Faculty

ENVD welcomes new faculty and staff

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 20:24:33 +0000

ENVD welcomes new faculty and staff Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 08/26/2024 - 14:24

Faculty

Assistant Teaching Professor Juan Grisales is a versatile transdisciplinary designer and researcher with studies in architecture, landscape architecture, ecology, and urbanism. His work focuses predominantly on design research methods to read, decode, and project misinterpreted, and often marginalized domains (territories, ecologies, and publics), their evolving processes, as well as their relation to their larger bio-physical geography. Learn more.

Assistant Professor Nesrine Mansour, joins ENVD from South Dakota State University and is an expert in architecture and the built environment. Her research centers on the convergence of architecture, digital media and sacred spaces, bridging disciplines like social sciences, digital humanities, and modern technology such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality. Learn more.

Associate Teaching Professor Martín Paddack is founder and principal at DesignMAP, in Washington, D.C. He is an architectural designer, artist and writer who has worked in Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Spain, Uruguay, Peru and the United States. With previous teaching experience in Fine Arts and English, Martín is most interested in finding deeper meanings in architecture through the intersections of color, art, language, cultural identity, social responsibility, sustainability and fabrication. Learn more.

Postdoctoral Associate

Lecturer Sophie Weston Chien is a designer-organizer: a practitioner and an educator who builds community power through social and physical infrastructure to ensure people can shape their own spaces. Learn more.

Staff

Writer & Content Coordinator Sierra Brown writes news stories and feature articles that promote ENVD’s alumni, faculty and student stories. She earned her master's degree in urban reslience and sustainability from the Masters of the Environment Graduate Program at CU �鶹ӰԺ. Learn more.

Academic Coach Sara Freix is dedicated to supporting ENVD students in their academic, personal and career success. She's pursuing her master's degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at the University of Colorado Denver. Learn more.

Assistant Director of Advising & Student Retention John Tran oversees the management and assessment of the recruitment for First-Year, transfer and intra-university transfer students, new student orientation, the Diverse Scholars Program, First-Year Experience, and efforts related to student persistence and retention. Learn more.

This fall, ENVD welcomes three new faculty, a postdoctoral associate and three staff members.

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Faculty visit with Denver Botanic Gardens

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 16:50:55 +0000

Faculty visit with Denver Botanic Gardens Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/20/2023 - 09:50

On November 7, ENVD faculty visited the Denver Botanic Gardens with the goal to reinvigorate the CU-DBG connection and to introduce new faculty and leadership. There was inspirational discussion around the creation of new projects and collaborations that could result in new studio topics and offerings for ENVD students. Faculty in attendance also toured the Denver Botanic Gardens led by CEO Brian Vogt, which underscored the importance of mutual efforts to demonstrate new visions of sustainability and regenerative landscapes for the betterment of humanity.

ENVD faculty visited the Denver Botanic Gardens with the goal to reinvigorate the CU-DBG connection and to introduce new faculty and leadership.

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ENVD welcomes six new faculty members

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 19:54:33 +0000

ENVD welcomes six new faculty members Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 08/28/2023 - 13:54

Teaching Associate Professor Dean Bacalzo comes to CU �鶹ӰԺ with more than 18 years of industry experience and 12 years of teaching experience in higher education. He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, an MS in Design from Arizona State University, and is currently working on his EdD from CSU at Pueblo where he is focusing on “solving wicked societal problems with creative, independent, and critical thought.” Learn more.

Teaching Associate Professor Caitlin Charlet, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, is a Green Classroom Professional, Fitwel Ambassador and Sustainable Strategies and Healthy Material Certified. She is the Principal of MATERIALBUREAU, which works at the intersection of equity, healthy materials and methods within built environments. She is Founder of the Studio of Inclusionary Urbanism and Civic Architectural Actions (SolUaCAA), and fellow at the Centre for Conscious Design and the Urban Design Forum, as well as a volunteer at Design Advocates. Learn more.

Teaching Professor Case Lindberg has committed the last decade to the scientific intersection of design and health. He holds a Ph.D. in psychology and a Master of Education from Stanford University, and a Master of Architecture from the University of Colorado Denver. His expertise spans research methods, including physiological and environmental sensing techniques. Learn more.

Teaching Associate Professor Mark Rukamathu, AIA, NCARB, grew up in a multi-cultural environment across the U.S. East Coast, Bangkok Thailand, and Arkansas. Mark's architectural journey started with drafting classes in high school, entering higher education at Northwest Arkansas Community College, receiving his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Arkansas cum laude, and Master of Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design with distinction. Learn more.

Assistant Professor Elena Sabinson is a design researcher engaged in trans-disciplinary work that operates at the boundaries of environmental design, psychology, and emerging technologies. Elena received a PhD in Human Behavior and Design from Cornell University. Elena’s doctoral research was completed in the Architectural Robotics Lab, where she worked on bio-informed, soft robotic surfaces embedded in the environment to support emotional wellbeing. Learn more.

Assistant Professor Zannah Matson's research and design work focuses on the histories and contemporary reinterpretations of landscapes throughout processes of colonization, extraction, and state infrastructure projects. Her current work traces the afterlives of coloniality through highway construction in Colombia’s Eastern piedmont landscapes to think about power structures, transportation infrastructure, and visual representation in Latin American landscapes more generally. Learn More.

The Program in Environmental Design welcomes six new faculty to the design community in fall 2023.

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ENVD Professor Participates in Jefferson Science Fellowship Program during 2021-2022

Anonymous — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 19:11:17 +0000

ENVD Professor Participates in Jefferson Science Fellowship Program during 2021-2022 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/31/2022 - 13:11

Kevin J. Krizek

“Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world.” –Louis Pasteur

Louis Pasteur’s quote distills a core aim of the U.S. Department of State Jefferson Science Fellowship (JSF), a program Environmental Design Professor Kevin J. Krizek has participated in from 2021 to 2022. The JSF recruits tenured academics to serve as “force multipliers” for science and engineering-oriented thinking–to strengthen perspectives in U.S. diplomacy. Professor Krizek has supported the science of how the next generation of global infrastructure, fueled by rapid technological innovation and clean energy reform, could quickly spread to communities around the world, allowing people to obtain the goods and services needed in a sustainable manner.

While living in Washington, D.C., for the past year, Professor Krizek has served as a senior advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment. This gave him the opportunity to support U.S. diplomacy in international workshops, learn from Washington-based foundations, be exposed to lobbying efforts and engage in political discussions at some of the highest levels of U.S. government.

As an extension of his appointment with the State Department, Professor Krizek will assist in the formulation of the inaugural Office of Subnational Diplomacy, an office created in part to propel the quick change that is possible, which runs through smaller-scale, community-based operations. As cities worldwide increase their capacity to effectively respond to multiple crises occurring in urban environments, the efforts that Professor Krizek is contributing to will strengthen ties between the State Department with mayors, governors and other local officials in the U.S. and around the world.

A central goal of the JSF is to sustain a contained partnership between the State Department and universities. Professor Krizek will bring back knowledge of international diplomacy and global infrastructure initiatives to share with the �鶹ӰԺ and the Program in Environmental Design, through classroom teaching, student advising and speaking engagements.

Professor Krizek will support programming for the inaugural Cities Summit of the Americas, which will be held in Denver in the spring of 2023.

Environmental Design Professor Kevin J. Krizek participated in the U.S. Department of State Jefferson Science Fellowships (JSF) program from 2021 to 2022.

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ENVD Assistant Professor to co-guest edit MAS Context with University of Miami Assistant Professor

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 15:26:07 +0000

ENVD Assistant Professor to co-guest edit MAS Context with University of Miami Assistant Professor Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 09/04/2020 - 09:26

In July, Environmental Design Assistant Professor Shawhin Roudbari was invited to co-guest edit issue 33 of MAS Context with Germane Barnes, assistant professor and director of The community, Housing and Identity LAB (CHIL) at the University of Miami. The new issue will explore vigilantism with a range of ideas and topics from experts in education, design and architecture. Readers can expect the new issue to be published in March 2021.

Shawhin Roudbari and Germane Barnes will present their explorations on "architectures of vigilantism" at the 2020 MAS Context Fall Talks, which will be hosted on November 12, 2020 at 6 p.m. CT. Learn more and register.

In 2014, when Roudbari began teaching at CU �鶹ӰԺ, he taught courses in sustainability and social innovation, and in 2016 he became an assistant professor in ENVD.

“Since the beginning, I've always taught a range of studios, mostly lower division, but the classes that have sort of been near and dear to my heart are the ones on ethics and activism, social change and then recently this class on dissent by design, which has been so great,” Roudbari said.

“It’s sort of like the first time that my research, my teachings and my interests have all kind of come together. And I have learned so much from the students.”

ENVD sat down with Roudbari in a Zoom interview to learn more about what to expect in issue 33 of MAS Context, what sparked his research inspiration, and what he hopes the outcome will be.

In your research, you study how designers organize to address social problems. Can you share how you came into this research and what it means to you?

I used to be very apolitical, like, I had a point about not being engaged in politics for the longest time. Around 2008, when I went back to grad school in architecture, there was a lot happening politically on campus. There was a lot of activism, a lot of protests, and teachings where faculty came and spoke, and this was at Berkeley, which has a big tradition of activism. There was this one guy who I thought was really cool at the time who was talking about apathy, cynicism and these different topics as problematic and instrumental, and I thought ‘wow, those are exactly my reasons for not being politically engaged.’

So, I made almost a 180-degree shift and realized that there are a lot of issues I care about. I have a lot of privileges that I need to capitalize on when working on those kinds of problems. So, in general, my research has been about how can people like me, who are design professionals not interested in politics, engage in politics?

In what ways do you apply your research in the classroom and how do you collaborate with your students?

I think I’m really into exploring non-conventional ways of doing that. I obviously bring case studies from my research into class, but I’m really eager to see how the students can push the boundary. For example, this isn’t necessarily related to activism, but there was a teahouse project where we were working on renovations for the �鶹ӰԺ Dushanbe Teahouse, and as a class we wrote a book together called “An Architecture of Dialogue: Learning from the �鶹ӰԺ Dushanbe Teahouse.” It was put together based on our thoughts about issues in architecture theory using the teahouse as an example. This is one instance where I really wanted to involve the students in as authors.

So, there’s the idea of giving students more agency to be involved and being able to think through these issues not just as consumers of knowledge but as producers of knowledge. With the dissent by design studio, I also had a similar idea of doing a book led by students, where they could dig into these really contentious social problems and explore through speculative design. Asking questions like, what are ways we can think about transgender violence, the border wall, and any other experiences students have had in their own lives. I really want this to be a space for them to practice thinking through those types of topics.

The connection I get with my research is that this is my research. It’s working with creative types and designers to think about how we can really engage in these topics and issues.

So, you were invited to co-guest edit issue 33 of MAS Context. What was that experience like?

That has been a really cool and new kind of process for me! In the fall, I collaborated with ENVD grads Ana Colon and Ann Dang on a workshop and presentation over the topic of racism in architecture, and then I presented it at a conference. It was there that I met Germane Barnes, who was also thinking about topics around race. We sort of hit it off on our shared interests and within a few months we scheduled a call to check in and exchange ideas. That call became monthly calls, which turned into weekly calls where we’re really exploring race and architecture, thinking about the idea of spaces and places as being racist.

Our conversations became more and more interesting and we came up with this idea of vigilantism. People like the woman in Central Park calling the police on Mr. Cooper. The police officer who shot George Floyd in Minneapolis. These people are acting like vigilantes–somebody who takes state powers and self-policing into their own hands. They’re not given that power through any kind of process, nobody elected them. We also thought about Batman and how he’s a vigilante, but there’s complexity and a darkness about it.

So we landed on three different aspects of vigilantism, an aggressor, a resistor and a witness. We put together a full proposal with a theme, an abstract and a list of about 12 contributors with very different angles and thoughts around this topic. And that’s how it all kind of transpired. MAS Context is an architectural, interdisciplinary design magazine, and when they replied back to us with not a no, we we’re excited!

Do you both think that you’re going to answer all of the questions listed on MAS Context’s website?

We actually wrote and prompted all of those questions. It was initially for when we reached out to the contributors for the Vigilantism issue. We came up with this one idea around vigilantes, and we like the three different characters, but we wanted to expand it to more than just that one idea, and it worked. We were thinking about it as a spatial thing, another person brought in the idea of it being an aesthetic thing, and another as a material thing and so on.

What does vigilantism mean to you and how will you contribute that to this issue?

I think the sense I had before all of this was that it wasn’t as racialized. It was a bit more neutral, like people patrolling their neighborhood keeping an eye out, looking for bad actors and cleaning up messes. In the past couple of years, as I’ve learned more about race and racism in America, vigilantism has come to connote things like Jim Crow, racism, lynching, the kinds of things that have happened and continue to happen to this country when people–state actors and non-state actors, police and not police–enact violence on racial minortities, and feel justified in doing so because they thought there was some kind of threat or concern.

After the issue makes its way into the world and people read it and take it all in, what do you hope the outcome will be?

I think one thing that really excites both me and Germane, is that this as a publication will be in the world for architecture students to see and use. These are not things that we had access to when we were in school, like new ways of thinking or connecting topics like racism and architecture. So, the idea that this will be in architecture schools and their libraries is pretty exciting.

One more thing I’d like to note, is that I do think these are uncomfortable topics for a lot of people. They can be politically uncomfortable and emotionally uncomfortable, and theoretically they’re not easy. It’s not like we have any frameworks for thinking about racism in architecture. In the back of my mind, with all those levels of discomfort I’m always trying to be aware that this can be alienating to some people. Some people could feel called out. But, I think a silver lining from the current protests is that more people are hearing terms like anti-racism, fragility and vulnerability. My hope is that more people in society will feel more encouraged, or more comfortable, to get into uncomfortable spaces of thinking when it comes to these topics.

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ENVD assistant professor to guest edit issue 33 of MAS Context

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jul 2020 17:31:14 +0000

ENVD assistant professor to guest edit issue 33 of MAS Context Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/13/2020 - 11:31

Assistant Professor Shawhin Roudbari has been invited to guest-edit the next issue of MAS Context, a Chicago-based print and online publication with a global reach that address issues that affect the urban context.

Roudbari will collaborate with Germane Barnes, assistant professor and director of The Community, Housing & Identity Lab (CHIL) at the University of Miami. MAS Context Issue 33, will explore and focus on vigilantism.

Assistant Professor Shawhin Roudbari will guest-edit the next issue of MAS Context, collaborating with Germane Barnes, assistant professor and director of The Community, Housing & Identity Lab (CHIL).

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ENVD instructor donates homemade masks

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 17:27:55 +0000

ENVD instructor donates homemade masks Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/13/2020 - 11:27

While teaching remotely, Environmental Design Instructor Betsy Johnson and her family are volunteering their time to help others during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Scrolling through Facebook, Johnson read a post from �鶹ӰԺ Community Health, noting they were accepting donations of homemade masks.

“I have been sewing for years and have a lot of random scraps at home,” Johnson said. “That seemed like a great way to get involved from home and keep us busy.”

With two kids now at home, Johnson said they are trying their best to stay positive. Her daughters help cut fabric and make signs for the hospital, and Johnson sews and delivers the masks. She sews her handmade masks using her grandmother’s sewing machine from the 1950s.

The homemade masks are not considered to be medical grade and are for general public use.

“They are great for going to the grocery store or other essential services, and keeping your hands away from your nose and mouth while in public, especially when you can’t wash your hands immediately,” Johnson said.

While teaching remotely, Environmental Design Instructor Betsy Johnson and her family are volunteering their time to help others during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Five design firms join to reimagine the National Mall Tidal Basin

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 21:43:06 +0000

Five design firms join to reimagine the National Mall Tidal Basin Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/04/2019 - 14:43

On October 22, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Trust for the National Mall, in partnership with the National Park Service, announced the five world-class landscape architecture firms working to shape the future of the National Mall Tidal Basin.

DLANDstudio is one of the five landscape architecture firms that will foster collaboration, big thinking and enable innovative ideas. Other firms include GGN, Hood Design Studio, James Corner Field Operations, and Reed Hilderbrand.

Environmental Design Associate Professor Susannah Drake is the founding principal of DLANDstudio, an interdisciplinary practice with offices in New York and Colorado. Learn more.

Environmental Design Associate Professor Susannah Drake, founding principal of DLANDstudio is one of the five landscape architecture firms working to shape the future of the National Mall Tidal Basin.

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2019 AIA Colorado Annual Design Awards

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 21:16:18 +0000

2019 AIA Colorado Annual Design Awards Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/17/2019 - 15:16

Last Friday, Instructor Neal Evers and HMH Architecture + Interiors Principal Architect Harvey Hine, an ENVD alum, were awarded with an AIA Colorado Award of Distinction for their Modern Stair design. The Modern Stair design was created specifically for the Sloan’s Vista house.

Learn more about the AIA Colorado Annual Design Awards and view all 2019 winners. Learn more about Sloan’s Vista.

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Planning and urban design global seminar wins faculty 2019-20 outreach award

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 21:10:44 +0000

Planning and urban design global seminar wins faculty 2019-20 outreach award Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/17/2019 - 15:10

Program in Environmental Design Assistant Professor Jota Samper was recognized for a 2019-20 Faculty Outreach Award for the Medellin Global Seminar: Colombian Displaced Communities: Planning and Urban Design.

The seminar is a 5-week abroad program in Medellin, Colombia. It is a hands-on planning studio that collaborates directly with the community of Manantiales, helping them create a community development plan that they can use to engage in conversation with state officials. Learn more about the seminar and Faculty Outreach Awards.

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