relations major in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and College of Arts and Sciences and member of the women’s rowing team, and Julius Rauch, an entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises major in the Whitman School of Management and a member of the men’s soccer team.
• Seinfeld Scholarship: Each year ���ϲ����� honors the talents of outstanding faculty or students through an��, a distinguished alumna and member of the University Board of Trustees. Awards are made to those who have been determined by their peers to have made outstanding contributions to the beauty of the world, to have added to human values and to ending human abuse anywhere in the world, and to have demonstrated passion for excellence, creativity and originality in academic or artistic fields. This year, the designation is bestowed upon a faculty member,��, associate professor of advertising in the Newhouse School.
• �ճ����Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professorships for Teaching Excellence were created in 1995 to recognize and reward outstanding teaching among faculty. The 2024-27 Meredith Professors are��, professor in the School of Information Studies, and , Bond, Schoeneck and King Distinguished Professor in the College of Law.
• In 2001, the Meredith Professorship Program was expanded to recognize teaching excellence by non-tenured faculty and adjunct and part-time instructors. Awards are given in two categories:��Early Performance ���Ի���Continuing Excellence. This year’s honorees in the Early Performance category are��, assistant professor of television, radio and film in the Newhouse School; , associate teaching professor of electrical engineering and computer science in the College of Engineering and Computer Science; , assistant professor of visual communications in the Newhouse School; , assistant teaching professor of Chinese and Chinese language in the College of Arts and Sciences; and , assistant professor in the School of Architecture. The two honorees in the Continuing Excellence category are��, assistant dean of online and distance education and associate teaching professor of social work in the Falk College, and , teaching professor and graduate director of nutrition and food studies in the Falk College.
• �ճ����Diversity and Inclusion Award��recognizes an individual who is integral in helping us achieve academic excellence at a university that is welcoming to all through our investments in a diverse, inclusive, accessible and equitable community. This year’s recipient is��, teaching professor in the College of Law and faculty fellow for the Office of Strategic Initiatives and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
• �ճ����William Pearson Tolley Medal for Distinguished Leadership in Lifelong Learning is based in the School of Education and honors national or international leadership in support of lifelong learning. This year’s recipient is ’77, executive director of MidPenn Legal Services, adjunct professor of law at PennState’s Dickinson Law and an alumna of the School of Education.
• �ճ����Chancellor’s Forever Orange Award recognizes individual students, faculty or staff who—by virtue of extraordinary hard work, good values and commitment to excellence—have come to embody the best of ���ϲ�����. This year’s recipients are , associate vice president of parent engagement and student experience, and , head coach of the men’s soccer team.

“Interrogating the Racial Wealth Gap: Thinking Locally,” featured presentations by five faculty teams whose research is supported by 2023 grants. Projects focused on how demographics, situations and policies may create conditions that contribute to—or can help resolve—the existence of a .

The term “” refers to disparities in levels of accumulated wealth for individuals, families and groups and the ability of different racial and ethnic populations to access and accumulate opportunities, means of support and resources.

The symposium’s local focus is especially pertinent because has one of the highest poverty rates () in the U.S. and a child poverty level of close to 50%, according to and . Poverty rates impact such as accessibility to health care, housing, employment and educational opportunities, as well as economic well-being and racial and social equity.

At the symposium, researchers presented their findings and local community leaders spoke about how their organizations are addressing wealth gap issues.

Five Research Teams

“Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Through Environmental Justice and Participatory Design” findings from research of and of the and Daniel Cronan of the were presented.

The researchers reported on how air quality, heat islands, recreational facilities, public infrastructure, shelter and outdoor activity spaces affect the well-being and livelihood of neighborhoods in marginalized communities. Working with community partners and city agencies, they planned a new community space on ���ϲ�����’s south side that features structures, landscaping and programming, with construction to begin this spring. Lender Center postdoctoral researcher J Coley also spoke on “Gentrification and Displacement in the American Rust Belt.” That presentation examined the impact of federal housing policy and gentrification on Black Americans’ ability to build wealth.

“Do Underserved and Underrepresented Communities Pay a Higher Premium in Employer-Sponsored Healthcare Coverage?” was presented by and of the and Patricia Crawford of the University of Rhode Island. They discovered significant socioeconomic disparities in healthcare coverage costs for underserved and underrepresented communities, especially for employer-sponsored health insurance at the state level. They reported that underserved populations, particularly those identifying as Black, allocate a higher percentage of income to employer-sponsored healthcare premiums than white and Hispanic individuals.

University Trustee Gisele Marcus ’89, a Whitman alumna, chaired that discussion session. Marcus is vice dean for the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and a professor of practice for diversity, equity and inclusion at Washington University in St. Louis.

Food Policy, Mental Health Response

“Food Policy Councils as a Vehicle to Address the Racial Wealth Gap in Food System Labor” was presented by of the and of the .

Data from 2016-2022 surveys by The Food Policy Network at the Johns Hopkins University Center for a Livable Future, and labor questions from its 2023 survey, were analyzed to assess tensions between small-scale food business owners and worker advocates. The pair found that while food business owners may be reticent to discuss labor policy, worker advocates want to see improvements in wages and labor conditions. Though both groups have worked with American food policy councils, the researchers said progress toward racial justice for food system workers may be limited due to these divided viewpoints and differing priorities. The researchers are continuing to conduct interviews and focus groups with some of the food policy councils.

“Advancing Mental and Behavioral Health Equity through the Promotion of an Equitable Crisis Response System” was presented by of the Maxwell School. She created two surveys—one for ���ϲ����� students, the other for the general public—to measure attitudes and perceptions about the national 988 suicide and crisis lifeline, particularly among communities of color. The surveys gauge attitudes toward mental health help-seeking; barriers to help-seeking behavior; perceptions and concerns about the service; and experiences of unfair treatment based on race and other identities.

Lender Center Senior Research Associate Kira Reed (right) introduces Maxwell School researcher Michiko Ueda-Ballmer (to her left) and community panelists Ann Rooney (far left) of Onondaga County and Carrie Brown of the University’s Barnes Center at The Arch for a discussion on a 988 suicide and crisis lifeline and community resources.

“K-12 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Policies and Plans” was presented by and of the . They discovered a spotty approach to the development and adoption of DEI policies and program integration in the New York State school districts they studied. While many had a DEI plan or have integrated DEI into their strategic goals, they found that support for the DEI work leaders are doing, and the speed and quality of those program implementations are highly varied. They also noted that several districts experienced community resistance to adopting DEI initiatives, especially around practices concerning LGBTQIA students.

Land and Wealth Loss

Thomas Shapiro, research professor of law and social policy at Brandeis University, also spoke about how the dispossession of lands from Black farmers has contributed to the racial wealth gap in the U.S. Though they collectively owned 16 million acres of land by 1910, Black farmers were dispossessed of 90% of that land over 70 years, extracting $326 billion in wealth (in today’s dollars) from that group, he said. Shapiro cited Pigford v. Glickman, a lawsuit the farmers brought against the U.S. Department of Agriculture alleging systemic racism in the allocation of farm loans and assistance. He called it “an important story…of racialized structures, policies and institutions that might be important to the work…of reparation frameworks and reparative justice.”

Community Participation

The event concluded with a community roundtable featuring local government and organizational leaders and moderated by , associate provost for strategic initiatives. Reporting on how their groups are addressing the racial wealth gap locally were Sharon Owens, ���ϲ����� deputy mayor; Melanie Littlejohn, president and CEO of the Central New York Community Foundation; and Robert Simmons, director of Micron Gives North America at the Micron Foundation.

This was the second annual symposium supported by MetLife Foundation’s $2.7 million award sponsoring three years of inquiry regarding racial wealth gap causes. The funds have also permitted the Lender Center to host community conversations and form new partnerships with leading national civic and academic institutions.

The next conversation, “Closing the Racial Wealth Gap: Public, Private and Philanthropic Collaborations,” takes place June 4 at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta.

Angelica Molina (left), Adya Parida (center) and Yajie (Lannie) Lan discuss their respective journeys to ���ϲ�����, how they found not only success but a welcoming community on campus, their advice for fellow international students and how they plan on making a difference in their communities once they graduate.

Finding out you were accepted into ���ϲ����� to pursue your academic dreams is a joyous time—and the start of a new adventure.

On this “’Cuse Conversation,” three accomplished international students stopped by to discuss their respective journeys to ���ϲ�����, how they found not only success but a welcoming community on campus, their advice for fellow international students and how they plan on making a difference in their communities once they graduate.

Adya Parida ’25 traveled nearly 7,700 miles from her home in Ranchi, India, to study computer science in the (ECS).

Yajie (Lannie) Lan ’24 ventured more than 7,300 miles from her home in Chengdu, China, to earn an architecture degree from the .

Angelica Molina G’25 ventured more than 2,700 miles from her home in Cali, Colombia, to earn master’s degrees in public administration and international relations in the .

Check out episode 161 of the podcast featuring Parida, Molina and Lan. A transcript [PDF]��is also available.

Election to the AIA’s College of Fellows is one of the highest individual honors the institute bestows on members. Out of a total AIA membership of more than 98,000, only 3% carry this distinction.

The elevation to fellowship is conferred on architects with at least 10 years of AIA architect membership and demonstrated influence in at least one of the following areas: promoted the aesthetic, scientific and practical efficiency of the profession; advanced the science and art of planning and building by advancing the standards of practice; coordinated the building industry and the profession of architecture; ensured the advancement of the living standards of people through their improved environment; made the profession of ever-increasing service to society; advanced the science and art of planning and building by advancing the standards of architectural education and training.

Fellows are selected by a nine-member Jury of Fellows. This year’s jury included Chair Sandra Barclay, Hon. FAIA, Barclay & Crousse Architecture; Andrew Fox Bromberg, Hon. FAIA, Andrew Bromberg Architects; Lisa Lamkin, FAIA, Brown Reynolds Watford Architects, Inc; Carl D’Silva, FAIA, Perkins + Will; Sanford Garner, FAIA, RGCollaborative; Margaret McFadden Carney, FAIA, Cornell University; Pamela Rew, FAIA, KSS Architects; Anne Schopf, FAIA, Mahlum; and Lourdes Solera, FAIA, MCHarry Associates.

“We congratulate Ann Marie and Jeffrey on the occasion of being elevated to the prestigious AIA College of Fellows,” says Michael Speaks, dean of the School of Architecture. “Such recognition is a testament to not only their singular achievements, which are impressive, but also to their significant contributions to the profession and society on a national level.”

Ann Marie Borys

Ann Marie Borys��is a professor in the . As an architect and scholar who studies conditions of practice and the built environment as material culture, her research explores the relationship of construction, intention and meaning. Borys examines the ideas and influences that contribute to design and their relationship to the physical and experiential qualities of architecture.

Borys began practicing architecture in Washington, D.C. and Boston area firms, achieving licensure along the way. She taught full-time at the University of Cincinnati in 1991 and joined the faculty of the University of Washington in 2010, where she regularly teaches an undergraduate integrated design studio, a required graduate history and theory course, and a required professional practice course.

Borys has published two books,��“,”�� the first English-language book on this 16th-century northern Italian architect, and “,” which explores the denominational context for significant contributions to 150 years of American architecture and how they embody the unique social and cultural profile of Unitarianism in American history. Both books focus on shifts in the role of the architect and on interpretation of design as an expression of explicitly stated ideas and values.

Borys holds a bachelor of architecture degree from the University of Maryland, a master’s degree in architecture from ���ϲ����� and a doctoral degree in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania, where she focused on Roman and Renaissance studies.

“I am incredibly honored to become a member of the College of Fellows and proud to be included in a group of accomplished colleagues advancing all aspects of the profession,” says Borys. “I am grateful to the honors and awards committee of AIA Seattle for the support and mentorship I received in this process, and for the esteemed colleagues that were willing to support me as well with their letters. This honor provides a sense of satisfaction in reflecting on certain struggles and challenges along the way—as well as the successes—and discovering that they all contributed to a larger purpose.”

Jeffrey J. Pastva

Jeffrey J. Pastva is the vice president of development at , a Philadelphia-based real estate firm. As an architect and certified passive house consultant, he has extensive experience designing housing—including affordable, student and senior typologies—for both single and multi-family projects as well as new and rehab projects. Previously, Pastva held senior project architect roles for traditional architectural practices in the Philadelphia area.

A longtime Philadelphia resident, Pastva is highly active in his local and national AIA organization, serving as the 2021 AIA Pennsylvania President and on the AIA Philadelphia board. He has also held the role of director of communications for the AIA Young Architects Forum (YAF) and editor-in-chief for “YAF CONNECTION” and the AIA College of Fellows “QUARTERLY” magazines.

At the civic level, Pastva served as co-chair of his neighborhood community organization’s architectural review committee, which set the precedent for design review committees throughout the city. He also initiated and led a community development partnership with AIA’s Blueprint for Better campaign, AIA Pennsylvania and the New Cumberland Borough in Pennsylvania that became a model for how national grant funding and an AIA state chapter could engage at a local level. The project was awarded an American Society of Association Executives Gold Circle Award in 2020.

Pastva has been amply recognized for his contributions to the field, including being named a recipient of the 2017 Young Architects Award by AIA, a year after he won the AIA Pennsylvania’s Emerging Professional Award.

Pastva holds a bachelor of architecture degree from ���ϲ����� and has been a licensed architect in Pennsylvania since 2011.

“Being elevated to the College is a tremendous honor and it means I have even more of a responsibility to give back to the profession,” says Pastva. “I have the privilege of earning this distinction in an early stage of my career and I pledge to provide guidance, mentorship and assistance to the emerging talent in our profession so they can reach their own potential and goals.”

For more information on the College of Fellows or to view the complete list of newly elevated architect fellows, visit the .

The awards are funded by a 2022 grant that supports research and community programming over three years to examine the racial wealth gap’s root causes and ideas that may resolve its economic and social inequalities, says , Lender Center interim director. The awards are part of the Lender Center for Social Justice initiative led by the

The racial wealth gap is an ongoing issue that undermines potential economic and social progress and opportunities for members of underserved and underrepresented communities, according to , Lender Center senior research associate and associate professor in the Whitman School of Management.

“These research projects are noteworthy because of their unique courses of inquiry, their highly inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional nature and their close engagements with ���ϲ����� community members and organizations,” says Phillips.

Projects receiving the one-year grants and involved faculty are:

“Addressing the Racial Wealth Gap Through Increasing Decennial Census Self-Response Rates in Marginalized Communities”

Leonard Lopoo

This project will test mechanisms to try to increase self-response rates for the 2030 federal census in undercounted communities in New York State. Successful efforts could offset census undercounts that might otherwise reduce federal funding for education, health care, housing, infrastructure and other vital services.

• , , principal investigator
• ,

Brice Nordquist

“���ϲ����� Futures”

This study looks at ���ϲ�����’s arts and humanities infrastructure and how universities and community organizations can partner in offering arts and humanities programming and college and career support to historically marginalized communities.�� Led by the ’ , the effort involves multiple South Side organizations.

• , College of Arts and Sciences, principal investigator.
• ,
• ,

“Does Military Service Mitigate the U.S. Racial Wealth Gap? Overlooked Pathways for��Underrepresented Minorities in Public Service”

Arielle Newman

Corri Zoli

This project explores how military service intersects with racial wealth disparities. Researchers will look at military service as a means of economic advancement and a way to overcome social barriers that may hinder underrepresented minorities who are pursuing post-service career advancement and entrepreneurship.

• , , and , Whitman School, principal investigators
• , (IVMF)
• ,
• , Maxwell School
• , IVMF
• , Lender Center for Social Justice
• , University of Pittsburgh

“From Highways to High-Speed Internet: Leveraging Equitable Infrastructure for the Data Economy”��

LaVerne Gray

Researchers are determining whether access to first-class digital information, services, assets and increased technology training can reduce the racial wealth gap by lessening barriers to digital networks, critical information and data literacy skills. Skills-training workshops are planned with community members.����

• and , (iSchool), principal investigators
• , iSchool
• , iSchool
  

  Beth Patin

• iSchool
• , College of Arts and Sciences/
• , , Whitman School

“Opportunity Design: Engaging Public Health in Low-Income Communities”

Hannibal Newsom

This study leverages interest in ongoing energy retrofit work at 418 Fabius Street in the James Geddes Housing development in ���ϲ����� to generate a more comprehensive examination of social determinants of health through the process of opportunity mapping.

• , , principal investigator
• , College of Visual and Performing Arts, co-principal investigator
• , School of Architecture, co-investigator

“Nourishing Families: Parents as Partners in the Alignment of a Mindful Eating Intervention to Meet the Needs of Low-Income and Marginalized Families With Young Children”

Lynn Brann

Parent and teacher workshops that include mindful yoga and mindful eating lessons for children are planned to address the nutrition needs of low-income, underrepresented families in ���ϲ�����. Research will explore if better nutrition for vulnerable populations can mean better health for families and more opportunities for their gainful employment, lessening the racial wealth gap.

• , , principal investigator
• , Falk College
• , Falk College

“Addressing Obesity and Hypertension in Refugees through Culturally Relevant Meal Interventions”��

Miriam Mutambudzi

This project looks at obesity and hypertension in diaspora populations and works with African immigrants on post-immigration diets to introduce healthy adaptations while preserving culinary heritage. The goal is to assess whether healthier eating can reduce health issues and boost labor force participation, generating improved socioeconomic status.

• , Falk College, principal investigator
• , Falk College

“Disability as a Critical Element in Exploring the Racial Wealth Gap”

Nannette Goodman

Researchers will identify challenges faced by Black, Indigenous and People of Color individuals with��disabilities and will examine the role of disability in the racial wealth gap. They plan to develop recommendations regarding policies and practices that limit economic inclusion and trap people with disabilities into poverty.

• , College of Law, principal investigator
• , College of Law

“Optimizing Corporate Supplier Diversity Programs and Corporate-Facing Regulations for Addressing the Racial Wealth Gap”��

Karca Aral

This initiative examines diversity interactions and legislative interventions in business-to-business aspects of wealth distribution and corporate supplier diversity programs. Researchers will develop guidance on diversity programs and diversity initiatives while enhancing those programs’ potential to level the racial wealth gap.

• , Whitman School, faculty lead
• , Whitman School
• ., Whitman School

Celebrations were hosted by the Newhouse School, School of Architecture and Orange After Dark/the Center for International Services. Additionally, the Asian American Journalists Association, Chinese Students and Scholars Association and Chinese Union hosted a dinner and two galas. The events presented the opportunity to share Chinese culture—including performance arts, cuisine and time-honored traditions—with the entire campus community. The photos below capture the essence and celebratory nature of the holiday.

Chinese Union Spring Gala (Photo by Qianzhen Li ’25)

Chinese Union Spring Gala (Photo by Qianzhen Li ’25)

Chinese Union Spring Gala (Photo by Qianzhen Li ’25)

Newhouse School Lunar New Year Celebration (Photo by Angela Ryan)

Newhouse School Lunar New Year Celebration (Photo by Angela Ryan)

School of Architecture Lunar New Year Celebration (Photo by Amelia Beamish)

School of Architecture Lunar New Year Celebration (Photo by Amelia Beamish)

School of Architecture Lunar New Year Celebration (Photo by Amelia Beamish)

School of Architecture Lunar New Year Celebration (Photo by Amelia Beamish)

School of Architecture Lunar New Year Celebration (Photo by Amelia Beamish)

Asian American Journalists Association Dinner (Photo by Patricia Duong)

Asian American Journalists Association Dinner (Photo by Patricia Duong)

Asian American Journalists Association Dinner (Photo by Patricia Duong)

Asian American Journalists Association Dinner (Photo by Patricia Duong)

Orange After Dark/Center for International Services Lunar New Year Celebration (Photo by Angelica Molina)

Orange After Dark/Center for International Services Lunar New Year Celebration (Photo by Wei Gao)

Orange After Dark/Center for International Services Lunar New Year Celebration (Photo by Wei Gao)

Orange After Dark/Center for International Services Lunar New Year Celebration (Photo by Ela Rozas)

A student receives a red envelope at a 2023 Lunar New Year celebration held on campus. (Photo by Angela Ryan)

While many people here in the U.S. celebrated the start of a new year when the Gregorian calendar flipped from Dec. 31 to Jan. 1, as many as 2 billion people from Asian cultures around the globe joyfully observe the Lunar New Year—sometimes also known as Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival.

On Feb. 10, we will bid farewell to the Year of the Rabbit and usher in the Year of the Dragon, which according to the Chinese Zodiac represents nobility, confidence and strength. Lunar New Year celebrations last up to 16 days and can include such various customs as gathering with family, preparing traditional foods, artistic performances and the gifting of red envelopes to pass on good fortune and blessings to the younger generations.

For international students on campus looking for a little taste of home or for anyone who simply wants to celebrate a new beginning based on the lunar calendar, check out the following selection of Lunar New Year events being held on campus.

Feb. 2: Chinese Union Spring Gala

On Friday, Feb. 2, from 6 to 8 p.m. the campus community is invited to Goldstein Auditorium in the Schine Student Center for a celebration hosted by registered student organization (RSO) . The gala features 15 student performances showcasing pop music, dancing and traditional Chinese folk song, and culinary delights offered in collaboration with a local top-tier Chinese restaurant.

“Gathering together to commemorate the festival is crucial for alleviating homesickness and fostering a sense of togetherness,” says Chinese Union President Ruohan Xu ’24.

Feb. 5-9: Food Services Pop-Ups

Campus dining centers will host pop-up events all week celebrating the Lunar New Year with a selection of dumplings, egg rolls and authentic sauces served during lunchtime! The schedule is as follows:

• Monday, Feb. 5: Graham
• Tuesday, Feb. 6: Shaw
• Wednesday, Feb. 7: Sadler
• Thursday, Feb. 8: Brockway
• Friday, Feb. 9: Ernie Davis

Feb. 8: Newhouse School Lunar New Year Celebration

Students in the Newhouse School of Public Communications will hold a tabling event inside Food.com on Thursday, Feb 8, from noon to 1 p.m. Anyone passing through the building is welcome to stop by to enjoy a treat of Asian snacks and candies provided in red envelopes!

Feb. 9: School of Architecture Lunar New Year Celebration

On Friday, Feb. 9, a will be held in Slocum Hall from 5:15 to 7:30 p.m., organized by international students in the School of Architecture and Dean Michael Speaks.

The Slocum Hall atrium will be transformed into a festival-like atmosphere where students can take a break from the pressures of studio life and engage in activities such as knot tying, zodiac study, paper cutting and a photo booth. Dumplings, spring rolls, fried rice, chocolate coins and traditional candies will be served.

Also of note, a series of short presentations about East Asian culture and architecture by architecture faculty will begin at 5:30 p.m. A recording of this video will be made available following the event.

Feb. 9: Asian American Journalists Association Dinner

Another RSO, the ���ϲ����� chapter of the , will host a Lunar New Year dinner that is open to all! The event will be held from 5:30 to 8 p.m. in the I3 Center of Newhouse 3.

Feb. 10: Chinese Students and Scholars Association New Year Gala

On Saturday, Feb. 10, the RSO (CSSA) will host its annual Chinese New Year gala, a tradition dating back to the group’s founding in 2000. From 6 to 10 p.m. in Goldstein Auditorium in the Schine Student Center, patrons can enjoy a variety of singing and dancing programs and games to invite happiness in the new year.

“We host this event to give Chinese students studying in the United States the warmth of home, but also to promote our Chinese culture to students from other countries,” says CSSA President Jiayi Xu ’27. “It is also a platform for students to show their talents and skills in after-school life.”

Feb. 10: Orange After Dark/Center for International Services Lunar New Year Celebration

The campus community is invited to the Panasci Lounge and 304 ABC Schine Student Center from 9 p.m. to midnight for the Orange After Dark/Center for International Services Lunar New Year celebration. The evening includes such activities as a calligraphy workshop, origami workshop, Chinese coin decorating, Kahoot trivia, a Lunar New Year selfie station and more! Traditional Chinese food and refreshments will be provided. Please if you plan to attend.

Share Your Lunar New Year Photos With Us!

However you decide to celebrate—whether at the events mentioned above or elsewhere—send your photos to SU News! Email newsphoto@syr.edu and we’ll share a selection of Lunar New Year pictures in the weeks to come.

Christina Chi Zhang (Boghosian Fellow 2023-2024)

Christina Chi Zhang

Christina Chi Zhang, the eighth Harry der Boghosian Fellow at ���ϲ����� Architecture, will teach the visiting critic studio, “A Seed for a Song: Urban Seed Libraries as Memory Vessels,” where students will learn about a city and its recent history, and design for its people with sensitivity and care.

As place-makers, how do we make hopeful and benevolent spaces in a post-traumatic city? Spending years in darkness before it germinates and grows, a seed is a powerful metaphor for resilience and hope in difficult times. In Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the city that endured the longest siege in the history of modern warfare, seeds are rich in meaning; they carry generations of indigenous knowledge, represent wartime memories, and invite people to collectively care, imagine and plant a new landscape.

Traveling to Sarajevo and working with local collaborators Kuma International and Smirna Kulenović, students will learn to translate rigorous on-site research into sensitive design solutions by designing a series of small-scale “seed libraries” located on the public streets of Sarajevo. These urban seed libraries will not only showcase and transmit seeds of indigenous plants, but also collect and tell oral histories about these plants, and provide spaces for gathering, sharing, and other public activities. Through this design exercise, students will explore architecture’s power to tell stories, connect, and heal.

�ܳ󲹲Բ�’s fellowship research will culminate in the form of a symposium and exhibition in fall 2024.

Gary Bates (Make Make) and Albert Williamson-Taylor (AKT II)

Gary Bates (left) and Albert Williamson-Taylor

and will teach the visiting critic studio, “BIG Harlem,” which is framed around housing, workspace, environmental justice, health equity and economic development and proposes a deliberate transgression of the status quo, afforded by the absence of client, budget and program.

The studio will begin by reinterpreting programs, reclaiming the drawing and designing for scenarios yet to be considered. Students will look to learn from aspects of Harlem’s history that are rarely addressed: the profound efforts of those who have worked to revitalize the community and will investigate the rise, fall and reinvention of community development corporations in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City.

Beyond the traditional lens of redlining, flight, deindustrialization, abandonment and disinvestment, the studio will start where CDC’s left off in the 1980s, replete with their failed efforts to attract the middle class in this new context of the creative destruction of Harlem and the recapture of the urban core. In this context, the studio will attempt to resurrect the radicalism that informed the formation of community development corporations, and propose a step change, from HOUSING as an architectural construct to LIVING as a social framework.

Laura Salazar and Pablo Sequero Barrera (salazarsequeromedina)

and will teach the visiting critic studio “Platform Surfside: The Resilient Case Study House” that foregrounds the design of a single-family residence in Surfside, Florida, as a case study house illustrating strategies for coastal resilience in response to sea-level rise.

Laura Salazar (center) and Pablo Sequero Barrera (right)

As one of the most recognizable, culturally valuable and environmentally vulnerable landscapes in the world, the present and escalating effects of climate change confronting the built environment on Surfside—a town in Miami-Dade County on a coastal barrier island in the northern extension of Miami Beach—are exemplary for coastal communities everywhere. Much of the landscape of metropolitan Miami has been artificially constructed, and its continued existence hinges on further infrastructural adaptation and mitigation systems at the territorial scale.

Beginning with this studio, the School of Architecture plans to launch a yearlong campaign around coastal resilience in collaboration with the Surfside community, generously supported by School of Architecture alumnus and Surfside resident Roy Raskin ’95. While the scope and complexity of the challenge is overwhelming, the campaign plays out over a sequence of smaller design projects that serve to produce awareness and incite actionable efforts in the community.

In this spring studio, students will design practical, single-family housing models that embody known resilient, adaptive principles that consider the performance of their houses under storm and sea-level rise conditions. As the project progresses in scale and specificity, a kit-of-parts will be derived from the design process as a constructive system or a catalog of forms, which could be redeployed to other coastal communities.

Complementing the development of the project, students will travel to Surfside twice over the course of the semester where they’ll explore the site conditions, the community and its surroundings, experience the architectural history of Miami as a lineage to which the Case Study House must respond to, and have the opportunity to verify the validity of adaptive design principles and design strategies by sharing the production of their mid reviews with local collaborators and regional manufacturers.

T+E+A+M

Adam Fure, Meredith Miller and Thom Moran (standing left to right) and Ellie Abrons (seated) of T+E+A+M. (Photo by Hugo Yu)

will teach the visiting critic studio, “Screen Space / Green Space,” where students will use the representational tools of scenography, virtual production and livestreaming to design an architectural proposition for an existing building in Detroit.

Avoiding demolition of buildings has become an urgent task for the field of architecture. Historical restoration and adaptive reuse are common strategies to preserve signature older buildings, but many buildings, especially those that may be seen as unremarkable, or that have fallen into severe disrepair, require more radical approaches to preservation.

This studio builds on T+E+A+M’s recent pedagogical experiments exploring the relationship between existing material conditions and digital representation, and their deepening expertise in repurposing buildings in disrepair. Working with an existing building site in Detroit, students will design on-site architectural interventions, digital spaces, production studios (green screen environments) and the mediated interactions that produce this hybrid architectural experience. During the semester, students will travel to Detroit to see and document the site and tour historical buildings and see the unique ways in which artists, architects and developers are imagining new uses for old buildings.

T+E+A+M will give a on Thursday, Feb. 8, at 5:30 p.m. in the atrium of Slocum Hall.

“Assembly: ���ϲ����� Voices on Art and Ecology’ features artworks made by faculty and recent alumni that contribute to emergent forms of ecological understanding. By placing these works in dialogue with objects from the museum’s permanent collection, the installation considers a broad cultural evolution from an environmentalism of the sublime to an ecology of intimacy.

Sarah McCoubrey, “Floating Oil,” 2012. Courtesy of the artist.

The exhibition is curated by Sayler/Morris (Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris, co-directors of The Canary Lab at ���ϲ�����), with Mike Goode, William P. Tolley Distinguished Professor in the Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences and Melissa Yuen, the art museum’s interim chief curator, assisted by Jeffrey Adams (Ph.D. Candidate in English), Jeanelle Cho ’24 (architecture and art history) and Abi Greenfield�� ’25 (history and political philosophy).

As stated by Sayler/ Morris, “The theme of this exhibition is ecology and any ecology properly regarded is an assembly of disparate beings, each with a distinct voice. We like the word assembly in this context
because it connotes more than a mere collection of voices; it implies that each voice will be heard and given space. Beyond this general meaning, we also intend the title to stand for the specific assembly of artistic voices all working within the ���ϲ����� community that we have brought together here.”

In correlation to the exhibition, and in partnership with Goode, the museum will launch the Art,
Ecology and Climate Project, composed of 15 online galleries highlighting works from the collection,
each devoted to a different ecological topic, idea or issue. A general instructor’s guide offers
assignments applicable to any of the e-museums, and detailed guides to individual e-museums offer
additional tools for teaching ecology and climate through art, as well as instructional techniques for
approaching art in the classroom–or on your own–through the lenses of ecology and climate.

“I have focused my Tolley Professorship on helping create tools for Humanities courses to
engage more with ecological and climatological issues, and Sayler/Morris have been working tirelessly
for years to foster ecological thought and activism through their amazing art and their connections to
other ecologically minded artists,” says Goode.�� “It made perfect sense to partner with them to curate an exhibit whose cross-artwork dialogues could at once anchor courses and foster greater ecological mindfulness in museum visitors more generally.”

Robert Rauschenberg, “Calf Startena,” 1977. Gift of Mr. Gerald B. Cramer,’52, H’10, 1978.

The exhibition and related programs have been made possible by generous support from the Humanities
Center (���ϲ����� Symposium); Department of English; The Canary Lab; College of Engineering and
Computer Science; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Undergraduate Program in
Environment, Sustainability and Policy; and the Environmental Storytelling of Central New York.

Featured events accompanying the exhibition include:

Art Break: ‘Assembly’ gallery tour with Melissa Yuen
Jan. 31, 12:15 to 1 p.m.
���ϲ����� Art Museum

All Art is Ecological
Feb. 22, 4 to 8 p.m.
���ϲ����� Art Museum and Shemin Auditorium
Art and Ecology Teaching Guides Launch (4 to 5 p.m.)
Gallery reception (5 to 6:30 p.m.)
Public lecture by Timothy Morton from Rice University (6:30 to 8 p.m.)

Environmental Storytelling CNY: Forging Ecological Awareness Through Art
March 7, 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Art Break: Bird Collisions in the Anthropocene with Holly Greenberg
March 19, noon to 4 p.m.
���ϲ����� Art Museum

Community Day
April 13, noon to�� 4 p.m.
���ϲ����� Art Museum

Visit the museum’s for more public programs surrounding the exhibition.

Their three-year research project, , offers new insights, recommendations and data supporting the practice of “retrofitting” older buildings. The team has demonstrated how updating interior and exterior building systems for increased energy efficiency and improved air quality can achieve “” energy use—where the energy a building harnesses is equal to or greater than the energy the building consumes. Retrofitting is an integral part of energy-use and carbon footprint reductions as well as lowering demolition waste and the building sector’s overall carbon impact, says , assistant professor at the and the project’s principal investigator.

Nina Wilson

“We expect to see wide application of our findings as the state and nation move forward in their efforts to fight climate change. Given the energy and carbon impact exerted by many thousands of retrofit-ready buildings just in New York state, it is important to keep delivering physical demonstration projects and data that enable the industry to better model and predict performance outcomes of retrofit approaches,” Wilson says.

New York State has set to combat climate change, committing $6.8 billion for projects to cut on-site energy consumption by 185 trillion BTUs by 2025, reach 70% renewably sourced electricity by 2030 and achieve a zero-emission electric grid by 2040.

The Net Zero project received a from the (NYSERDA), with an additional $200,000 from ���ϲ����� as part of a commitment to its Climate Action Plan.

Two-Building Approach

Two identical residential apartment buildings built in 1972 on�� Winding Ridge Road on the University’s South Campus were used for the study. One was chosen for retrofitting and the other served as a “control” to provide near-identical, non-retrofitted building data throughout the project.

Research began in 2021 with a building assessment to diagnose conditions like poor insulation, building envelope leakage and a lack of active ventilation and cooling systems. At the same time, sensor data, digital modeling, cost criteria and performance goals drove the design process. Construction of the retrofit was completed in the summer of 2022, followed by a year of post-occupancy energy and environmental data collection. That analysis compared the retrofitted building’s energy use to the non-retrofitted building to gauge the impact of the adjustments.

More Systems, Less Energy

The retrofit plan was initially modified due to cost issues during COVID-19, but because indoor thermal comfort and improved air quality remained as priorities, high-efficiency heat pumps and heat recovery ventilation systems were installed.

So far, Wilson says, the construction modifications have exceeded expectations, producing up to 80% reduction in energy use for heating and cooling, even with the addition of fresh air and cooling systems in place of the original electric baseboard heating. Data also shows significant improvements in indoor air quality through reductions in volatile organic compounds (VOCs), chemicals commonly found in indoor environments that can have long-lasting health effects.

Using holistic and interdisciplinary approaches have been important, given the research team’s expectation that this type of work will continue for decades, Wilson says. “We pushed beyond the simple energy-use reduction goal to include occupant well-being and environmental quality considerations. That we were able to do that and still meet the energy target was an outcome that provided valuable lessons.”

Interdisciplinary, Academic-Industrial Alliance

Faculty, staff and students from three University schools and colleges, the and the Office of Campus Planning, Design and Construction, plus industry experts and community business partners, participated in the project.

Bing Dong

, associate professor at the and a co-principal investigator, designed and managed building data-collection systems to measure indoor air quality, energy efficiency of the spaces and various ways occupant behavior (such as opening windows) affected energy use and indoor comfort levels. He used behavior models, building energy simulation and machine learning approaches in taking those measurements.

Bess Krietemeyer

associate professor and project co-principal investigator, led the design of an interactive, 3D exhibit showing how the ���ϲ����� community would benefit from the energy savings and improved environmental quality, health and well-being advantages that deep-energy retrofits can provide. The exhibit demonstrates how retrofitting can improve thermal comfort for occupants while realizing cost savings on monthly energy bills and provide fresher air to breathe inside and out. Through interactive, dynamic features, the exhibit also locates residential buildings of all types—from multifamily to single-family homes—to show where and how retrofits can support the health and vibrancy of all ���ϲ����� neighborhoods.

Jason Dedrick

faculty members and , also co-principal��investigators, created a website that broadcasts live project data and summarizes research methods, plus an app that streams energy performance data directly to building occupants’ personal devices.

Jeff Hemsley

Students have been involved in hands-on learning opportunities during all project phases. They have evaluated data, created modeling, analyzed innovative technologies and materials, reviewed life cycle analysis tools that measure carbon impact, assessed energy-saving technologies and documented all aspects of the work.

Website, MOST Exhibit

The website illustrates all phases of the project’s three-year path, from the start of building identification in 2021 through data collection, design origination and development and construction phases.

Bess Krietemeyer, center, project co-principal investigator, discusses aspects of the 3-D exhibit she developed showing how retrofitted buildings throughout ���ϲ����� could provide energy benefits. (Photo by Shengxuan Hector Yu.)

Through the interactive exhibit designed by Krietemeyer and Wilson, visitors can explore the impacts of deep-energy retrofits across residential communities in the ���ϲ����� area. The exhibit was developed in collaboration with interactive artists and students in the School of Architecture.

The display uses 3D depth-sensing technologies, tracking and gesture-directed software and projection mapping onto a 3D-printed model of the to display the environmental, health and economic benefits that retrofits offer. It will be on display at the in ���ϲ����� through the end of January.

The new journal was developed from a Fall 2023 Honors course, HNR340: Producing a Scholarly Journal, and highlights the academic work of students across disciplines. It includes pieces ranging from technical projects to analytical essays. The course is taught by Honors Program faculty member Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers, who served as advisor.

The editorial team consisted of Anjana Dasam ’26 (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), Samantha Olander ’26 (Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and Newhouse School), Elijah Schmeller ’25 (College of Arts and Sciences), Yuming Jiang ’25 (College of Arts and Sciences) and Neeya Rostampour ’25 (College of Arts and Sciences and David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics).

The design team included Gianna Rullo ’27 (School of Architecture), Brshna Sultan ’25 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management) and Jackelyn Villatoro-Ortiz ’25 (College of Visual and Performing Arts).

The website and marketing team included Amani Moses ’24 (College of Arts and Sciences and Whitman School), Kira Donegan ’26 (Newhouse School) and Ashfia Ibnat ’26 (College of Arts and Sciences).

According to Moses, the marketing director and website editor, “Research is an integral part of all our lives … we all actively engage in research to further our understanding of the world. Yet, we understand that sometimes it may be challenging for undergraduate students to find opportunities to showcase their everyday research achievements,” he says. “It is for this reason that we created The Crown: ���ϲ����� Honors Research Journal, to give Honors and SOURCE-funded students a chance to display the bountiful research that they are conducting both within and outside of their academic courses.”

Moses says, “We are a team of 11 students in the Reneé Crown University Honors program who have worked all semester to bring you the carefully curated research pieces.” The staff comprises students from all four graduating classes and over seven different schools and colleges, which allowed them to interact with each other’s unique perspectives when discussing the elements of this journal.

“Our varied outlooks led to the selection of 20 research articles that represent students from a range of disciplines, including architecture, mechanical engineering, political science and sociology. Furthermore, we wanted to ensure that various forms of research were displayed in our journal,” says Moses. “You will find some traditional research projects like Lucy Olcott’s piece, ‘Treating Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea: Developing a peptide antagonist to prevent chemotherapy-induced nausea.’ Alternatively, you will find more creative work that utilized background research for their creation, such as Ash Murray’s ‘Hunted: A tale of identity, self-discovery, mourning and acceptance.’ While these are only two examples of the stellar work within our journal, we wanted to showcase the wide array of talent in the ���ϲ����� undergraduate research community.”

“It was an absolute joy to work with such a talented and motivated group of students over the course of the semester,” says Dylan Mohr, open scholarship librarian at ���ϲ����� Libraries. “The reward at the end of this is both a SURFACE-hosted journal that showcases the incredible research and creative work done by the undergraduates at SU and a hands-on learning experience for students with the research and publishing process.”

Georgia Fernandes

From a young age, Georgia Fernandes ’24, a fifth-year student from Kenya studying in the School of Architecture, has always wanted to tell stories. Fernandes’ desire to create something from scratch, much like architecture, led her to begin writing movie scripts as a hobby during the pandemic. Realizing the impact that film had on communities in Kenya and around the world, Fernandes wanted to create films that would do the same and make people think, feel and imagine.

“All of my scripts surround strong women and put women in the main spotlight,” says Fernandes. “Where some create feel-good experiences, others are more of a raw insight into what it means to be a woman living in this world.”

After listening to true stories of the resilience and bravery that many young Kenyan girls had, Fernandes knew she had to tell their story.

“,” a Kenyan film highlighting the truth about HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence, written and produced by Fernandes, opened with its first screening in November 2022 on the eve of the , an annual international campaign led by UN Women.

Representing the perseverance that thousands of young girls demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic when statistics of gender-based violence reached appalling heights in Kenya, the film combines hundreds of different real-life stories affecting girls under the age of 15 that all have one thing in common: rape.

“Mercy”

In the film, 15-year-old Mercy faces the unimaginable. What could have been the end of her story is only the start of an incredible and transformative journey of triumph over adversity.

“‘Mercy’ is not a film that begs for sympathy, but it strives for change,” says Fernandes. “I think stories like this that describe the courage that young African girls show should not be kept secret but instead should be shared with the world. I hope that everyone who watches the short film will see how one wrong decision can affect multiple lives.”

“Mercy” officially opened for public viewing in March 2023, coinciding with , a day-long student-driven event to raise awareness of modern slavery.

“My hope for this film is that it will launch the , which would push men to think twice before they even touch a girl,” says Fernandes. “‘Mercy’ is more than a movie; it’s a movement with a purpose.”

Since premiering, the film has been that focus on women’s rights, including those partnering with the as well as the .

Fernandes is working on creating “Triple Caution,” a film about a female’s courage and determination in the Kenyan motorsport industry, due out in 2025.

NYSCA also awarded a $40,000 Organizational Support grant to an interdisciplinary art and storytelling collaboration by faculty from the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) and the School of Education and a separate, $20,000 award to Punto de Contacto/Point of Contact Inc.

This is a record-setting achievement for the University, since it marks the second year in a row that five faculty have received the highly competitive NYSCA awards, says Sarah Workman, associate director of research development (humanities) in the Office of Research and College of Arts and Sciences.

Duncan Brown, vice president for research, says the grants represent “an investment in the vibrant and diverse artistic voices of our faculty.”

“The breadth of this year’s awardees reflects our continued excellence in engaged scholarship in the arts, both by scholars working independently and by those working in unique collaborations— from the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Architecture, the College of Visual and Performing Arts and the School of Education,” Brown says.

Individual Artist Grants

Individual Artist grant awardees are:

Clockwise from top left: VPA faculty members Ann Clarke, Natalie Draper, Anne Laver, Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris

, associate professor of studio arts and dean emerita of VPA, for an outdoor textile installation, “Interior Landscapes.” She is using the concept of landscape writ large as a metaphor for states of mind to create sanctuary settings for reflection on the environment and the self. The installation will be developed at Stone Quarry Art Park in Cazenovia, New York.

VPA faculty members , associate professor of applied music and performance (organ), and , assistant professor of music composition/theory and history, for their project, “Reimagining the Organ—A Composer Portrait Project by Anne Laver and Natalie Draper.” Draper will write three new musical works that expand and diversify the classical organ repertoire. The pieces will be part of a new commercial recording and a contemporary music festival.

Canary Lab co-directors and VPA faculty members , associate professor of art photography, ���Ի���received a grant for their project, “Watershed.” The work reflects on the historical, spiritual and ecological significance of the Mahikannituk (Hudson) River through photography, video, writing and a program of public engagement.

, assistant professor of architecture at the School of Architecture, for the narrative documentary podcast “Here There Be Dragons: Odes(s)a, Film, Media and New Technology.” The podcast explores contemporary urban territories and engages listeners in the concept of security narratives. Season four is about Odesa, Ukraine.

Jess Myers (School of Architecture), left, and Dana Spiotta (College of Arts and Sciences)

, professor of English in the College of Arts and Sciences, for��“Mutual,”��a novel about multiple generations of a family in New York. The book engages with historical and personal forms of amnesia, notions of belonging, solitude and community.

Organizational Support Grants

The $40,000 Organizational Support grant was awarded to��, assistant professor of art therapy at VPA (as principal investigator), ���Ի���, ��assistant professor of educational leadership in the��School of Education (as co-principal investigator). The grant is for their research work and curriculum development project, “This Woman’s Work: Elevating Black Women Voices in CNY Through Visual Storytelling, Freedom Makerspaces and Community Arts.”

From left: Courtney Mauldin (School of Education), Rochele Royster (VPA) and Tere Paniagua (Point of Contact)

They plan to unearth historical and present-day stories regarding abolition, health disparities and anti-Black violence and connect a cohort of oral historians with local artists to create an interactive arts exhibition. They will also co-create open art studio/makerspaces, host intergenerational storytelling workshops and create curricula for public schools and libraries to chronicle the narratives, history and artwork to create a more complete picture of local history through the lived experiences of Black women.

At Point of Contact, the award will support the organization’s annual programs in literacy and visual arts and its work as a forum for community collaboration and open dialogue, says , executive director, cultural engagement for the Hispanic community.

Stephanie Shirilan, associate professor of English and textual studies, and Lawrence Chua, associate professor in the School of Architecture, have each committed to a four-week summer residency in 2025 at the SCRC.

���ϲ����� Libraries’ has awarded its two Faculty Fellows grants for the 2024-25 academic year.

Stephanie Shirilan, associate professor of English and textual studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Lawrence Chua, associate professor in the School of Architecture, have each committed to a four-week summer residency in 2025 at SCRC that includes workshops and training sessions on handling special collections materials, teaching students how to research within and across collections, and designing hands-on, individualized, creative and critically minded assignments with rare materials. The fellows, who applied and were selected by a committee of librarians, curators and faculty, will use what they learned and the materials from SCRC to teach newly developed courses the following year.

course Shakespeare’s Natural Worlds (ETS 421) will explore ways that the environmental humanities, and the study of the environmental and literary past, can offer powerful humanist tools for responding to ecological crisis in the present and future. By considering what it means to treat Shakespeare’s writings as an archive through which to conduct more inclusive historiography, students will endeavor to reimagine what it means to restore and preserve them through more public, interactive, creative and critical use in their projects—taking their work outside of the classroom and on to and across campus, as well as into digital spaces and places to broader audiences. In doing so, students will reflect on the ecology of ideas, from germination and proliferation to stewardship and care, to their lifecycles and legacies, exploring contexts of their creation and how they thrive (or not) in contexts across space, place, time and situation.

Queering the Map (ARC 432) course will ask students to reconstruct historic communities and neighborhoods that appear lost, missing or invisible by reading archival material against the grain to map out the spaces in which LGBTQ+ citizens of ���ϲ����� made place and community. Utilizing SCRC collections in conversation with oral histories and surveys of the built environment/landscape of the present and the past, students will explore the complex relationships between personal memory and desire and collective history and action. Through a public-facing, collaborative story map project, students will represent the ways LGBTQ+ people have historically found one another and created communities of resistance by sharing the voices and stories they’ve gathered and co-constructed.

Shirilan and Chua are challenging how academic discourse is created and perpetuated not only in their own scholarship, but in their approaches to how they engage students in their own creative-critical work. They don’t just enter spaces and concepts theoretically with students, but in their methodological approach to creating and disrupting established ways of knowing.

SCRC instruction and education librarian Jana Rosinski notes: “We are excited for students’ research to engage public audiences in the crucial work of understanding our current social, political and cultural constructs/constructions as extensions of the past—the things that took place or were prevented, the voices amplified or silenced, the fruition or destruction of ideas; everything in our current moment has a context that can be uncovered.”

���ϲ����� Libraries’ SCRC Faculty Fellows Program aims to support innovative curriculum development and foster new ideas about how to transform the role of special collections in University instruction. Each fellow receives a $5,000 payment along with guidance on how to provide students with a unique opportunity to research, analyze and interpret SCRC’s primary source materials in their class, and ongoing course support.

George Bain G’06, a member of the Library Associates, provided generous gift funding towards the Faculty Fellows in 2022-2023. Original funding for the SCRC Faculty Fellows Program was made possible through the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, which promotes the advancement and perpetuation of humanistic inquiry and artistic creativity by encouraging excellence in scholarship and in the performing arts, and by supporting research libraries and other institutions that transmit our cultural heritage.

SCRC will be hosting , for those interested in learning more about it from former Faculty Fellows on Nov. 10 at 10 a.m. To learn more about teaching with SCRC, contact Rosinski at jrosinsk@syr.edu. For more information about how to financially support a faculty fellow for the 2024-25 academic year and beyond, contact Ron Thiele at rlthiele@syr.edu or 315.560.9419.

Li Han and Hu Yan (Drawing Architecture Studio)

and , co-founders of Beijing-based , will teach the visiting critic studio, “Building Stories: The Poetry in Everyday Space,” where students will showcase how architecture and space transcend their utilitarian functions to become integral components of storytelling.

Li Han and Hu Yan

Inspired by the backdrop of the multi-family house featured in the graphic novel “Building Stories,” the studio is conceived as an experimental exploration of a design approach based on narrative and sensitivity. Beginning with the interior design of a multi-family house and gradually expanding to encompass various scales and design domains, ranging from everyday items and furniture to architecture and urban landscapes, students will embody different roles and derive inspiration from everyday spaces in ���ϲ�����, defining poetic moments through design and telling their own building stories. The entire design process—emphasizing intricate observation, detailed representation, multi-threaded storytelling and collage—is viewed as a comprehensive study of multi-family housing, spanning from the functional layout of living spaces to the lifestyles of residents, and from the cultural aesthetics of architecture to the historical memories of the city.

Han and Yan will give a , focusing on their upcoming exhibition, “,” on Sept. 21 at 6 p.m. in the Hosmer Auditorium at the Everson Museum of Art.

Da-Un Yoo (Ewha Womans University)

Da-Un Yoo

, professor in the Department of Architecture at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea, will teach the visiting critic studio, “Extreme Living: 22nd Century Seoul Housing,” which celebrates the 100th anniversary of the publication “Towards a New Architecture” by Le Corbusier by exploring the ‘new architecture’ for the 22nd century.

Just as Le Corbusier explored the various housing typologies and lifestyles that new technologies would change in the era of automobiles, airplanes, ships and mass production about 100 years ago, students will imagine the future of urban housing based on the latest technologies such as autonomous vehicles, drone taxis and online telecommunication. Using Seoul as the site for their investigations, students will research scenarios for extreme living and design a high-density urban housing proposal for 22nd-century Seoul. In addition to typical studio sessions, students will travel to Seoul in the fall, as part of a one-week sponsored trip, to gain a greater understanding of the city’s extreme housing culture—the high-rise apartment buildings and neighborhoods resembling ‘towers in the park’—reminiscent of the city Le Corbusier predicted 100 years ago.

Yoo will give a on Sept. 28 at 5:30 p.m. in the atrium of Slocum Hall.

Bing Bu (���ϲ����� Architecture and INCLS)

, director of the ���ϲ����� Architecture Three Cities Asia program, will teach the visiting critic studio, “Project Promised Land,” where students will examine “managed retreat” as a necessary measure in response to climate change induced natural hazards in the contexts of social, technological, economic, ecological and political aspects.

Bing Bu

Climate change now feels more real than ever as we have witnessed New York City covered by wildfire smog or California deserts flooded by a hurricane in the past summer. Whether or not we have lost the tipping point in the war against global warming, it’s time to take actions to adapt to these new climate patterns. Structured in two phases, the research phase and the design phase, the studio will focus on a relatively new approach to increased coastal hazard risks—managed retreat, the purposeful and coordinated action to move infrastructure and people away from areas of high-risk of negative impacts due to climate change. In phase one, students will research climate change and managed retreat for Lake Ontario communities in upstate New York and represent their findings through visual mediums. In phase two, working in site-specific project teams, students will identify issues and challenges from a local view and establish their managed retreat frameworks, design proposals and means of implementation for the built environment in both sending and receiving sites.

This studio is a part of the “ launched earlier this year by the New York Department of State (DOS) to engage graduate and undergraduate students in DOS programs and projects that focus on climate change and climate justice. During the semester, students will access a wide range of data and information provided by the DOS and meet twice a month with DOS officials and regional staff, as well as in-house experts and trusted partners. The final works produced by students will be shared with policymakers, program managers and decisionmakers from the Office of Planning, Development and Community Infrastructure as a visual tool, and incorporated into statewide policy and program guidance to be utilized by both DOS and other state agencies working on coastal and climate resilience.

Stephanie Davidson and Georg Rafailidis (DAVIDSON RAFAILIDIS)

and , co-founders of the architecture practice , will teach the visiting critic studio, “House for Everyone,” where students will look at an adaptive reuse project that exemplifies how architecture is both a private matter and a public good.

Stephanie Davidson and Georg Rafailidis

In this studio, students will examine a property located at the southern edge of the Adirondacks. Owned by a family with ties to ���ϲ�����, they have expressed an interest in opening up the use of the property, which has historically been a private summer home, and finding new ways that it can serve their private needs and serve a wider community. Students will analyze the existing buildings on the property: their materiality and construction, their apparent tectonic logics, the types of spaces they offer and their relationship to the landscape of the Adirondacks and the climate of upstate New York. They will study existing spatial typologies that have—either through design or happenstance—proven to be spaces for everyone: radically inclusive, and not bound to a specific program or user group, as well as a typology specific to the Adirondacks: “Great Camps.” Following these investigations, fragments of these studies will crosspollinate with documentation and exploration of the site—detailed measurements, exhaustive photos and an inventory of materials—taken from a sponsored site visit during peak fall foliage season. Through the complex process of adaptive-reuse, students will create outcomes that are typologically unclassifiable and alive, informed by the past and imaginings of the future, hopeful and provocative, populist and joyful.

Surviving the end of an academic year can be a challenging exercise for students. With their final assignments and exams completed, no one would blame these students for wanting to recharge their batteries and take a long, relaxing summer vacation.

But for many, once the rigors of the academic year have been completed, a new challenge takes its place during the summer: landing a competitive and impactful internship that can put them on the path to a fulfilling career once they graduate.

Three current students—Tianyi Zheng ’25, Bakary Darboe ’25 and Gift Onyenkwere ’25—discussed how their summer internships will set them up for lifelong career success, the valuable lessons they learned on the job and how they feel energized to pursue their professional goals after their internships.

Tianyi Zheng ’25, Bakary Darboe ’25 and Gift Onyenkwere ’25 participated in summer internships that each one of them feels will set them up for lifelong career success.

Tianyi Zheng ’25

Tianyi Zheng ’25

Zheng is a senior in the who plans on becoming both an independent architect and a farmer when she graduates. For her internship, Zheng traveled to Fukushima, Japan, which in 2011 experienced a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the country.

Zheng says a community of scientists, architects and artists formed in the village following the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Zheng’s internship—which was fully funded thanks to the Office of Central Career Services and its —served as the perfect compliment to the architectural theories and ideas she’s been studying at ���ϲ�����.

“I transitioned from being a student to a member of society, as various real-world factors were presented, such as finances, materials and structure. These factors imbue the designer with a greater sense of vitality and uncertainty. In school, I envision society through books and lectures, while in the real world, the richness of reality helps me construct a new intellectual realm. The combination of university studies and this internship nurtures my ideals through the intertwining of theory and practice,” Zheng says.

Company: Korogaro Association, an architecture office established by architect Kengo Sato in the Otama Village in Fukushima, Japan. Korogaro coexists with the landscape and the community, drawing inspiration from the land, the farmers and daily life. Its projects range from artworks to public buildings.

How will this internship help you achieve your career goals? “Architects can come in a variety of forms. There are architects who focus on urban scales in cities or who are involved in rural development in the countryside … My questions are: What kind of architect do I want to be? How can I become like that? These two questions became clearer after the internship in Japan.”

Most important lessons learned: “Learning advice and skills from others has served as inspirational guides for my future. The person who has influenced me the most is my boss, Kengo Sato. His architectural practice, rural lifestyle and personal charisma as a leader have shown me another dimension of what an architect can be. At the same time, being able to participate in every process of each project has shown me the direction and steps needed to become an independent architect.”

Bakary Darboe ’25

Bakary Darboe ’25

Darboe is on the pre-law track as a in the . Upon graduation, Darboe plans to earn a law degree. His career ambitions include becoming a lawyer, an entrepreneur, an international businessman, a real estate investor and a philanthropist.

“The more of an asset you can prove to be, the more likely those positive impacts will come back full circle. What can I do to help should always linger in your mind when meeting people instead of, ‘What can this person do for me?’” Darboe says when asked about the most important lesson he learned from his internship.

Company: Vornado Realty Trust, a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns and manages Class A commercial properties across North America.

Responsibilities: Routing invoices to the assistant property manager for approval to process payment to various vendors; learning about the company’s leases, contracts and the different languages, amendments and clauses contained in various documents.

Other important lessons learned: “The importance of relationships—that relationships should be a two-way street—and to be personable, always willing to learn. So long as you are willing to be a sponge and have that drive and tenacity, there are no shortage of individuals who are eager to teach you. I will apply such an attitude whenever I embark on a new venture.”

Favorite part of the internship: “During my 10 weeks with Vornado, they hosted weekly lunches for the interns with executives, and we heard about various individuals’ paths and their journeys to success. It was reinvigorating to learn there’s no set path or formula to succeeding. I never got the sense that these folks were doing these lunch and learns to get something in return. They took time out of their busy lives to give us guidance and wisdom on how to better thrive in real property. I, too, intend to give back to those who come after me.”

Gift Onyenkwere ’25

Gift Onyenkwere ’25

Onyenkwere is a junior majoring in supply chain management, retail management and marketing management in the . Once Onyenkwere graduates, she plans to work as a supply chain manager, specializing in areas related to inventory control and logistics. Onyenkwere is interested in becoming an area manager in the retail sector, overseeing multiple locations while contributing to efficient operations, and she aspires to become a marketing analyst, relying on data-driven insights to create effective marketing strategies that drive business growth.

“As part of my internship, I spearheaded the implementation of a comprehensive training program for a team of over 100 employees. This initiative resulted in a significant improvement in customer service scores, as validated by customer feedback surveys. Additionally, I successfully developed and executed promotional events that substantially increased foot traffic to the store, leading to a considerable boost in sales,” Onyenkwere says of how she made an impact on the store through her internship.

Company: UNIQLO USA, a prominent retail organization known for its innovative approach to fashion and a commitment to delivering high-quality apparel to customers.

Responsibilities: “As a store management intern, I contributed to the day-to-day operations of a UNIQLO store in Orlando, Florida. I had hands-on experience in tasks such as inventory management, stock replenishment, customer service and contributing to the overall store presentation. This practical experience not only broadened my skill set but also deepened my appreciation for the critical role that effective store management plays in creating a positive customer experience.”

Most important lessons learned: “I gained a comprehensive understanding of the collaborative efforts required to maintain the brand’s reputation for quality and innovation. I learned how each team member—from sales associates to managers—plays a vital role in delivering exceptional service and upholding the brand’s values. I received valuable hands-on experience, participated in team collaboration and learned about the customer-centric approach to retail, and the importance of time management, adaptability, attention to detail and problem-solving.”

Most valuable piece of advice: “Embrace learning and be proactive. Don’t be afraid to take the initiative to learn beyond your assigned tasks. Seek opportunities to gain exposure to different aspects of the company or your industry. Ask questions, engage with professionals and demonstrate your eagerness to contribute.”

As part of several new research initiatives by the Lender Center to accelerate efforts to address the racial wealth gap and help dismantle the root causes of wealth disparity, the funded proposals—supported by the —provide support to scholars with new or ongoing research projects that relate to the causes, consequences and solutions on the problem of ever-expanding economic and social inequality.

The architecture team’s research project, “Closing the Racial Wealth Gap through Environmental Justice and Participatory Design,” intends to identify ways that the built environment can have a positive impact on basic life needs that are typically neglected in underprivileged communities, which include communities of color, low-income, disability, the elderly and immigrant populations. Through three phases—data analysis and design research, curricular implementation and impact and transferability—the team hopes to better understand the entrenched systems (policy, municipal, zoning, etc.) that have created and exacerbated racial wealth gaps.

CloudHouse Shade Structure, a temporary pavilion designed by Iman Fayyad in collaboration with the City of Cambridge in 2021, provided a space for respite in a park frequented by nearby daycare and school children as well as public housing residents in a low-income neighborhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Photo by Iman Fayyad)

With this knowledge, their project intends to engage communities through design technologies using Building Information Modeling (BIM) and other participatory tools to create opportunities for exchange, participation and co-production of knowledge to empower communities to have a voice into what is modeled and built within their local environments.

“The highlight of this project is its focus on participatory planning, a challenge that we will address through both technology and design, merging disciplines and expertise,” says Abu-Hamdi, principal investigator (PI) for the project. “The Lender Center is supporting our growing roster of faculty engaged in community-facing research, allowing us to become further recognized as a reliable partner to local communities, demonstrating the value of design in relation to ongoing economic, infrastructural, social and spatial challenges.”

In phase one of the team’s project, design strategies centered around environmental justice concerns such as urban heat islands and shade, accessibility/universal design and building construction technologies, will be developed to address how inadequate physical infrastructure, specifically with regard to design and construction, has historically excluded members of minority communities from participating in the construction, selection and design of community facilities, municipal resources and public recreation.��In this way, communities, policymakers and planners can better understand the conditions that generated current developmental problems and the potential interventions that could reverse detrimental effects through design.

“There is a lot of opportunity to push our own disciplines in service of climate justice, sustainable building practices and community involvement,” says Fayyad, co-PI for the project. “Through our combined efforts with research, practice and teaching, we can consider how to make public spaces healthier, more accessible and equitable, and importantly, explore how design can empower communities by providing aesthetic value as well as functional, efficient and necessary infrastructure to improve the livelihoods of marginalized populations.”

Tree Canopy Score in ���ϲ�����, New York (Rendering by Daniel Cronan)

Site-specific implementation is another primary goal of the first year of funding and phase two of the project. The team plans to create and prepare content for curricular development of a studio course jointly led by faculty at the ���ϲ����� School of Architecture and SUNY-ESF in which students will research, design, develop and build proposals for public infrastructure for select communities in the City of ���ϲ�����. To propose the curriculum, the team will develop design research over the next year as “products” (tools and techniques) that students will use as part of the course.

“We see this endeavor as a great challenge and hope to expand the scope of this year’s research focus to provide transferrable skills, frameworks and expanded resources to build awareness and resilience within these communities,” says Cronan, co-PI for the project.

In the third phase of the project, the team will assess the applicability of their research and development of the BIM platform, as a digital twin, for broader purposes and for a variety of sites—rural, urban, large or small. This interface, and the site-specific design interventions that can be realized, are key to community empowerment in any location, to serve any variety of community needs. Through the BIM application and design proposals (both in the form of a built prototype and further speculative variations), the team’s co-production framework of analysis and design will allow for transferability to future research applied to communities with similar concerns and further research beyond the applied case study for ���ϲ�����.

“We are grateful to the Lender Center for providing this opportunity for us to evolve our research and for supporting efforts on campus to connect with our immediate communities in ���ϲ����� as well as address greater systemic issues across the United States,” says the team.

The team will present their collected data, built proposal and speculative future proposals at the annual , jointly hosted by SUNY-ESF and ���ϲ����� faculty and students, in March 2024 and March 2025. For more information about the Lender Center for Social Justice’s programmatic initiative to explore the racial wealth gap in the United States, visit .

Lawrence Chua (Photo courtesy of Timothy Gerken)

Throughout the upcoming academic year, will embark on three international fellowships supporting the research and writing of his next single-authored scholarly monograph investigating the chronopolitics and temporal entanglements of modern architecture and the pre-modern built environment in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

Tentatively titled “Constructing Anachronism: karma, renaissance and rebirth in Southeast Asian architectural history,” the project builds on ���ܲ�’s previous book, and traces the movements of Southeast Asia’s architectural and epigraphical fragments from the pre-colonial past into the present. The book argues that although architectural modernity is typically narrated as a new conception of time rooted in the present, modernism in the region was also oriented toward “medieval” and “classical” pasts.

“This argument necessitates an investigation into what these temporal categories, imported from European historiography in the 19th and 20th centuries, meant in the context of the Southeast Asian built environment and how the colonial deployment of the concept of ‘renaissance’ squared against local understandings of karma, rebirth and sovereignty,” says Chua.

Through a historical investigation of the construction of an anachronistic landscape in modern-day mainland Southeast Asia, ���ܲ�’s book seeks to understand the ways that various regimes disaggregated fragments of the historical past from their older social and cosmological contexts as they crossed over into the progressive clock- and calendar-time of modernity.

Chua will spend the summer and fall of 2023 on a Visiting Research Scholar Fellowship at the at Kyoto University in Japan, one of the world’s foremost centers for Southeast Asian regional studies. Awarded to “productive scholars of high reputation—who work on comparative and regional issues from a multi-area perspective—to conduct research, write or pursue other scholarly interests in connection with their field of study.” The center is of particular importance to ���ܲ�’s project because it has the most extensive library of “cremation volumes” outside of Thailand. Initiated in the late 19th century, these commemorative books were given as gifts to guests at Thai funerals, and usually include a biography of the deceased as well as other literary materials.

“These unique volumes are important resources for archival material that may not have been collected in state or institutional archives,” says Chua. “They include not only biographies of early 20th-century architects and urban planners but important documents about the history of the architectural profession.”

During the first half of 2024, Chua will study as a Senior Research Fellow at the , an overseas research center that promotes research, teaching and public service in the social sciences, arts and humanities in Cambodia and the Mekong region. Based in Siem Reap, near the Angkor Archaeological Park in northern Cambodia, the fellowship places him in close proximity to not only Angkor Wat but many of the other medieval and modern sites in the region that corresponds with his research.

“This in-country research fellowship will allow me to also access important archives in Phnom Penh that relate to the professionalization of architecture in the Sangkum Reastr Niyum era, the brief but influential period of non-aligned socialism the country enjoyed after its independence from France,” says Chua.

In addition to the fellowships in Japan and Cambodia, Chua will concurrently hold a fellowship through the (FRESCO), initiated by the Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies (FRIAS), the international research college of the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg in Germany. Intended to establish long-lasting and sustainable relationships between “excellent researchers in Freiburg and high-ranking national and international researchers to substantially strengthen and develop emerging fields,” ���ܲ�’s five-month FRESCO fellowship is spread out over two years and will allow him to develop a collaborative project with members of the comparative field of Comparative Area Studies and Transregional Studies in the university’s initiative.

“I am delighted to be able to return to FRIAS, where I held a Marie S. Curie Junior Research fellowship in 2018,” says Chua. “That earlier fellowship exposed me to so many excellent scholars in linguistics, visual studies, mathematics and law. The transdisciplinary conversations we had were inspiring and intellectually generative. The fellowship allowed me to complete the manuscript of my first scholarly monograph, and I am hoping this one will be as productive.”

Chua is a historian of the modern built environment with a focus on Asian architecture and urban culture. He is the author of “Bangkok Utopia: Modern Architecture and Buddhist Felicities” (University of Hawai’i Press, 2021). He has been a fellow at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles; a Marie S. Curie FCFP fellow at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg, Germany; and a fellow at the International Institute of Asian Studies at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands. Chua currently serves as co-editor of the “ArchAsia” book series at Hong Kong University Press; as a member of the editorial collective of “positions: east asia critique;” as a member of the editorial board of the “Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians;” and as co-chair of the Race and Architectural History affiliate group of the Society of Architectural Historians.

For more information about Lawrence Chua and his work, visit .

, professor in the School of Architecture, and , professor and chair of anthropology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, have been recognized for exemplary stature in their respective academic fields. The Distinguished Professorship is one of the highest honors awarded faculty at ���ϲ�����.

“This is a well-deserved honor for two professors who have made exemplary contributions not only to their disciplines, but also to their schools, to the University and, most importantly, to their students and former students,” says Gretchen Ritter, vice chancellor, provost and chief academic officer. “Lori and Chris have done transformational work in teaching, research and scholarship and are stellar examples of academic excellence at ���ϲ�����.”

Lori Brown

Brown is an internationally recognized scholar and educator whose research focuses on the relationships between architecture, social justice and gender. A leading thinker, activist and a widely published author, she is considered one of the most important feminist voices in architecture. She has long advocated for feminism as a driving concern of architectural pedagogy and practice and is widely recognized as one of the strongest mentors and advocates for the next generation of women in the field. Her work has been funded by the National Endowment of the Arts and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. In 2022, she was elevated to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows for the breadth of her contributions to the profession.

Christopher DeCorse

DeCorse is an internationally recognized archaeologist who specializes in the topics of pre-colonial and colonial West Africa, the Atlantic world and the transatlantic slave trade. His pioneering work in both archaeology and anthropology includes his landmark scholarship on contact in early modern Africa. His 10 books and edited volumes are considered foundational materials in archaeology. He is recognized for launching the careers of an entire generation of archaeologists, particularly those from West Africa, and for his mentorship of graduate students. He has held multiple leadership roles at the Maxwell School. His research has been funded by numerous prominent sources, including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation and National Geographic.

Distinguished Professorship candidates are nominated by deans and reviewed by Provost Ritter, an internal faculty committee and external referees. Nominees are affirmed by the Board of Trustees.

The scholarships, now in their 34th year, were founded as a tribute to—and means of remembering—the students studying in London and Florence through ���ϲ����� who were killed in the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Those students were among the 270 people who perished in the bombing. The scholarships are funded through an endowment supported by gifts from alumni, friends, parents and corporations.

Significant support for the Remembrance Scholarships has been provided by Jean Thompson ’66 and ���ϲ����� Life Trustee Richard L. Thompson G’67 in memory of Jean Taylor Phelan Terry ’43 and John F. Phelan, Jean Thompson’s parents; by Board of Trustees Chairman Emeritus Steven Barnes ’82 and Deborah Barnes; by The ���ϲ����� Association of Zeta Psi in memory of Alexander Lowenstein; and by the Fred L. Emerson Foundation.

Selection Process

Remembrance Scholars are chosen in their junior year through a competitive selection process. Applicants submitted an essay and a reflective response in multimedia, artistic, musical or written format as part of a comprehensive application. The selection committee is composed of University faculty and staff and current Remembrance Scholars. The $5,000 scholarships are awarded on the basis of scholarship, leadership and service to the community.

Additionally, two students from Lockerbie come to ���ϲ����� each year for one year of study through the ���ϲ�����-Lockerbie Scholarships, also in their 34th year. The scholarships are jointly funded by ���ϲ����� and the Lockerbie Trust. Joshua Halliday and Tristan Woolley were recently selected as the 2023-24 Lockerbie Scholars.

“The Remembrance Scholars represent the future while honoring the past, which is both a great privilege and a great responsibility,” says Vice Chancellor and Provost Gretchen Ritter. “This year’s students, who have demonstrated strong leadership skills and a commitment to service, are up to the task. As with those who were tragically lost nearly 35 years ago, we are proud that these students are members of our University community.”

The Remembrance and Lockerbie Scholars plan the Remembrance activities held at the University each year. The scholars will be recognized during a convocation in the fall.

The 2023-24 Remembrance Scholars, their hometowns, majors, and schools and colleges are the following:

• Nicole Aponte of Franklin Square, New York, a broadcast and digital journalism major in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
• Christian Bevilacqua of Norwich, Connecticut, a social studies education major in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) and School of Education, a geography major in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and A&S and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program.
• Nina Chen of Palo Alto, California, a fashion design major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA).
• Dominic Chiappone of Miami, Florida, a history major in the Maxwell School and A&S and broadcast journalism major in the Newhouse School.
• Sophie Creager-Roberts of Charlottesville, Virginia, an environmental, sustainability and policy major and history major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program.
• Daniela Dorado of Bogotá, Colombia, an advertising major in the Newhouse School and creative writing major in A&S.
• Mia-Marie Fields of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a biomedical engineering major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS).
• Guerdyna Gelin of Westchester, New York, a policy studies major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program.
• Alison Gilmore of South Abington Township, Pennsylvania, a sport analytics major in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics.
• Miguel Guzman of Lima, Peru, a biotechnology major in A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program.
• Ka’ai I of Nu’uanu, Hawaii, a policy studies and international relations major in the Maxwell School and A&S.
• Benjamin Nicholas Johnson of Stafford, Virginia, a computer engineering major in ECS and a member of the Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps.
• Kyle Joseph Kalmar of Fort Collins, Colorado, a student in the School of Architecture.
• Beizhou Li of Jiangsu, China, a political science and economics major in the Maxwell School and A&S.
• Lucio Maffei of West Orange, New Jersey, a political philosophy and ethics major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program.
• Grant Maxheimer of Linden, Michigan, an international relations major in the Maxwell School and A&S, a citizenship and civic engagement major in the Maxwell School and a member of the Crown Honors Program.
• Mitchell Mazza of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a neuroscience and psychology major in A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program.
• Aiden McGorry of New York, New York, a student in the School of Architecture.
• Jovanni Mosca of Corinth, New York, a computer science major in ECS and a member of the Crown Honors Program.
• Aidan O’Connell of Manchester, New Hampshire, a political science major in the Maxwell School and A&S.
• Motolani Oladitan of Lagos, Nigeria, a psychology major in A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program.
• Sofia Rodriguez of Miami Gardens, Florida, a communication and rhetorical studies major in VPA.
• Emily Saad of Allentown, Pennsylvania, a finance major in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, a creative advertising major in the Newhouse School and a member of the Crown Honors Program.
• Katarina Sako of Buffalo, New York, a neuroscience and biology major in A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program.
• Elliot Salas of Houston, Texas, an electrical engineering major in ECS.
• Mary Schieman of Mentor, Ohio, an environmental engineering major in ECS.
• Emily Jo Shuman of Durham, New Hampshire, a human development and family science major in the Falk College.
• Hannah Skelton of North Caldwell, New Jersey, a political science major in the Maxwell School and A&S and citizenship and civic engagement major in the Maxwell School.
• Hannah Starorypinski of Emmaus, Pennsylvania, a political science major in Maxwell School and A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program.
• Otto Sutton of Corning, New York, a political science, history and political philosophy major in the Maxwell School and A&S.
• Anna Terzaghi of Sydney, Australia, an anthropology and international relations major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program.
• Madison Wallace of Bedford, New Hampshire, a biochemistry and neuroscience major in A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program.
• Emily M. Weaver of Mount Morris, New York, an Earth and environmental sciences and forensic science major in A&S, an anthropology major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a member of the Crown Honors Program.
• Xibo Xu of Jiangsu, China, an applied data analytics major in the School of Information Studies and an international relations major in the Maxwell School and A&S.
• Zhiyun (Alita) Zhang of Shanxi, China, a psychology and linguistic studies major in A&S.

Luo (left) and Zhang

Launched in 2021, the award recognizes the top 100 graduating students in North America who, as rising leaders, are defining and reimagining the practice of architecture and interior architecture.

Selected from a diverse pool of candidates, Luo and Zhang are two of only 24 undergraduate architecture students to receive the honor, selected based on the creativity, rigor, skill and professionalism exhibited by their portfolios and nomination entries.

“We were blown away by the quality of work you and your peers submitted, and we feel that you represent a bright future for our industry—one of beautiful, thoughtful, innovative, sustainable and inclusive design,” says Avinash Rajagopal, editor-in-chief of the magazine, in the award letters.

Chenhao Luo

���ܴ�’s attempts to answer the question: How can urban design shift social and cultural paradigms in today’s precarious world and rapidly changing economic landscape?

“Grabhub,” ���ܴ�’s project, uses the vending machine as a metaphor to create a grocery store, with steel as the primary material, to anchor the population of downtown ���ϲ�����. The proposal takes the conventional linear supply chain and the enfilade of spaces (unloading, back of house, floor space, storefront window display) and collapses their relationship into a series of planar moments. So much like the vending machine, the window display, the inventory, the transaction interface and the projected social bubble all exist within a thin slither of space. Each programmatic element takes on multiple agendas; shopping for groceries is also a social opportunity or a recreational moment.

“Grabhub” uses the vending machine as a metaphor for such omnipresence that puts materialism and our blasé consumerism on display as a mass spectacle. (Courtesy of Chenhao Luo)

“Chenhao tackles each project with an extraordinary rigor and unrivaled productivity,” says , undergraduate chair and associate professor in the School of Architecture, who nominated Luo. “His body of work is primarily rooted in the urban domain, yet his approaches are as meticulous and precise as it is all-embracing and systematic.”

During his time at the school, Luo has served as an undergraduate teaching assistant for both first- and fourth-year studios based in Shanghai and ���ϲ�����. He has also received academic research funding from the (SOURCE) to study new forms of urbanity, material archi-tectonic research and new modes of sharing based on everyday life in Los Angeles.

“This nationwide competition was an excellent opportunity to evaluate my prior knowledge and design thinking. I feel incredibly honored to have been selected for Metropolis magazine’s Future100, and I’m thrilled that a wider audience can recognize my design,” says Luo. “I am truly grateful to the ���ϲ����� School of Architecture for providing me with a wonderful education—I would not be who I am without the program’s supportive faculty and encouraging peers.”

After graduation, Luo plans to make traveling a priority so that he can see and experience different architectural styles and cultures, giving him a deeper understanding of the ways in which architecture can shape and reflect society and inspire new ideas and approaches to his own design work. He also hopes to concentrate on gaining real-world experience in the fields of architecture and urban design, as well as exploring other industries, like regional planning, consulting or real estate, while preparing to take the Architect Registration Examination for professional licensure.

Angelina Yihan Zhang

�ܳ󲹲Բ�’s demonstrates her keen interest in the systematic creation of resilient habitats as practical remedies for disenfranchised communities.

In “Re-imagining Makoko,” an architectural and urban project done during the pandemic, Zhang worked closely with doctors, anthropologists and stakeholders in a marginalized slum neighborhood in Lagos Lagoon, adjacent to Nigeria, to address the undocumented health and safety hazards compounded by the resource scarcity.

“Re-imagining Makoko” is a modular mobile housing proposal for slum typology. (Courtesy of Angelina Yihan Zhang)

She led the design team in proposing mobile amphibious assemblages that could be adapted for multiple uses, with the goal of raising awareness and momentum to resolve the resource inequities that have been normalized in the Global South. The modular home design aims to tackle the most prevalent challenge experienced by inhabitants, from the predicted rise of sea levels to the lack of access to clean water, electricity and sewage systems.

“Angelina’s projects tackle the contemporary issues of climate change, extreme habitation, social inequality and technological influences through a systematic modular design approach,” says Park, who nominated Zhang for the program.

In addition to receiving the Future100 award, �ܳ󲹲Բ�’s work has been featured at the 9th UABB International Low Carbon City Exhibition (La Bonifica) and in the Villa Rossa Voice (Savoring Italy), as well receiving design awards by numerous international competitions such as Buildner (BeeBreeders, 2021), Non-Architecture (2022), ArchTwist (2022) and LandArtGenerator (2022).

While at ���ϲ�����, Zhang has served as an undergraduate teaching assistant for a fourth-year integrated building design studio, as well as a research assistant for several faculty research projects. Zhang also received academic research funding from the SOURCE for her thesis research fellowship that explores the convergence of function and aesthetics by examining the possibility of plant integration in complex regenerative architectural mechanisms.

“We as designers are tasked with the responsibility of equipping mankind with the toolset to progress, explore and integrate new material provenances as we adapt to alternative ways of living. Being selected as one of the Metropolis Future100 means that my interest in optimized modular design as an accessible and collaborative medium is recognized by a wider range of audience,” says Zhang. “My pursuit for designing resilient habitats as practical remedies for disenfranchised communities will drive my research further and eventually be put into practice to benefit those in need.”

After graduation, Zhang hopes to attend graduate school for advanced study in the field of resilient designs as well as through research and cross-disciplinary collaborations. She also looks forward to contributing her expertise to firms and nonprofit organizations by deploying affordable, crisis-responsive, multi-scalar designs for the marginalized communities that can benefit most from these ingenuities.

As part of the Future100 honor, Luo and �ܳ󲹲Բ�’s work and credentials have been shared with architecture and design firms across North America to encourage professional connections and career opportunities, and are posted on the and in the magazine’s March/April issue, on newsstands now.

Twelve seniors have been named as the 2023 ���ϲ����� Scholars, the highest undergraduate honor the University bestows.

The ���ϲ����� Scholars Selection Committee, a Universitywide faculty committee, selected the 2023 scholars using criteria that included coursework and academic achievement, independent research and creative work, evidence of intellectual growth or innovation in their disciplinary field, a personal statement and faculty letters of recommendation.

“���ϲ����� Scholars take advantage of all the educational, experiential and personal growth opportunities ���ϲ����� has to offer and make the most of their time as students,” says Vice Chancellor and Provost Gretchen Ritter. “We are proud to recognize their achievements and grateful for their contributions to the University.”

The 2023 ���ϲ����� Scholars are:

• Chelsea Brown, a television, radio and film major in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, a citizenship and civic engagement major in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and a Posse Scholar; Brown studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, during the Fall 2022 semester
• Dara Drake, a policy studies major in the Maxwell School and the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program; Drake studied abroad in London during the Spring 2023 semester
• Kiersten Edwards, a public health major in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics and neuroscience major in A&S
• Grace Haas, a bioengineering major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) and a neuroscience major in A&S
• Adam Klinger, a chemical engineering major in ECS
• Julianna Mercado, a biochemistry and forensic science major in A&S
• Ruchatneet Printup, a film major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts and a Haudenosaunee Promise Scholar; Printup studied abroad in Italy during the summer of 2022
• Maggie Sardino, a writing and rhetoric major in A&S and citizenship and civic engagement major in the Maxwell School, a Coronat Scholar and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program
• Savannah Stocker, an inclusive education and special education major in the School of Education and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program
• Alesandra “Sasha” Temerte, an economics major in the Maxwell School and A&S and writing and rhetoric major in A&S, a Coronat Scholar and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program; Temerte studied abroad in Spain during the Fall 2019 semester and in Italy during the Fall 2021 semester, and is a ���ϲ����� Abroad global ambassador
• Amreeta Verma, a student in the School of Architecture; Verma studied abroad in Italy during the Fall 2021 semester and is a ���ϲ����� Abroad global ambassador
• Michaela Walsh, a finance major in the Whitman School of Management and public relations major in the Newhouse School

MaryKate Keevins and Lia Margolis were involved in planning this month’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month celebrations on campus.

April is a time for the ���ϲ����� community to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month.

Celebrated nationally in May, the University hosts its annual AAPI Heritage Month in April so all campus members can join in honoring the histories, cultural diversity, identities and contributions of AAPI communities.

This year’s theme is “Community Coming Together: Strength in Unity,” representing the University’s diverse AAPI community uniting across differences to demonstrate a strong voice that can face challenges together.��It’s an important and timely theme, especially following the challenges of the last three years, including the COVID-19 pandemic and a troubling rise in anti-Asian hate crimes and bias incidents.

MaryKate Keevins ’24

MaryKate Keevins ’24 and Lia Margolis ’23, two of the AAPI Planning Committee members, share why they were passionate about planning this year’s events and what they hope the campus community takes away from the celebrations.

“Being a part of the AAPI community on campus has given me so much opportunity to reflect on how much I appreciate my heritage in all the different ways it manifests. I really find that cultural celebrations like what we do with AAPI Heritage Month is important, because it not only allows for us, on the committee, to create events that reflect us, it also allows for other people to get in touch with either their own heritage or heritages of people that they don’t know too much about and they can learn,” says Keevins, who is studying television, radio and film in the ��and political science in the .

Lia Margolis ’23

“I’m very passionate about the activist social justice side of AAPI Heritage Month. And so from that perspective, there’s been, I think, denial of a lot of the struggles that the AAPI community has been through in the U.S. and of course people are paying more attention to it with the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes,” says Margolis, a student in the . “But I hope people want to learn more about the AAPI stories and experiences and enjoy all of the fun activities we have planned.”

AAPI Heritage Month began with a celebration kickoff on March 31 and includes speakers, exhibitions, performances and student organization events. Some of the highlights include (April 13), (April 18), (April 20), and (April 21).

On this student-centric “’Cuse Conversation,” we hear from Keevins and Margolis to discuss this year’s celebrations, what their cultural heritage means to them and how their time at ���ϲ����� helped them discover more about their identities.

Check out episode 136 of the “’Cuse Conversations” podcast featuring MaryKate Keevins ’24 and Lia Margolis ’23. A transcript [PDF]��is also available.

Christina Chi Zhang

The has announced that designer and researcher Christina Chi Zhang is the Harry der Boghosian Fellow for 2023–24. Zhang will succeed current fellow Assistant Professor Lily Chishan Wong.

The Boghosian Fellowship at the School of Architecture—established in early 2015 in memory of Harry der Boghosian ’54 by his sister Paula der Boghosian ’64—is a one-of-a-kind program designed to give faculty members, early in their careers, the opportunity to spend a year developing a body of design research based on an area of interest while teaching at the School of Architecture.

Fellows play a significant role at the school by enhancing student instruction and faculty discourse while supporting both research and the development of research-related curriculum valuable to architectural education and the discipline.

“Christina �ܳ󲹲Բ�’s research uses architecture to frame, analyze and intervene in areas often thought outside the purview of professional and academic practice,” says Michael Speaks, dean of the School of Architecture. “Her proposal, submitted as part of the fellowship application, is powerful, provocative and timely because it reframes precisely what it means to study and practice architecture. We are so thrilled to welcome her and look forward to working with her this next year.”

During the 2023–24 school year, Zhang will teach an architecture studio and two professional electives focusing on her research project, “Scales of Healing in Post-Traumatic Landscapes” that explores the tools of representation used to document, analyze and represent post-traumatic landscapes in different scales.

�ܳ󲹲Բ�’s research trajectory will explore the limits and implications of photography, cartography, drawing and virtual reality, and discuss the powers of documenting individual narratives, archiving evidence and synthesizing different levels of information through drawing and re-imagining a speculative landscape.

To create a broader conversation with students about ongoing wars and conflicts, Zhang plans to extend the geographical focus of her previous independent research and discuss other post-traumatic landscapes of students’ interests.

“Through these explorations and discussions, we should ultimately be able to understand, engage and find our place in ongoing social-political issues as architects,” says Zhang, whose goal is to become a compassionate architect who cares about and designs for people.

Like the seven previous Boghosian Fellows, Zhang will work closely not only with faculty and students at the School of Architecture but will also explore interdisciplinary collaborations within the University and its various centers and colleges. Her research will culminate in the form of an exhibition and interdisciplinary symposium exploring issues of memory, reconstruction and resilience in post-conflict landscapes and societies in the contemporary world and tools to talk about them as architects.

Zhang is currently completing the last year of her master of architecture degree program at the Yale School of Architecture where she served as a teaching fellow for two graduate studio courses and two undergraduate courses.

During the 2021–22 academic year, Zhang was awarded the George Nelson Travel Scholarship, which supported her year-long trip and research inquiry into post-atrocity reconstruction in Bosnia and Rwanda, resulting in her 2022 exhibition, “ at Yale’s North Gallery. In this exhibition, Zhang explored trauma, memory and reconstruction through remediation, restoration, map-making and a virtual reality landscape installation created based on interviews with survivors of genocides and wars.

Zhang holds a bachelor of arts degree from Yale University where she was awarded the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts in 2017 for her practice in humanistic architecture. While at Yale, Zhang received the Race, Indigeneity and Transnational Migration Research Travel Award (RITM) to work and research in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. During her time in Kakuma, she co-founded a non-profit organization, International Development in Action, through which she initiated and directed the construction of a refugee-run adult learning center. The curriculums are now managed and taught by refugee leaders, offering literacy, business and reproductive health programs.

From 2016–17, Zhang organized and co-directed an interdisciplinary competition, to encourage collaboration between architects and policymakers and envision new responses to the global refugee crisis based on autonomy and resilience. The subsequent symposium, “Reform Refugee Responses,” was hosted in collaboration with Yale University, New York University and the United Nations in New York City.

Zhang has practiced architecture professionally at EFFEKT Arkitekter in Copenhagen; Studio MM Architect in New York City; Turner Brooks Architect in New Haven; and Atelier Deshaus in Shanghai. Together with teammates Joshua Tan and Claire Hicks, she won the first prize in the international architecture competition organized by Bee Breeders in 2022.

“I am honored to join the community and look forward to together exploring memory, life and recovery in post-traumatic societies, a relevant and urgent topic today,” says Zhang. “The Boghosian Fellowship offers an amazing opportunity to work with a diverse, intelligent and brave student body that is eager to engage and challenge. Through teaching and research, I am excited to envision and experiment with ways to heal, care and create in today’s world.”

For more information about Christina Chi Zhang and her work, visit .

The Boghosian Fellowship has helped the School of Architecture attract the best and the brightest emerging professors. Previous fellows include Maya Alam (2016–17), Linda Zhang (2017–18), James Leng (2018–19), Benjamin Vanmuysen (2019–20), Liang Wang (2020–21), Leen Katrib (2021–22) and Lily Chishan Wong (2022–23).

To learn more about the Harry der Boghosian Fellowship, visit the .

Christian Sottile

Election to the AIA’s College of Fellows is one of the highest individual honors the institute bestows on members. Out of a total AIA membership of more than 96,000, only 3% carry this distinction.

The elevation to fellowship is conferred on architects with at least 10 years of AIA membership and demonstrated influence in at least one of the following nomination categories: promoted the aesthetic, scientific and practical efficiency of the profession; advanced the science and art of planning and building by advancing the standards of practice; coordinated the building industry and the profession of architecture; ensured the advancement of the living standards of people through their improved environment; made the profession of ever-increasing service to society; advanced the science and art of planning and building by advancing the standards of architectural education and training.

Fellows are selected by a seven-member Jury of Fellows. This year’s jury included Chair RK Stewart, FAIA, RK Stewart Consultants; Carl D’Silva, FAIA, Perkins + Will; Lisa Lamkin, FAIA, Brown Reynolds Watford Architects, Inc.; Rebecca Lewis, FAIA, DSGW Architects; Pamela Rew, FAIA, KSS Architects; Anne Schopf, FAIA, Mahlum; and Allison Williams, FAIA, AGWms_studio.

“Election to the AIA College of Fellows is among the most significant forms of recognition in our profession and we are thrilled to celebrate Christian’s appointment to this distinguished group of architects,” says Michael Speaks, dean of the School of Architecture. “Christian joins so many of our alumni who are acknowledged for their professional achievements through AIA, a true testament to the education they received at ���ϲ����� Architecture.”

Sottile, FAIA, NCARB, is principal of , a Savannah-based urban design and architectural firm working extensively in Nationally Registered Historic Districts. His work includes civic design and master planning, emphasizing historic research, urban analysis, and communitywide engagement.

Trained under the guidance of renowned master architect John C. LeBey, FAIA, Sottile learned that Savannah, much like his native Florence, Italy, is an unlimited environment: a humane and universal context for discovery, connection and progress. For the past three decades, Savannah has formed the backdrop of Sottile’s professional and personal life, a home for his practice and a foothold for his work in the world. Across his portfolio of projects, he applies timeless principles and modern science to approach urban design from a regenerative perspective, evolving the city while protecting and respecting its rich history.

Concurrently with his professional practice, Sottile is a professor of architecture and urban design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and is the former dean of the SCAD School of Building Arts, where he led the graduate and undergraduate programs in architecture, architectural history, preservation design, interior design, furniture design, and urban design.

Sottile has taught architecture courses and served in academic leadership roles at the SCAD for more than 20 years. He regularly leads student delegations to AIA national conferences; he hosted a pioneering national AIAS Forum fully integrated into the urban fabric of Savannah and he worked closely with NCARB to develop an inclusive, progressive Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure.

Sottile has been distinguished with the 2014 National Young Architect Award from the American Institute of Architects and has received more than 50 awards for his work, including three international Charter Awards from the Congress for the New Urbanism, awards from the American Planning Association, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, three National Honor Awards from the AIA, and the 2021 Global Award for Excellence from the Urban Land Institute. USA Today named him one of the top 100 academics in the nation. Sottile’s work has been featured in The New York Times, Preservation Magazine, Architect Magazine and Architectural Digest. He has lectured for the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Planning Association and the Urban Land Institute.

“This milestone has provided both opportunities to reflect, and to focus new energies on the opportunities ahead—providing support and mentorship to the next generation,” says Sottile.

Sottile holds a master of architecture degree from SCAD’s School of Building Arts, graduating as valedictorian. After spending two years researching urban design in Florence, he completed work on his master’s of architecture and urban design at ���ϲ�����.

For more information on the College of Fellows or to view the complete list of newly elevated architect fellows, visit .

Today’s announcement follows a comprehensive decanal review that took into account the feedback of key stakeholders, including School of Architecture faculty, staff and Advisory Board members.

“With Michael’s deanship has come a new era of success for the School of Architecture,” Ritter says. “He has extended the school’s reach and enhanced its already strong academic program. I know the school will continue to flourish with him at the helm and I look forward to our continued work together.”

Michael A. Speaks, dean of the School of Architecture.

Speaks was named dean of the School of Architecture in 2013. His accomplishments since then include the establishment of the Harry der Boghosian Endowed Fellowship Program for emerging professors in architecture, the Patrick Ahearn Workshops, the Design | Energy | Futures post-professional M.S. degree program and the Hal and Nina Fetner Architecture + Real Estate Summer Internship Program.

In addition, Speaks established the China studies program, including studios in Beijing and Shanghai, the Three Cities Asia Summer Studio Program, a research partnership with the Institute Building Research in Shenzhen and a high school recruiting initiative. He also established a faculty and student exchange, research and project collaboration with Ewha Womans University, Yonsei University, Korea University, University of Seoul, Yeungnam University and Pusan National University in South Korea; and a scholarship program for overseas study in arts and design, organized by the Taiwan Ministry of Education.

He was selected three times as a Design Intelligence Most Admired Educator and served as an advisory group member for the ���ϲ����� Campus Framework and Campus Framework Refresh.

“It has been an honor and privilege to lead this great school of architecture over the last several years and I look forward to continuing as we prepare, this fall, to celebrate our 150th anniversary,” Speaks says. “With our incomparable students, faculty and staff to thank, the ���ϲ����� School of Architecture has become the best single-discipline, global school of architecture in the U.S. and in the world.”

Previously, he was dean of the University of Kentucky College of Design, and director of the graduate program and founding director of the metropolitan research and design postgraduate program at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles. He earned a Ph.D. at Duke University.

The workshop will examine food culture, production and consumption through the interrelated lenses of diaspora and rice, a staple food around the globe. Along with staff from the museum, participants will examine and discuss Shih’s ceramic rice bag sculptures and related objects associated with rice culture from the museum’s permanent collection. The workshop also includes a hands-on art-making activity.

Participants are invited to join the larger community for a public reception at 3 p.m. featuring rice snacks and tea immediately following the workshop. This program is generously co-sponsored by the and the in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

About Stephanie H. Shih

Shih

Shih’s painted ceramic sculptures explore the way cultural identities transform as they migrate with a diaspora. She has had solo exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco and at the ���ϲ����� Art Museum. Her practice has received support from the American Museum of Ceramic Arts, Lighthouse Works and Silver Art Projects. Activism is central to Shih’s practice, and since 2017 she’s raised over $110,000 for marginalized communities experiencing instability related to home through her art and platform.

About Lily Wong

Lily Chishan Wong joins the School of Architecture at ���ϲ����� as the 2022-23 Harry der Boghosian Fellow. As a transplant between Asia and America, she is interested in how global systems shape building cultures and vice versa.

Wong

Her project “Producing Nature” explores the use of plants in architecture and its planetary effects. It considers vegetation as atmospheric design—grown, stored and shipped globally—and charts the spaces and species involved in the production of “nature.” Inherently interdisciplinary, this exploration seeks to foster cross-pollination between architecture and other fields and to speculate on new environmental engagements.

Wong received a master of architecture from Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and was nurtured with the Kohn Pedersen Fox Traveling Fellowship, Award for Excellence in Total Design, Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize, William Kinne Fellows Travelling Prize and Fred L. Liebmann Book Award. She cofounded : (pronounced “colon”), a publication and workshop dissecting the rhetoric and media that are rooted in the field of architecture.

For additional information or images, please contact Emily Dittman, interim director, at 315.443.4097 or ekdittma@syr.edu.

The newest members for academic years 2022-23 and 2023-24 are:

• College of Arts and Sciences (Humanities – Electorate 2): , professor and department chair, art and music histories
• College of Engineering and Computer Science (Electorate 5): , professor of electrical engineering and computer science
• Falk College��(Electorate 6): , professor of public health
• The Newhouse School��(Electorate 10): , professor of communications
• The Whitman School��(Electorate 11): , Edward Pettinella professor of finance
• School of Visual and Performing Arts (Electorate 12): , professor, communication and rhetorical studies

Committee members who are continuing to serve for the second year of their two-year terms during the 2022-23 academic year are:

• School of Architecture (Electorate 1): , professor of architecture
• Arts and Sciences (Sciences – Electorate 3): , professor of psychology
• School of Education (Electorate 4): , interim associate dean for academic affairs and professor of instructional design, development and evaluation
• School of Information Studies (Electorate 7): , professor of information studies
• College of Law (Electorate 8): , Crandall Melvin Professor of Law
• The Maxwell School��(Electorate 9): , professor and chair, political science

The committee is composed of tenured professors drawn from 12 electorates aligned with the faculties of 11 of 12 schools and colleges. The College of Arts and Sciences has two electorates: one for faculty in the sciences and one for faculty in the humanities. The College of Professional Studies is not represented on the committee. Committee members serve staggered two-year terms and are not eligible to serve two terms consecutively.

The committee is chaired by and is convened by . It also includes the University’s .

Additional information about the committee, its composition and its operations can be found in the��on the provost’s website.

Each year, the award spotlights individuals and firms based in the United States, Canada and Mexico with distinct design voices that have the potential to influence the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture and urbanism.

“We are thrilled to congratulate Katherine and Vincent in winning a 2023 Emerging Voices award,” , dean of the . “Their contributions to the future of design exemplify the impact they will have on forthcoming generations of architects—from ���ϲ����� and beyond.”

Vincent Petrarca and Katherine Hogan ’05

Hogan and Petrarca are the principals and owners of , an architecture practice based in Raleigh, N.C. When the firm was first founded in 2003 (under the name of Tonic Design | Tonic Construction), its work focused on small design-build commercial and residential projects. As it has grown, its portfolio has broadened to include projects for public schools, universities, state parks and nonprofits.

Katherine Hogan Architects has crafted a diverse body of work, and has received numerous American Institute of Architects awards at the local, state and national levels for innovative design solutions to complex problems and for using ordinary materials in inventive ways. The firm was included in the 2022 AN Interior Top 50 and received a 2022 AN Best of Practice Award.

Hogan earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from ���ϲ����� and is a member of the school’s advisory board. Petrarca earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in architecture from the North Carolina State University College of Design, where he has taught as a professor of practice.

“This is a significant honor to be recognized by the Architectural League of New York,” says Hogan. “At ���ϲ�����, I was educated by professors, practitioners and mentors who operated at a high level of work and discourse and inspired me to be aware of the impact of the League since my first semester. Originally from New York, and now practicing architecture in the south, recognitions like this are important to our clients, co-workers, and partners, but most importantly to our community.”

Since 1982, the Emerging Voices award has been bestowed to over 300 firms and individuals. Past winners include Thom Mayne and Michael Rotondi (1983), Toshiko Mori (1992), James Corner (2001), Eric Höweler & Meejin Yoon (2007), Tatiana Bilbao (2010), Jing Liu and Florian Idenburg (2013) and Chris Leong and Dominic Leong (2017).

The selection process involved a two-stage review of work from approximately 50 entrants. This year’s Emerging Voices class was selected by a nine-person jury of design professionals (including several past Emerging Voices winners): Marie Law Adams (2022), Fernanda Canales (2018), Stephanie Davidson (2018), Mario Gooden (2001), Zach Mortice, Marc Neveu, Rashida Ng, Chelina Odbert (2021) and Nader Tehrani (2003).

The jury reviewed significant bodies of realized work and considered accomplishments within design and academia. The work of each Emerging Voice represents the best of its kind and addresses larger issues within architecture, landscape and the built environment.

“The works of this year’s Emerging Voices winners exhibit architecture’s ability to work across the various scales of the built environment in the production of community, sociality, space, and discourse,” says Mario Gooden, jury member and president of The Architectural League said in a statement.��“[They] challenge the discipline and the profession of architecture to confront architectural practices, histories, and their entanglements with social, environmental, and technological changes.”

This year’s winning designers will present their exceptional and challenging work to their peers, the greater design community and the public through a series of virtual Thursday evening lectures from March 9-30. Each moderated event, sponsored by The Architectural League of New York, will showcase two awardees. Hogan and Petrarca will lecture on March 9 at 6:30 p.m. ET as part of the series.

Advance registration is required.��Visit for additional details on the upcoming online lecture series and to learn more about the winners’ work.

Through this nationally recognized program, which facilitates the transition from high school to college, students develop multifaceted skills, connect with mentors and develop into leaders who feel empowered to make a positive impact at ���ϲ����� and in their communities.

Shalom Acheampong ’25

Shalom Acheampong ’25 came to the University from Manchester, Connecticut, and while she says she’s always tried to act like a leader, her time as a WellsLink Scholar has equipped her to truly lead by example.

As Acheampong arrived on campus, she admits she was perceived as shy and studious, and not someone who was a vocal leader. Wanting to change her reputation when presented with a fresh start at ���ϲ�����, Acheampong got involved with the WellsLink program.

When she joined, her actions were driven by a desire to “inspire other people while being a leader on campus,” Acheampong says.

Acheampong’s transformation into an outgoing leader on campus will be on display for all to see during the , a graduation-style celebration for students who have successfully transitioned into their second year after participating in WellsLink during their first year.

The ceremony begins at 4 p.m. Friday in Hendricks Chapel, with a reception to follow, and is free to all members of the campus community.

In a moment that Acheampong says would have been unthinkable when she was in high school, she has the honor of introducing the ceremony’s keynote speaker, Marcus Bullock, a renowned justice reform advocate and the CEO and Founder of Flikshop Inc., which allows family members to connect with prisoners who are otherwise isolated from the outside world and a renowned justice reform advocate.

“I never thought I’d ever get an opportunity like this, just because I have that shy background and wasn’t necessarily a big fan of public speaking. I wouldn’t have grown as a person without WellsLink. I’m really excited for the Transitions Ceremony, being able to honor everyone’s accomplishments,” says Acheampong, who is studying civil engineering in the����and minoring in architecture in the��.

Check out episode 130 of the “’Cuse Conversations” podcast featuring WellsLink Scholars Josh Ortega ’25 and Sophia Moore ’25. A transcript [PDF]��is also available.

All WellsLink Scholars receive a mentor, a sophomore who successfully went through the program and is eager to help the next generation of scholars realize their full potential on campus. Acheampong was paired up with Nadia Nelson ’24, who “has had a huge role in my development.”

Huey Hsiao is the associate director of Multicultural Affairs and the Kessler Scholars Program and leads the WellsLink Leadership Program.

, associate director of����and the��, has led the WellsLink Scholars program for eleven years, and is a big believer in the strong bond that forms between mentor and mentee.

“I thought it was such an incredible program when I came on campus, because of the focus on mentorship. Thinking about the first-year experience as a student’s foundation, we had this program that was centered around students of color who aren’t already receiving support through athletics or state or federally funded programs. It’s been an honor to take over and continue this legacy of supporting our students,” Hsiao says.

The program was so enjoyable that Acheampong opted to return for a second year with WellsLinks’ second-year program. Acheampong and her sophomore peers learn from and network with their cohort members, faculty, staff and alumni to further their leadership abilities through seminars and workshops geared toward academic mentoring, career and major exploration, co-curricular identity development and networking.

“This program is like one big family and I joined the second-year program because of the people. When we all gather together, we realize we have the same goals and ambitions. It’s a terrific opportunity and I want to grow my community and help other people within the program,” Acheampong says.

The WellsLink Leadership Program is sponsored by Multicultural Affairs in the . Launched in 2003,��Hsiao proudly points out that WellsLink Scholars have gone on to garner 34 Remembrance Scholars and nine University Scholars. There have been three Student Association (SA) presidents, one SA vice president, and 16 class, school and college marshals.

Celebratory events were hosted by the Newhouse School and School of Architecture, in addition to two galas produced by student organizations and a special Orange After Dark co-hosted by Sigma Psi Zeta sorority and the Center for International Services. The events presented the opportunity to share Chinese culture—including performance arts, cuisine and time-honored traditions—with the entire campus community. The photos below capture some of the joy and expression of the holiday.

Chinese Union Spring Festival Gala (Photo by Qianzhen Li)

Chinese Union Spring Festival Gala (Photo by Qianzhen Li)

Chinese Union Spring Festival Gala (Photo by Qianzhen Li)

A Celebration of Lunar New Year hosted by the Newhouse School (Photo by Angela Ryan)

A Celebration of Lunar New Year hosted by the Newhouse School (Photo by Angela Ryan)

Chinese Students and Scholars Association Spring Festival Gala (Photo courtesy of Joy Chen)

Chinese Students and Scholars Association Spring Festival Gala (Photo courtesy of Joy Chen)

Chinese Students and Scholars Association Spring Festival Gala (Photo courtesy of Joy Chen)

School of Architecture Chinese New Year Celebration (Photo by Qianzhen Li)

School of Architecture Chinese New Year Celebration (Photo by Qianzhen Li)

School of Architecture Chinese New Year Celebration (Photo by Qianzhen Li)

Orange After Dark Lunar New Year Celebration, co-hosted by the Center for International Services and Sigma Psi Zeta (Photo by Qianzhen Li)

Orange After Dark Lunar New Year Celebration, co-hosted by the Center for International Services and Sigma Psi Zeta (Photo by Qianzhen Li)

Orange After Dark Lunar New Year Celebration, co-hosted by the Center for International Services and Sigma Psi Zeta (Photo by Qianzhen Li)

Lily Chishan Wong (Boghosian Fellow 2022-2023)

Lily Chishan Wong will teach the visiting critic studio, “Manuals for Human-Plant+X Interactions,” which will consider architecture a “material manual” for the regulation of human and plant lives facing climate change.

Lily Wong

Shaped as much by spontaneous flora that springs up between buildings as by idealized forms of “nature” such as gardens and parks, our urban experience is defined by plants. Many of the herbaceous plants that adorn city-owned parks and public streetscapes in New York City are currently propagated in three greenhouses run by the Department of Parks and Recreation, located at the urban outskirts, disconnected from the quotidian lives of the city.

What does it mean if parts of these horticultural programs are situated in the heart of the city? What new forms of urban conditions, uses, and human+plant+X interactions (additional site, user and program dispositions) can be created? Who are these spaces for? Focusing on a site in Lower Manhattan, students will visit the city and explore these questions by designing across three scales—ecological, architectural and body—and consider the effects of their proposed interventions.

Wong joined the School of Architecture as the seventh Harry der Boghosian Fellow. She is interested in how global systems shape building cultures and vice versa. Her research centers on the use of vegetation in architecture and its spatial, socio-political and environmental implications. More recently, Wong has begun to study the architecture and infrastructure of the plant trade network and its multi-scalar locations and planetary effects.

Previously, Wong completed her master of architecture degree at Columbia University GSAPP, where she received the Award for Excellence in Total Design; the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize; and the William Kinne Fellows Traveling Prize. She is also the recipient of the Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) Traveling Fellowship from the KPF Foundation and the Fred L. Liebmann Book Award from the New York Society of Architects. At Columbia, Wong cofounded : (pronounced “colon”), a publication and workshop focused on the rhetoric and media that are rooted in the field of architecture.

Wong also holds a bachelor of fine arts in architectural design from the Parsons School of Design and a bachelor of arts in philosophy from the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School. Her research interests in water infrastructure and constructions of nationhood were supported by the Michael Kalil Endowment for Smart Design and the India China Institute.

Wong’s fellowship research will culminate in the form of a on March 29 as well as an exhibition opening in Fall 2023.

��Jooeun Sung (Yonsei University)

Jooeun Sung will teach the visiting critic studio, “The Architecture of K-Food,” which proposes to investigate K-Food, among the less-well-celebrated cultural products that have recently gained notoriety as part of the famous “Korean Wave,” or Hallyu.

Jooeun Sung

K-film, K-drama and K-pop have become global phenomena, prompting the Oxford English Dictionary to add a series of K-words, reflecting the “soft power” impact of this new wave of Korean culture. Working from the micro-to-the-macro scale, students will study K-Food as a sociocultural category and as an urban design typology. Indeed, while the studio will research the K-Food industry as a sector, it will pay special attention to the local places—the food stalls, small shops and alleyways—where food is prepared and consumed.

Over spring break, as part of a school-sponsored trip to Seoul, students will visit many of these local food places and experience in person not only K-Food, but also many of the other cultural forms of Hallyu. Ultimately, the studio will suspend the normative architectural proposal and focus instead on the architectural representation of urban research.

Sung is a UK-chartered architect and is currently a professor at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. Through her built works and her research, she balances participatory and educational concerns and attempts to broaden the definition and our understanding of architecture itself. Sung studied at Yonsei University and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.

Sung gave a at the School of Architecture on Jan. 24.

Li Han and Hu Yan (Drawing Architecture Studio)

Li Han and Hu Yan will teach the visiting critic studio, “A Little Bit of ���ϲ�����,” which will encourage students to become flâneurs in the city of ���ϲ����� so that they may discover the often-overlooked everyday architecture that comprises 99% of the built environment. The studio will employ large-scale drawings and handmade, craft models to present a new view of the city’s architecture.

Li Han and Hu Yan

Inspired by the kind of architectural narratives produced by Japanese artist Jiro Taniguchi, students will choose eight vernacular buildings in ���ϲ�����—houses, shops, restaurants or laundromats that aren’t landmarks or designed by architects—and create handmade models representing the unique features of each building. Following the approach of Taniguchi’s meticulously drawn stories in the graphic novel, “The Walking Man,” which captures the mood, ambience and emotional experience of a middle-aged man’s stroll around his new neighborhood, students will design a narrative of their selected buildings. Each narrative will take the form of a Chinese scroll drawing and will emulate the actual experience of walking through the city. These drawings and models will be woven together to form a single, long scroll drawing that will be presented as the final studio project.

Han and Yan are the co-founders of (DAS), a Beijing-based creative platform that specializes in architectural drawing, architectural design and urban studies. DAS has been exhibited widely in China and abroad, including at the 4th Chicago Architecture Biennial, the Chinese and Japan pavilions of the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale, the 7th and 9th Shenzhen/Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, and many others. Their works have been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the White Rabbit Gallery in Sydney, the Macao Museum of Art in China, Pingshan Art Museum in Shenzhen, and Wind H Art Center in Beijing for their collections. DAS’ publications include A Little Bit of Beijing, A Little Bit of Beijing · Dashilar, The Joy of Architectural Drawing, Hutong Mushroom and Apartment Blossom.

Han is a National Class 1 Registered Architect (P.R.C.) in China. He received his bachelor of architecture from Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, China, and a master of architecture from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. Yan received her bachelor of fine arts from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

Han and Yan will give a at the School on Feb. 16 at 5:30 p.m. in Slocum Auditorium.

Timothy Stenson (���ϲ����� Architecture)

Timothy Stenson will teach the visiting critic studio, “Fabricating (Design),” which features fabrication-based design work at 1:1 scale, combined with conventional-media processes.

Tim Stenson

It is widely acknowledged that design output is related to, and consequently limited by, design-process media. And, at least to the extent that architecture is characterized as building design, architectural designs rely on indirect forms of media. Architects do not design by building, but rather by making small-scaled representations of buildings, and then preparing instructions for others to build. Consistent with this, architecture school studios are generally taught through indirect media—this is certainly so at ���ϲ����� Architecture. Though long practiced, design teaching through indirect media likewise has its limits.

Throughout the studio, students will get to know their own work in a different way by researching fabrication-based practices and production, establishing, in the process, a material-fabrication vocabulary. Students will design and prototype furniture-sized artifacts and will extrapolate and apply what they learn to produce a room enclosure for those artifacts.

Stenson is associate professor of architecture at ���ϲ�����. He joined the ���ϲ����� Architecture faculty in 2004 after teaching at the University of Virginia and the University of Michigan. His pedagogic interests have focused on core design studios.

Stenson’s creative work, spanning from urban to furniture scale, and from graphite on paper to folded steel, has been exhibited widely, and has received design awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and various publications. Stenson served as the chair of ���ϲ����� Architecture’s undergraduate program from 2011 to 2016.

James D. Kuhn ’70, G’72 and his wife, Marjorie, have provided a substantial new commitment to support the Forever Orange Campaign for ���ϲ����� and of the multimillion-dollar, multi-year effort to reimagine the stadium experience. The gift creates a new premium field/courtside space within the JMA Dome and provides an upgraded fan experience for premium seat holders for all five ���ϲ����� Athletics programs that compete in the facility.

“Through their philanthropy, Jimmy and Marjorie continuously redefine what it means to be a fan, friend and ambassador of ���ϲ�����,” says Chancellor Kent Syverud. “Thanks to their leadership, selflessness and vision, ���ϲ����� will continue to transform and elevate the fan and student experience on campus for years to come.”

The Kuhns have made several high-impact gifts over the years. Their gifts have established the and the Leo and Sunnie Kuhn Endowed Scholarship for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Whitman School of Management, as well as the Kuhn Film Fund in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. They have also supported initiatives in the School of Architecture, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and ���ϲ����� Athletics. In addition to supporting a number of ���ϲ����� initiatives, Kuhn has been a champion of philanthropy to a number of other organizations with gifts to NYU Langone, National Jewish Hospital, Mt Sinai, HSS and the Diversity Scholarship Fund at NYU Schack Real Estate Center for students pursuing a master’s degree in real estate.

James Kuhn is just as generous with his time. He has served on the Board of Trustees since 2007, was vice chair from 2013-17 and chair of the Facilities Committee from 2009-13. He has been a member of the Board Executive, Finance and Facilities committees. He also currently serves as chair of the Board Athletics Committee (through early May 2023). He is a member of the Whitman Advisory Council, which he had previously chaired for 10 years. In 2010, Kuhn received the inaugural Dritz Rookie Trustee of the Year Award and in 2018, he received the Dritz Trustee of the Year Award. In 2001, he received the Whitman School’s Jonathan J. Holtz Alumnus of the Year Award.

“Jimmy appreciates what it takes to excel as a student-athlete,” says John Wildhack, director of athletics. “Besides the commitment and hard work it takes to be a competitor, he knows that the entire University community plays a role in the success of our athletics program. Enhancing the fan experience at the JMA Dome strengthens our commitment to our student-athletes.”

A , Kuhn captained the ���ϲ����� fencing team during the 1967-68 season and was a three-time letterwinner. During his tenure on the team, he won the North Atlantic Collegiate Foil Championship and went on to finish in the top 16 at nationals in 1968. After a 25-year absence, Kuhn returned to fence in the veterans division, where he was ranked seventh in the nation by the time of his retirement in 2001.

“���ϲ����� gave me everything I needed and wanted to prepare me for life,” says Kuhn. “There are two things you can do in your life that are unrequited—philanthropy and helping your children be better than you are.”

After earning a B.S. in finance in 1970 and an MBA in 1972 from ���ϲ�����, Kuhn began his career as a lender with Metropolitan Life, and then was an owner/manager with The Mendik Company, before selling it to Vornado. He is principal, president and head of investor services for New York-based Newmark, which he joined in 1992. With more than 6,500 employees worldwide, Newmark operates from approximately 170 global offices. Kuhn also founded and leads Newmark’s technology and innovation practice group.

aims to enhance the game day experience for all ���ϲ����� fans, student-athletes, coaches, students and alumni. The second phase of the project, which was announced in December, includes the installation of upgraded chairback seating and the introduction of new premium offerings throughout the venue, building upon earlier enhancements that included the installation of a new roof, the largest center-hung video scoreboard in college sports, air conditioning throughout the venue, lighting and sound enhancements, and an improved concessions experience.

About ���ϲ�����

���ϲ����� is a private research university that advances knowledge across disciplines to drive breakthrough discoveries and breakout leadership. Our collection of 13 schools and colleges with over 200 customizable majors closes the gap between education and action, so students can take on the world. In and beyond the classroom, we connect people, perspectives and practices to solve interconnected challenges with interdisciplinary approaches. Together, we’re a powerful community that moves ideas, individuals and impact beyond what’s possible.

About Forever Orange: The Campaign for ���ϲ�����

Orange isn’t just our color. It’s our promise to leave the world better than we found it. Forever Orange: The Campaign for ���ϲ����� is poised to do just that. Fueled by more than 150 years of fearless firsts, together we can enhance academic excellence, transform the student experience and expand unique opportunities for learning and growth. Forever Orange endeavors to raise $1.5 billion in philanthropic support, inspire 125,000 individual donors to participate in the campaign, and actively engage one in five alumni in the life of the University. Now is the time to show the world what Orange can do. Visit����to learn more.

Among the many rites of the Lunar New Year, parents, grandparents and older family members will often hand out red envelopes containing money to younger family members as a way to usher in the new year on a prosperous note.

For the nearly 1,500 ���ϲ����� students who identify as Asian, the Lunar New Year also represents a chance to display the pride they feel in their culture and heritage to the campus community.

This year—the Year of the Rabbit—the Lunar New Year begins on Sunday, Jan. 22, and there are celebrations planned by the Chinese Union, , and other groups to showcase what it means to be Chinese.

Another staple of the Lunar New Year is the lighting and hanging of lanterns, which can symbolize letting go of any sadness from the past year while welcoming the new year with happiness and good luck. Like the envelopes, these lanterns are often red to represent more good fortune in the year ahead.

Joy Chen

When Joy Chen ’25 was a child growing up in New York City, she fondly recalls gathering with her family and extended family members from across the state. Chen was always on the receiving end of a generous red envelope exchange, and she relished another Lunar New Year tradition: the making of dumplings as a family.

“Those traditions are sacred. Receiving a red envelope is the adult’s way of sending their blessings to the children in the family, hoping they grow up healthy and experience a safe and prosperous New Year,” says Chen, a sophomore marketing management major in the Whitman School.

Before the start of the Fall 2021 semester, Ruohan Xu ’23 founded the Chinese Union to “spread Chinese culture to the ���ϲ����� community while bringing together the Chinese students” on campus.

It quickly became a passion project for Xu, who felt an obligation from the first time he stepped on campus to help his fellow Chinese students get acclimated to life at ���ϲ�����.

Ruohan Xu

“This is what I want to do to serve and give back to the community and to the Chinese students who helped me with my journey. I want to do everything I can to help make ���ϲ����� feel like home,” says Xu, a senior mechanical engineering and applied mathematics major in the iSchool and the College of Arts and Sciences.

The organization’s signature event occurs at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 21, during its Lunar New Year Celebration. Modeled after China’s Spring Festival Gala, this year’s talent show combines Chinese culture, Asian culture and pop culture, with 15 to 16 acts performing for the campus community.

“The Chinese Union wants to serve as a platform for all Chinese students to hang out with each other, be together and celebrate during this great festival. This is a great way to introduce the Chinese culture to our campus while celebrating what it means to be Chinese,” Xu says.

Chen, a member of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA), is also excited to invite the campus community to her organization’s annual Chinese New Year Gala, starting at 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 27, in the Goldstein Auditorium in the Schine Student Center.

“The Chinese New Year has always been a time for us to come together with our loved ones, whether it’s your family members or your friends, and have fun and enjoy the time spent with each other while celebrating our culture. Our gala will feature people singing, dancing and performing traditional Chinese music. It’s always so fun and we want everyone to come out, learn about our culture and have fun,” Chen says.

Below are some of the Lunar New Year celebrations planned this year:

• Chinese Union Lunar New Year Celebration:
  -Saturday, Jan. 21, 6 p.m., Goldstein Auditorium, Schine Student Center
• 
  -Sunday, Jan. 22, 2-10 p.m., Barnes Center at the Arch Room 046
• A Celebration of Lunar New Year [PDF]��(presented by the Center for International Services, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Asian/Asian American Studies and the Newhouse International Students Association):
  -Monday, Jan. 23, noon-1 p.m., Food.com at Newhouse 3
• 
  -Friday, Jan. 27, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Slocum Hall
• 
  -Friday, Jan. 27, 7 p.m., Goldstein Auditorium, Schine Student Center
• 
  -Friday, Jan. 27, 10 p.m.-midnight, Schine Student Center, 304 ABC

, assistant professor in the School of Architecture, won the Young Architects Award for , a shade pavilion she designed and built with four student researchers—Rayshad Dorsey, Pietro Mendonça, Jack Raymond and Audrey Watkins (all M.Arch ’23), from the Harvard Graduate School of Design—in Greene-Rose Heritage Park, one of the more underserved and most diverse neighborhoods of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The CloudHouse structure sits in the corner of the park with its open form facing the center. (Photo by Sam Balukonis)

The pavilion, developed with the City of Cambridge’s Public Space Lab and Community Development Department, provides temporary respite from the heat and rain and complements the city’s “Resilient Cambridge” program, which educates the public on urban heat islands and sustainability and recommends an increase in shading parks in lower-income neighborhoods that have a deficit of tree canopy coverage.

CloudHouse’s design was informed by one central constraint: avoiding material waste. The pavilion is built using HDPE (high-density polyethylene), a recyclable UV-treated plastic. Its translucency provides shade while letting some ambient light through, creating a sheltering membrane that is both illuminated and protective.

Designed and constructed using curved-crease folding—a geometric technique akin to origami that creates rigid structural surfaces out of low-cost, flat material—the entire structure is composed of five different reconfigurable modules that shape the walls, individual seats, communal benches and gable-vault roof and require limited skill and cost in assembly. The units are designed around the most standard and readily available stock size (4-foot x 8-foot sheets) and produce zero off-cuts in their construction.

“I appreciated the fact that this pavilion was made with a couple of different units flipped to their concave or convex sides to make an engaging shape,” said Felecia Davis, a member of the Best of Design Awards jury. “It looks like it can expand to be a bigger shelter as well and is, in fact, a building system for a material that is shapable like plastic. Perhaps this works for many kinds of recycled plastics one might find in a material stream in a community.”

Offering ample seating and an open form, CloudHouse invites people to socialize, rest and seek necessary refuge from the elements. In April 2022, it fulfilled its intention to celebrate existing usage of Greene-Rose Heritage Park by serving as a venue for Earth Day events organized by local organizations to promote education on climate resilience for Cambridge schoolchildren.

Entrants were invited this past fall to submit completed works in 39 categories that reflected AN’s editorial coverage, as well as the interests and obsessions of the newspaper’s readers. This year’s competition proved to be the largest to date for AN, with more than double the number of submissions than in typical previous iterations of this program, from firms big and small across every corner of the North American continent.

A place of rest and gathering for students from nearby elementary schools (Photo by Sam Balukonis)

The Best of Design Awards jury—including James Burnett, president of OJB Landscape Architecture; Tei Carpenter, founder of Agency–Agency; Sekou Cooke, director of the master of urban design program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Felecia Davis, associate professor at the Stuckeman Center for Design and Computation; Gabriela Etchegaray, cofounder of AMBROSI | ETCHEGARAY; Ron Stelmarski, principal and design director at Perkins&Will; Aaron Seward, editor-in-chief at The Architect’s Newspaper; and Jack Murphy, managing editor at The Architect’s Newspaper—judged each entry based on several criteria: strength of presentation, evidence of innovation, creative use of new technology, sustainability and, most importantly, good design.

Awards were given to everything from completed commercial and residential buildings to public and urban design projects; from interiors and small spaces to exhibition design and temporary installations; from research initiatives to architectural representations, and beyond.

“I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to execute this project as a demonstration of how geometry, material and construction processes can have social and environmental impacts even if at modest scales,” says Fayyad. “It was an honor and privilege to get to know the neighborhood’s history, hear stories from members of the community, and work with the City of Cambridge and my dedicated research and fabrication team.”

Fayyad is founder and director of project:if, a research practice that places constraints of architectural geometry in dialogue with material economy, visual perception, and the politics of physical space and building practice.

Winning projects, along with photos, descriptions and juror comments, are featured in , distributed at industry events and conferences throughout 2023. Winners will also receive a limited-edition print from Archigram produced especially for AN.

For a full list of 2022 Best of Design Awards winners, honorable mentions, editors’ picks and project of the year profiles, visit .

The ���ϲ����� Orange chapter of NOMAS received an Honorable Mention for their project “Between the Land and Memory.”

The Barbara G. Laurie Student Design Competition is one of the highlights of the NOMA conference for both student and professional members. Originating more than 20 years ago with just three schools, the competition today features the work of nearly 30 NOMAS chapters from across the country participating in a two-day competition.

This year’s event challenged student chapter teams to focus on a project that serves to address the gentrification and displacement of North Nashville community members as the result of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System, built in the 1960s. Once a thriving community populated with businesses, music clubs and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), the construction of Interstate 40 demolished homes and separated the North Nashville neighborhood. Specifically, teams were asked to show how design and architectural strategies can rebuild a community. Students were to envision a complex that serves as a cultural center to preserve the history of North Nashville and a new bridge to serve as a landmark and monument for the community.

The Orange NOMAS design team’s project, “Between the Land and Memory,” which placed fourth overall in the competition, aims to be an extension of the community, both physically and culturally, through a simple, expressive design that concentrates on restoring the land taken and recreating the urban sequence that was interrupted by the interstate.

The project proposes to stitch the community back together by providing a land bridge to reconnect the two sides of Alameda Street, an open public park for activity and leisure, integrated legal mural walls along the bridge and highway, and a playground at the end of the bridge that further integrates the design into the neighborhood.

Conceptual drawing of “Between the Land and Memory,” which placed fourth overall in the Barbara G. Laurie Student Design Competition at the 2022 NOMA conference.

The landscape is modified to create a gentle hill that makes the transition from the street level and the bridge level smooth and enjoyable. Along the hill, people encounter the market space for local small businesses, meander in an open grass area for picnics and activities and arrive at a museum displaying North Nashville’s history. The project’s main building complex, zoned for CN (commercial neighborhood), is embedded into the landscape, and includes such programs as galleries, a performance/conference hall, music club, art studios and workshop/classroom space.

The project’s name comes from the team’s symphonic treatment and arrangement of the landscape and one of the major design features—canopies composed of inverted roofs, making it easier for local mural artists and organizations to display their commissioned artwork illustrating the history and culture of North Nashville.

“We address potential displacement by considering the community’s needs, giving local artists a space to create, making the program financially beneficial for the local economy and minimizing the interruption to the immediate built context by blending seamlessly into the city fabric,” the team’s entry explains. “Walking in between the land and memory, people will not only remember the history of the community, but enjoy the landscape designed for and by the community.”

Architectural model of “Between the Land and Memory”

The ���ϲ����� team—advised by , undergraduate chair and associate professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Teaching Professor —included undergraduate students Yifan (Ivan) Shen ’25 and Yuqi (Kelvin) Duan ’26 (co-chairs), Ching-Hsing (Johnny) Chan ’25, Tianjian Cheng ’25, Jacob Chong ’26, Tianchonghui (Felix) Fang ’25, Yexin (Tina) Jiang ’26, Chinghan (Madeline) Lin ’25 and Mingrui (Ray) Xie ’26.

“The success of this year is a collective effort from our nine team members, three faculty advisors and the NOMAS e-board,” says Shen. “The four month’s preparation was an unforgettable journey, and one of the highlights of my study experience at ���ϲ�����.”

“We are very proud of our NOMAS chapter and this team who have continued the success of past winners,” says Michael Speaks, dean of the School of Architecture. “The competition and the NOMA conference in Nashville also provided our students an opportunity to meet peers from other schools as well as ���ϲ����� Architecture alumni.”

This year’s national conference, —the first in-person since 2019—attracted more than 1,300 NOMA members, allies and students. Conference attendees honored the achievements of its members, learned from industry peers through inspiring keynotes and educational seminars, and collaborated on opportunities that advance NOMA’s mission to increase the diversification of Blacks and all minorities in the design and architecture profession. The next NOMA conference is scheduled for October 2023 in Portland.

For more information on the ���ϲ����� Orange chapter of NOMAS, contact nomassyr@gmail.com.

Students pose for a photo during the 2022 Diwali celebration on the Orange Grove.

In 2015, College of Arts and Sciences art history Professor�� organized the University’s first public Diwali celebration on campus. Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights, is a Hindu festival held each October or November in India where people use oil lamps, candles and rangoli (a type of floor art) to decorate homes, streets and public buildings.

Ray, who specializes in the art and architecture of the British Empire in India, thought by bringing the festival to ���ϲ����� it would offer a new way for students in her art and architecture of India course to connect with the traditions and culture of India. She says her students enthusiastically joined in, and have been instrumental in helping the celebration grow each year—a testament to the power of art.

Students set up more than 2,500 tea lights ahead of the Diwali celebration.

“One of the objectives of this course is to experience the��living heritage of Indian art and architecture,” says Ray. “Architecture becomes ethereal, and art comes alive through the interplay between light and design during Diwali. I wanted my students to recreate this aesthetic experience, and in doing so, to experience a vibrant cultural tradition that they may or may not be familiar with.”

In 2021 and again this year, Ray and her students collaborated with the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students at ���ϲ����� (NOMAS) to light up over 2,500 tea lights. The NOMAS students, many who are enrolled in Ray’s art and architecture of India class, created rangoli patterns that were installed in the Orange Grove and illuminated with lights.

“Seeing students come together this way to embrace and celebrate a living art of India is one of the highlights of this course,” Ray says. “With their creative energy, our SU Diwali tradition has expanded in wonderful ways.”

About the Class

As the sun set and the night sky emerged, the lights sparkled across the grove. Pictured is one of the illuminated rangoli patterns.

This course introduces students to 5,000 years of art and architecture in India. They study painting, sculpture, photography and architecture created in the Indian subcontinent from 2600 B.C. to the present. Ray and her students explore major themes, which have emerged from a complex interweaving of art and architectural customs, political histories, religious traditions, cultural norms and histories of technology.

Who Should Enroll?

Anyone, but the course typically features students from art history, English, anthropology, the School of Architecture, the Newhouse School and the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

What are some of the fundamental questions students explore?

In this course, students investigate how different, intersecting cultures shape the making of art and architecture in India. They do this by charting the cultures of the Indus Valley, the influence of Buddhism and Hinduism, the evolution of Indo-Greek links, and the influx of Islam and Christianity. The course also examines the impact of British colonialism, the rise and fall of the British Empire, the role of nationalism in the making of modern Indian art, and the emergence of contemporary art in the post-Independence era.

Hands-on Experience

The class involves field trips to study two unique collections at ���ϲ�����: a collection of historic Indian calendar art in the Special Collections Research Center in Bird Library, and a collection of Indian indigenous art in the ���ϲ����� Art Museum. Students also participate in the Diwali illuminations evening.

Jenny Suwiwatchai ’23

Growing up in Thailand, her grandmother was supportive of Suwiwatchai’s pursuits and kickstarted her artistic journey by introducing her to new mediums and the art of world creations.

“She was my first art teacher,” says Suwiwatchai. “I remember making dioramas in front of the Teletubbies in our living room; it was one of the most joyful times of my life!”

Suwiwatchai continued her passion for animation throughout high school by enrolling in the Harrow International School in Bangkok, a British international school focused on the arts. She initially researched college opportunities in the United Kingdom, but it was the freedom to choose courses outside of her field that led her to the United States.

“I love history as much as architecture, and ���ϲ����� was able to provide me with that,” says Suwiwatchai. “One simply cannot be an architect without a proper education in architecture, however, one who is educated as an architect can transfer to an array of disciplines within the art industry. It’s an incredible steppingstone in pursuing a wider branch of artistic opportunities once graduated.”

Despite her heavy academic workload as an architecture major with a history minor, Suwiwatchai still finds time to accept commissions as a freelance illustrator.

“I have done it all,” says Suwiwatchai. “From digital pet portraits, phone cases, scarves and fashion apparel to sustainable tote bags, digital currency logo designs, graphic design, architectural drafting and comic writing.”

But it’s only in the past few years that the scale of Suwiwatchai’s commissions has picked up to the point where she could call her work a professional job. Young adult publishers, authors and game producers throughout Thailand have contacted Suwiwatchai to create cover art or concept art for their projects.

“It still gives me chills being able to enter a random bookstore in Bangkok and see the covers I’ve illustrated among the shelves,” says Suwiwatchai.

“That King and I,” Suwiwatchai’s novel project.

She recalls one of her proudest moments occurring when she received the “Top in Thailand” AS Media Studies award by the Cambridge International Examination board for directing, writing, coordinating, animating, editing and post-marketing the short film, “Ace of Spades.”

In her free time, Suwiwatchai continues to illustrate her own worlds and stories. Her most recent work, ““—a novel project about warring kingdoms in a fantasy land—has gained minor popularity within the Thai digital art community.

The narrative follows Vidaar, Arandia’s minister of finance, and his newly appointed position of chief strategist amidst a brewing continental war. The lands of Arandia, Cerusar, Hesphere, Hemnut and ���ϲ����� all have vernacular styles of architecture that, though fantastical, are based on different Eurasian regions between the seventh and 14th centuries CE.

Launching Oct. 8 at Comic Avenue in Thailand, all copies of “That King and I” sold out in three hours.

“Honestly, it surprised me to see how many people, mostly prospective architecture students, were interested to see the combination of history and architectural studies in a narrative cartoon form,” says Suwiwatchai.

Initially imagined in the form of a novel, “That King and I” has morphed into a concept book.

“Issue 1 is a stand in for ‘there will be more,'” says Suwiwatchai. “I was not prepared for all the feedback I’ve gotten from just introducing the characters and their concept alone, even before the first chapter is published. Many have expressed their desires to see Vidaar and others as tangible media they could enjoy.”

Suwiwatchai graduates in May 2023 and plans to attend graduate school to further her historical and design education. “There is still so much I want to know about the human past and the architecture of the old,” she says.

She dreams of one day working in the entertainment industry as either a visual developer or as an imagineer on a film set.

“I would love to see magic and fantasy brought to life by my own hands,” says Suwiwatchai. “Right now, I am only able to bring people into a world of make-believe in a two-dimensional form, but without the ability to construct that 2D imagination into inhabitable, tangible sets, a large part of me is yet to feel satisfied.”

Up to that point, libraries were dark spaces where students conducted their research or prepared for an upcoming exam, usually studying by themselves.

That all changed with the addition of Bird Library, which featured seven floors with more than 212,000 square feet, at a cost of $13.8 million when it debuted.

At the time it opened, Bird Library’s south entrance had an original bridge leading to the second floor.

When Bird Library opened on Sept. 5, 1972, the building was an architectural marvel. The main (north) entrance was on the Waverly Avenue side of campus, while there was a bridge that guided visitors to the library’s south entrance, on the second floor along University Place on what is now known as the Einhorn Family Walk.

Thanks to Bird Library, ���ϲ����� was ahead of the curve in providing students with bright, friendly gathering and study spaces. The University had improved upon the idea of what purpose a library should serve, allowing Bird Library to act as a social space as much as a headquarters for studying.

It didn’t take long for students to flock to Bird, turning it into the hub of research and study sessions on campus. was studying French language, literature and culture and English as an undergraduate student when Bird Library was being built.

Originally, Opar had considered a career teaching French, but felt more drawn to other ways of engaging with students. Opar had worked as a library student assistant throughout her undergraduate career, including three years and one summer in the Slocum Fine Arts Library. Upon completion of her undergraduate degrees, Opar was hired as a graduate assistant to oversee the operation of the newly created Architecture Reading Room, which was first housed on the fourth floor of Slocum Hall.

Among her duties as an undergraduate library assistant, Opar staffed the Fine Arts circulation desk, helped patrons locate materials and answered basic queries. She also worked at times in the Carnegie Library, covering exit control.

Having helped move books from the branches into Bird Library, Opar had inside knowledge of how different it was from the older libraries.

“That first day that Bird Library opened was special. Bird was this brand-new building that was done in the architectural style of the time, almost like a library fortress with a drawbridge or a pedestrian bridge allowing patrons to enter on the second floor. Bird Library was the beginning of having libraries as a social space, a bright spot where students could gather and study. They created a much more attractive space,” Opar says.

Bird Library Ahead of Its Time

Patrons utilizing the reference desk at Bird Library when it opened in 1972.

Within the first two months of the Fall 1972 semester, library users spiked from 1,500 to 7,000, showing the need this new space was fulfilling on campus.

The transition to Bird took a village to pull off. Serving as the University’s primary library, Bird took on more than one million volumes of research items—along with millions of other items ranging from manuscripts to microform—that previously were housed in Carnegie Library, the library annex and other branch libraries.

Opar was called upon to work on the moving crew responsible for transporting the contents of the Fine Arts branch library from Slocum Hall to Bird Library, logging countless evening hours packing up books and ensuring they were properly organized in their new home.

Barbara Opar ’73, G’74, architectural librarian.

“Bird Library was everything Carnegie Library wasn’t. Back then, you didn’t go to the library to hang out. Carnegie had these big study areas throughout, but Bird gave students comfortable study spaces. That was a big difference. Bird was a more open and uplifting space, with bright colored chairs and beautiful oak furniture. People were very much pleased with Bird when it opened. It became a popular place for students to meet, study and hang out,” Opar says.

A Lifelong Commitment to Serving Students

Today, Opar has spent almost 50 years as the architectural librarian on campus. She spends roughly half of her time in Slocum Hall, just like she did as a student employee, helping students with their reference and resource questions, while assisting with library acquisitions, reserves, the working drawings collection and any other faculty support issues pertaining to the library system.

Opar, who says she was one of the youngest people ���ϲ����� Libraries ever hired when she was given the job almost five decades ago, never thought forward to her longevity as a librarian on campus.

“My purpose has not changed. I’m always here for the students to help answer their reference questions. I still like doing reference work, I enjoy working with our students and I enjoy the public service nature of the job. But I never would have believed I would work for the Libraries for 50 years. ���ϲ����� is my home and it has been my life all these years,” Opar says.

On Sept. 14, 2022, the University celebrated 50 years since Bird Library’s opening. Opar has been a member of the campus community since 1969 and served on the planning committee that organized campus-wide celebrations for the library’s anniversary.

Bird Library serves as the busiest academic building on campus, drawing more than one million visitors annually (pre-COVID-19). Besides acting as the preferred study space on campus, Bird Library is also home to ���ϲ����� Abroad, the Center for Learning and Student Success, Blackstone LaunchPad, the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement, the Digital Scholarship Space, Faculty Commons, the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, Women in Science and Engineering and the Special Collections Research Center.

The convocation will be preceded by the annual Rose-Laying Ceremony at 2:03 p.m. at the Place of Remembrance, located in front of the Hall of Languages. This ceremony memorializes the 270 people, including several students studying abroad through ���ϲ�����, who were killed in the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The ceremony also honors 2002-03 Lockerbie Scholar Andrew McClune, who died in 2002.

American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will be provided at the Rose-Laying Ceremony, and ASL and Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) will be provided at the convocation. The Rose-Laying Ceremony and convocation will be .

The Remembrance Scholarships are funded through an endowment supported by gifts from alumni, friends, parents and corporations. Significant support for the Remembrance Scholarships has been provided by C. Jean Thompson ’66 and ���ϲ����� Board of Trustees Chairman Emeritus Richard L. Thompson G’67, H’15 in memory of Jean Taylor Phelan Terry ’43 and John F. Phelan, Jean Thompson’s parents; the Fred L. Emerson Foundation; Deborah Barnes and ���ϲ����� Board of Trustees Chairman Emeritus Steven W. Barnes ’82, H’19; and the ���ϲ����� Association of Zeta Psi in remembrance of our brother, Alexander Lowenstein.

Applicants for the $5,000 scholarship are asked to highlight their academic achievements, creative pursuits, leadership activities and community service. They also wrote essays and participated in interviews with members of the selection committee.

Additionally, each year, two students from Lockerbie are selected as Lockerbie Scholars. They spend one year studying at ���ϲ����� on a scholarship before returning to the United Kingdom to complete their university degrees. Both ���ϲ����� and the Lockerbie Trust support this award. This year’s scholars, Zach Blackstock and Natasha Gilfillan, will be recognized at the convocation.

Chris E. Johnson, associate provost for academic affairs and professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, will preside over the convocation. A message will be delivered by Chancellor Kent Syverud and a Remembrance Scholar will speak on behalf of the group.

The 2022-23 Remembrance Scholars and their hometowns and majors are:

• David Barbier Jr. of Miami, Florida, a television, radio and film major in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and an international relations major in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and College of Arts and Sciences (A&S);
• Diane Benites of New Providence, New Jersey, a biology major in A&S;
• Mira Berenbaum of Los Angeles, California, an accounting major in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, a public relations major in the Newhouse School and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Olivia Budelmann of Fayetteville, New York, a mathematics major in A&S; a Spanish language, literature and culture major in A&S; an environment, sustainability and policy major in the Maxwell School and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Emma Dahmen of East Wenatchee, Washington, an economics major in the Maxwell School and A&S; a citizenship and civic engagement major in the Maxwell School; a Spanish language, literature and culture major in A&S and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Cori Dill of San Diego, California, a political science major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a public relations major in the Newhouse School;
• Ronald Ditchek of Brooklyn, New York, a music education major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) and School of Education;
• Dara Drake of Highland Park, Illinois, a policy studies major in the Maxwell School and A&S and member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Fabryce Fetus of Brooklyn, New York, a policy studies major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a public health major in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics;
• Karina Freeland of Burke, Virginia, a policy studies major in the Maxwell School and A&S;
• Kinley Gaudette of Salisbury, New Hampshire, a public health major in the Falk College; a policy studies major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Riya Gupta of San Ramon, California, a policy studies major in the Maxwell School and A&S;
• Jaime Heath of Bridgeton, New Jersey, a policy studies major in the Maxwell School and A&S; a political science major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a citizenship and civic engagement major in the Maxwell School;
• Sifan Hunde of Washington, D.C., an international relations major in the Maxwell School and A&S, a psychology major in A&S and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Amanda Lalonde of Baldwinsville, New York, a psychology and forensic science major in A&S, a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program and a U.S. Navy and Navy Reserve veteran;
• Adam Landry of Nashua, New Hampshire, a civil engineering major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) and member of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps;
• Ivy Lin of New York, New York, a creative writing major in A&S, a history major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Julianna Mercado of Holbrook, New York, a biochemistry and forensic science major in A&S;
• Jenna Merry of Overland, Kansas, an architecture major in the School of Architecture and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Josh Meyers of Livingston, New Jersey, a broadcast and digital journalism major in the Newhouse School;
• Ofentse Mokoka of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa, an economics major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a writing and rhetoric major in A&S;
• Riley Moore of Gibsonia, Pennsylvania, a communication and rhetorical studies major in VPA; a policy studies major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a creative writing major in A&S;
• Nadia Nelson of Suffern, New York, a policy studies and political science major in the Maxwell School and A&S;
• Janice Poe of Atlanta, Georgia, a chemistry major in A&S, a member of the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps and a member of the U.S. National Guard;
• Mackenzie Quinn of Fredonia, New York, a sociology and political science major in the Maxwell School and A&S and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Maggie Sardino of ���ϲ�����, New York, a writing and rhetoric major in A&S; a citizenship and civic engagement major in the Maxwell School and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Brielle Seidel of Hillsborough, New Jersey, a public health major in the Falk College;
• Car Shapiro of Lake Worth, Florida, an entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises major in the Whitman School;
• Aidaruus Shirwa of ���ϲ�����, New York, a policy studies and economics major in the Maxwell School and A&S;
• Louis Smith of Seneca Falls, New York, a biology major in A&S; a citizenship and civic engagement major in the Maxwell School and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Emily Steinberger of Burlingame, California, a photojournalism major in the Newhouse School; a management major in the Whitman School and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Taylor Stover of Amherst, New York, an international relations and history major in the Maxwell School and A&S;
• Alesandra “Sasha” Temerte of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, an economics major in the Maxwell School and A&S; a writing and rhetoric major in A&S and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• Amreeta Verma of Green Brook, New Jersey, an architecture major in the School of Architecture; and
• Jared Welch of Endicott, New York, an electrical engineering major in ECS and computer science and physics major in A&S.