WASHINGTON, D.C. — October 16, 2020 — We’ve created several firmwide research programs to promote, support and inspire research-related endeavors. The CRTKL Research Microgrant Program fosters knowledge generation across the firm by supporting small, focused research ideas and projects. View the full list of winners here.
We have also compiled a diverse jury of design, innovation and architectural thought leaders to encourage the microgrant recipients and help workshop their ideas. Check out the 2020 class of Microgrant Jurors below:
Akshar Patel: Akshar Patel is director of corporate innovation at the Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship (Kaplan Institute) at Illinois Tech. His background includes career coaching, design thinking, university enrollment, fundraising and non-profit development. Akshar also teaches interdisciplinary design classes in the Interprofessional Projects (IPRO) at Illinois Tech. His classes focus on human-centered design for developing countries and social innovation. Patel has worked on projects in Nicaragua to provide housing and education to communities in need. He is currently on the board of FNE International, an organization that partners with communities in developing nations to identify opportunities to advance housing, health and education. Before joining Kaplan Institute, Akshar held roles in Career Services and Institutional Advancement at Illinois Tech and worked in enrollment at Champlain College in Burlington, VT. Akshar holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology and a Masters of Education from the University of Vermont along with a certification as a Global Career Development Facilitator, GCDF.
Alexandre Salles: Alexandre Salles is an Architect with a master’s degree in Urban Semiotics. He is also the Coordinator of the Undergraduate and Graduate courses in Interior Design and Furniture Design at the European Institute of Design – IED São Paulo. He is the owner of Estúdio Tarimba, focused on architectural projects and design research. Since 2016, Alexandre has been leading the Saperface’ exchange initiative between students of IED Sao Paulo and the IED Italian branch in Milan. He has participated as a jury member of numerous awards related to design.
Andrew McCarthy: Andrew Peter Wallace McCarthy is a designer, consultant, and educator. Andrew is based in Madrid and has worked in New York and internationally as a designer, art and creative director, and consultant in multinationals and a great many startups, advising and leading organizations to deliver innovative impact via innovation processes, creativity, strategy, customer and user experience, and design. Andrew studied philosophy and the history of math and sciences, then design, and now teaches design and strategy, visual communications, creativity, innovation process, and entrepreneurship as an Associate Professor at IE and other schools. Andrew is the founding Academic Director for the Master in Customer Experience & Innovation at the IE School of Human Science and Technology. Andrew speaks and moderates at events and conferences, practices improv and plays music, and lends his voice to ads and audiobooks, his daughters’ bedtimes, and the startlement of animals great and small.
Bruce Haglund: Bruce Haglund has been an architecture professor at the University of Idaho since 1982, involved in teaching, research, and continuing education. Haglund’s current interests, which build on over thirty years of experience, focus on sustainable and regenerative architectural design and its effects on buildings and occupants. He is past-president and current newsletter editor of the Society of Building Science Educators (SBSE). He is a Fellow of the American Solar Energy Association and has been bestowed with its Leadership in Solar Architecture and Design Award. Professor Haglund enjoyed a profound sabbatical leave as scholar in residence at Ove Arup R&D in London. He now leads biannual studies abroad courses in the U.K. for Idaho architecture graduate students. He’s currently working on studio projects that encourage sustainable building on campus and in the region. The on-going Daylighted Artificial Sky project has won a UI Seed Grant and involved over 30 student researchers in its design, construction, and testing, as well as presenting the work to professional audiences in Denver, Madrid, Lima, Copenhagen, and Honolulu. His strategy of involving seminar classes in research projects, which began with the artificial sky project has evolved to lighting and post-occupancy evaluation work with resultant papers co-authored by students and presented to international audiences in Edinburgh, Lisbon, Paris, and the UK.
Jack Sanders: Jack received his Master of Architecture degree from The University of Texas at Austin and his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Auburn University. His senior thesis, The Newbern Baseball Club, represented the Rural Studio at the 2002 Whitney Biennial in New York. Jack’s work at the Rural Studio has been exhibited worldwide and is featured in the books, “Rural Studio: Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency” and “Proceed and Be Bold: The Rural Studio After Mockbee” — both published by the Princeton Architectural Press. Jack co-produced a feature-length documentary on Samuel Mockbee and his influence on the education of young architects. Citizen Architect: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio premiered at South by Southwest Film Festival in 2010 and has since broadcast nationally on PBS, as well as at universities, museums and theaters around the world. Jack has been a visiting lecturer and studio instructor at Auburn University’s Rural Studio, Mississippi State University and The University of Texas at Austin. He also has led design-build projects with students in Portland, Oregon, and in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.
Jamie N. Jones, Ph.D.: Prof. Jones serves as the Executive Director of Fuqua’s Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CEI) and is an Associate Professor of the Practice of Management. At Fuqua she develops curricular and co-curricular programs that cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset. Her research interests are centered on questions related to innovation management practices inside large organizations. Prior to joining Fuqua, Prof. Jones served as the Executive Director of the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (Lilie) at Rice University. She has also served as the Director of Social Entrepreneurship and a Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Prof. Jones co-founded Impact Engine, an investment firm with a mission to bring more capital to a market where financial returns are linked to positive social and environmental impacts. Prof. Jones has deep practical experience serving as an Innovation Advisor at RTI International, a leading nonprofit research institute based in North Carolina, where she supported companies, governments, and non-governmental organizations in their quest to commercialize technology driven new products. Sitting at the nexus of technology, customers, and markets, Dr. Jones has deep expertise connecting user-insights to technology commercialization pathways and business model development and has worked on project ranging from sanitation and energy to agriculture and health. Prof. Jones has experience combining design thinking and Lean Startup practices to optimize business models. She has worked in India, East and West Africa and Latin America on agriculture, education, health, and water-focused ventures. Her contributions have been recognized by the Triangle Business Journal 40 Under 40.
Jessica Burnham: Jessica Burnham has a BFA in Communication Design from the Metropolitan State University of Denver and an MFA in Design Research and Innovation from the University of North Texas. Her design interests lie in bringing design to unexpected places, like civic engagement, local governance, and other hyper-local efforts. Her research focused on transitioning from Communication Design to Designed Communication and her efforts led to creating a business association on Lowest Greenville Avenue called the Lowest Greenville Collective. This led to her role as the Executive Director of the Deep Ellum Foundation where she helped manage the neighborhood, designed public safety systems, and represented the area as large projects in the city came about. Currently, she is the Program Director and Clinical Assistant Professor of the Master of Arts in Design and Innovation (MADI) program at SMU. This program teaches students from all different backgrounds to use Human-Centered Design to creatively solve and improve unwieldy problems. Jessica lives in Richardson, Texas with her husband and two boys.
Joon-Ho Choi Ph.D., LEED AP, Assoc. AIA: Dr. Joon-Ho Choi is the Associate Dean of Research and Creative Work, and Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Southern California. He leads the Human-Building Integration Research Lab as Director. He has been working in the areas of high-performance building and human factors, such as work productivity, environmental comfort/health, and energy efficiency. His primary research interests incorporate human-building integration, indoor environmental quality, and cyber-physical system in a built environment. His expertise is in bio-sensing adaptive environmental control, and human performance quantification, as well as (urban scale) building energy modeling and building performance optimization. As an interdisciplinary scholar and principal investigator, he has developed in multiple research projects sponsored by the U.S. federal and research foundation grant programs, as well as industry partners, which include National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, General Services Administration (GSA), and American Institute of America(AIA/BSA), and collaborated with multiple industry partners, such as Buro Happold Engineering, Glumac, View, and AECOM.