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Carnegie Mellon University

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Carnegie Mellon names Omar Khan as new School of Architecture Head | News | Archinect

Designer and educator Omar Khan has been appointed as the new Head of the Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture.

Khan is currently the chair of the Department of Architecture at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. Khan is also a co-principal, with Laura Garófalo, of design-research practice Liminal Projects and partner, with Jordan Geiger, in Gekh, a design consultancy.

Khan has served as University at Buffalo department chair for seven years and has helped lead the school’s efforts to expand graduate offerings there while also developing key industry collaborations, according to a statement published to the Carnegie Mellon website.

Additionally, Khan has co-directed the Center for Architecture and Situated Technologies (CAST) and has edited the Situated Technologies Pamphlet Series. CAST is a research outfit created via a collaboration between the Center for Virtual Architecture, The Institute for Distributed Creativity (iDC), and the Architectural League of New York that focuses on “pervasive computing technologies as they intersect with architecture,” including cybernetics and artificial intelligence, according to a statement.

At the University at Buffalo, Khan has also co-directed the Sustainable Manufacturing and Advanced Robotics Technology (SMART) Community of Excellence, a group that brings together “researchers across architecture, engineering, computing and management collaborate with industry to explore robotic technologies for manufacturing.”

Regarding Khan’s appointment, said Dan Martin, Dean of College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon, said, “Professor Khan will continue the history of excellence in the School of Architecture and, indeed, lead the school into an even more productive and effective future.”

Khan earned a bachelor of architecture degree from Cornell University and a master in design and computation from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where played a role in the Aesthetics and Computation Group at the MIT Media Lab.

Khan is expected to take up his new position on August 1, 2020.

University of Minnesota

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Architect Jennifer Yoos selected as the new Head of the University of Minnesota School of Architecture | News | Archinect

Architect and educator Jennifer Yoos, FAIA has been named as the new Head of the School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota.

Yoos is the principal and CEO of Minneapolis-based architecture practice VJAA. She is also an alumna of the University of Minnesota and the Architectural Association in London.

Throughout her career as an educator, Yoos has taught at the Cooper Union, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Arkansas, and the University of Minnesota. Additionally, Yoos studied at Harvard University in 2013 as a Loeb Fellow in the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Urban and Environmental Studies department. Yoos was elevated to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows in 2013, as well.

Yoos comes to Univesrsity of Minnesota to replace the school’s previous Dean, Blaine Brownell, who was named as the new director of the School of Architecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s College of Arts + Architecture earlier this year. The School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota is housed within the University’s College of Design, for which Carol Strohecker is Dean.

In a statement highlighting her selection, Yoos made the following remarks: “I am honored to return to the University of Minnesota as the head of the School of Architecture. The school and its graduates are critical to the success of the architecture community and to the region. I am indebted to the School for providing a solid foundation for my academic and professional career, and look forward to working closely with faculty and students to further the School’s success and increase its influence.”

Yoos is expected to take up her new position at the University of Minnesota on June 8, 2020 following formal approval of her selection by the school’s Board of Regents.

California Polytechnic State University

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Cal Poly Architectural Engineering EERI Seismic Design Team Wins Second Place

SAN LUIS OBISPO – A team of Cal Poly architectural engineering (ARCE) students placed second in the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) Seismic Design Competition (SDC) in early March in San Diego.

The Cal Poly team competed against 46 other university teams from throughout the U.S. and countries such as Canada, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Malaysia, Mexico, Turkey and Romania.

The Cal Poly team’s months-long preparation involved writing a design proposal; constructing a 5-foot-tall balsa-wood model to survive two shake-table ground motions; refining computer simulations to accurately predict the model’s performance; and developing communication materials, including a poster and oral presentation. Their efforts led to a second-place award for presentation and poster, third in proposal, and fifth for architecture.

Fourteen students were accompanied by ARCE Assistant Professor Anahid Behrouzi, Cal Poly’s EERI student chapter faculty advisor. Of this group, 12 undergraduates participated in the competition. Jenna Williams, graduate student and, past EERI seismic design competition team captain, served as this year’s chair. Students Alejandra Bravo and Nicholas Slavin presented research with Behrouzi during a talk titled “Leveraging ArcGIS Mapping: Investigation of Concrete Building Damage after 2017 Mexico Earthquake.”

“Our Top 10 performance in the competition sub-categories led to significant bonus points for our team,” Behrouzi said. “The students’ quality construction and the model’s outstanding seismic performance under shake-table testing helped the team rank second overall.”

In conjunction with the competition, team members Autumn Wagner and Ryan Millward coordinated office tours to three firms — longtime Cal Poly supporters were KNA Structural Engineers in Irvine and LPA and KPFF in San Diego — for discussions on their recent projects involving novel seismic design solutions.

Sponsors of the Cal Poly team included: John A. Martin & Associates, KNA Structural Engineers, Harris & Sloan, FTF Engineering, the Cal Poly Instructionally Related Activities program, and the ARCE Department.

Technical advisors included Behrouzi and other ARCE faculty members Peter Laursen, Graham Archer, Kevin Dong, and John Lawson; Civil Engineering faculty and staff members Robert Moss, Charles Chadwell, and Xi Shen; and industry members David Cocke of Structural Focus and Alex Mueller of KPFF.

Cal Poly has participated in the EERI Seismic Design Competition since 2007 — taking first out of 19 teams in 2009 and placing second out of 28 teams in 2011.

About Cal Poly’s Architectural Engineering (ARCE) Program
For nearly 75 years, the Cal Poly ARCE program has embodied the university’s Learn by Doing credo. Focusing heavily on structural engineering with an emphasis in seismic design, the ARCE curriculum is a unique blend of theory and practice. The program is highly interdisciplinary, integrating architecture studios and construction management courses, thus providing students with a thorough understanding of the broader design/construction process. The acclaimed four-year Bachelor of Science degree is ABET accredited, and graduates typically become licensed as structural engineers. The ARCE program also offers a Master of Science in architectural engineering program. With its in-classroom innovation, connection to industry, and high job placement rate, graduates of the ARCE program are among the most sought after in the country and have gone on to shape our built environment. To learn more, visit arce.calpoly.edu.

Photo information / Attached:
EERI-1.jpg — Cal Poly Seismic Design team constructing the balsa wood tower.
EERI-2.jpg — Cal Poly Seismic Design Team at the competition with balsawood tower and poster.
Image Credit: CSI Inc.
EERI-3.jpg — Cal Poly Seismic Design Team celebrates structure’s survival after both ground motions. Image Credit: CSI Inc.

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They Stepped Up: Vendors During the Coronavirus

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AASL Column, April 2020
Lucy Campbell and Barbara Opar, column editors
Column by Barbara Opar

It is a changed world out there. We in academia have had to adjust very quickly—faculty to preparing lectures with the resources on hand and then recording them online using newly prescribed software; librarians to dealing with reference queries that were once easy to answer in the print world but now with limited online content. And what about our students? They can no longer presume that they can consult older periodical issues or study structural systems on actual drawings. Many are unaware of what they cannot access. All of us have had to make quick adjustments to different resources and content.

But we have had support. Many vendors have stepped up and offered free content for the duration of the pandemic without the expectation of purchase. Examples are numerous and often surprising. By March 25, RedShelf and VitalSource opened access to hundreds of textbooks for free to faculty and staff at qualifying colleges and universities impacted by this crisis. Proquest is offering access to 150,000 titles. Sage Knowledge and Project Muse are on board as well as presses like Duke University and the University of Michigan. Brepolis and DeGruyter are among more commercial vendors expanding their access to nonsubscribers. Want to keep current with periodical literature? Then you can turn to Flipster or RBDigital. Streaming video content is being offered up by ArtFilms Digital, Kanopy, and Swank. The list goes on. Academic libraries with such access have often listed it right on their home pages. Your architecture librarians have taken this one step further and tailored this information for your own institution.

But there are two other important sources of content that I wish to bring to your attention. The first is Hathi Trust which was initially designed as a collaboration of the Big Ten Academic Alliance, the University of California system and the University of Virginia to establish a repository for archiving and sharing digital collections. Many other libraries have joined. As a repository, Hathi Trust contains both public domain as well as copyrighted material. By request, member libraries now have temporary digital access to over 50 percent of copyrighted print holdings. Libraries must meet standards such as no physical access to print collections and adhere to the Trust’s copyright guidelines. Check your libraries’ database menu. There are also ways to access some content as a guest at the organization’s site.

Everyone has also heard about the Internet Archive. But you may not know much about its latest initiative which some consider very controversial. The Internet Archive is a 501c 3 non-profit organization based in San Francisco and founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle. To date, it has captured 20 petabytes of data. It partners with libraries to preserve and make accessible 20th-century resources in a broad array of topics and formats. The mission of its Open Library is “universal access to all knowledge”. In early March as the United States was beginning to understand the pandemic, the Internet Archive launched the National Emergency Library. Instead of controlling the number of copies of a title circulating at a time, the Library decided to remove limits. Traditionally, the number of copies available for circulation was based on the number of print copies in its own collection, and a waitlist was created for additional borrowers. That feature has been removed, allowing for unlimited access. The Internet Archive does not claim to include everything, but a quick search of the late Michael Sorkin’s writings shows some interesting content. One of two titles available here, but not commercially through any vendors, is the popular Variations on a Theme Park, making the Internet Archive another valuable source of online content. Initially well received and endorsed by a significant number of libraries including MIT, the Archive is now facing lawsuits and backlash from groups including the Authors Guild.

Life as we knew it has changed overnight. We are all proceeding as best as we can and making use of what is at hand and easily obtainable. What is certain is that each of these initiatives has helped in some way. Library suppliers have been offering deferred payments and cost reductions. The free albeit temporary content has made a tremendous difference in the past month and a half and will continue to do so as we all work to provide the services for which we are responsible.

 

ACSA Revises Bylaws to Access Government Funding

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ACSA Revises Bylaws to Access Government Funding

Thank you to all the schools that voted. We are pleased to announce that the membership approved the Bylaws revisions, which go into effect immediately. Download the bylaws here.

Background

The ACSA Board of Directors voted on April 16 to initiate a minor revision to our Bylaws that will enable ACSA to apply for funds that have been available under programs such as the U.S. Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. An email was sent to Faculty Councilors on the same day, asking that they consider the revision and vote by April 24.

Although ACSA is financially solvent and strong, like everyone else we are feeling the impact and financial insecurity of the pandemic due to the cancellation of the in-person Annual Meeting and the effects on our investments. The CARES Act funds are available as forgivable loans to fund staff salaries, benefits, and other expenses. Access to these funds would help the organization finish out the fiscal year.  

The ACSA Bylaws previously prohibited the organization from borrowing money. Given the availability of relief funds, the board voted to initiate a limited bylaws revision (noted in red).

MOTION FROM THE ACSA BOARD OF DIRECTORS to adopt the following amendment to the Bylaws of the Association shown in text edits.

XI.4 Borrow Money. The Association shall not execute any promissory note or otherwise borrow money, except (a) in the event of a financial or other emergency to participate in government relief programs that are not anticipated to result in long-term debt or (b) in the event of a purchase of real estate for use as the Association’s headquarters approved by the Board of Directors.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

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The College of Architecture is pleased to announce Dean Katherine S. Ankerson, FIIDA, was one of six International Interior Design Association (IIDA) members inducted into the prestigious IIDA College of Fellows for 2020.

Ankerson joins an elite peerage, an honor few can claim with less than 1% of IIDA members elevated to the College of Fellows, and of those fellows, only a select few are full-time educators.

According to IIDA, induction into the College of Fellows honors a member’s achievements and contributions to the profession and the association. It is the highest and most prestigious honor IIDA bestows. The College of Fellows is composed of members who have demonstrated outstanding and exemplary professionalism and leadership.

“The IIDA College of Fellows honors IIDA members who have demonstrated significant accomplishments within the association and their own design communities. This year’s inductees are thought leaders, inspiring educators and design innovators. We are pleased to be welcoming them for this term,” said College of Fellows Chair Guy Geier, FIIDA.

This fellowship adds to Ankerson’s long list of accolades and accomplishments as an educator and advocate for the design community. In addition to the IIDA fellowship, Ankerson was honored by the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC) in 2017 as a fellow and has held numerous prestigious professional positions. She has served as a board member for design organizations such as the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA), the American Institute of Architects-Nebraska (AIA NE), the AIA NE Foundation, the Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education and IDEC among other professional contributions.

In addition to IIDA, Ankerson is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC). She is also a licensed architect in Washington and Nebraska and holds a National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) certificate.

“It is humbling to be named an IIDA fellow and listed among the ranks of professionals who I’ve always admired,” commented Dean Ankerson. “As with every honor there is opportunity, and I hope to learn from this esteemed peerage of designers and galvanize the next generation of designers to be leaders and innovators who will plan boldly, design fearlessly and realize their limitless potential for what is possible.”

ACSA Initiates Bylaws Revision to Access Government Funding

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ACSA Initiates Bylaws Revision to Access Government Funding
Michael J. Monti

The ACSA Board of Directors voted on April 16 to initiate a minor revision to our Bylaws that will enable ACSA to apply for funds that have been available under programs such as the U.S. Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. An email was sent to Faculty Councilors on the same day, asking that they consider the revision and vote by April 24.

Although ACSA is financially solvent and strong, like everyone else we are feeling the impact and financial insecurity of the pandemic due to the cancellation of the in-person Annual Meeting and the effects on our investments. The CARES Act funds are available as forgivable loans to fund staff salaries, benefits, and other expenses. Access to these funds would help the organization finish out the fiscal year.  

Currently, the ACSA Bylaws prohibit the organization from borrowing money. However, the Board of Directors has determined that it is important for the organization to access relief funds. Therefore, the board voted to initiate this limited bylaws revision (noted in red).

MOTION FROM THE ACSA BOARD OF DIRECTORS to adopt the following amendment to the Bylaws of the Association shown in text edits.

XI.4 Borrow Money. The Association shall not execute any promissory note or otherwise borrow money, except (a) in the event of a financial or other emergency to participate in government relief programs that are not anticipated to result in long-term debt or (b) in the event of a purchase of real estate for use as the Association’s headquarters approved by the Board of Directors.

In normal times ACSA would not ask for such speedy action on amendments to our Bylaws. We believe this action is important to the organization and that the change is limited and specific to our circumstance today. 

Please contact the ACSA executive director or president with any questions.

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