Dean announces professorship and fellowship appointments

New appointments to Texas A&M College of Architecture endowed professorships, which support their holders’ teaching, research and service initiatives, have been announced by Jorge Vanegas, dean of the college.

Ryan Ahn , associate professor of [construction science] (http://cosc.arch.tamu.edu/) , holds the Liz and Nelson Mitchell Professorship in Residential Design .

Ahn’s research focuses on understanding and identifying collective behavior patterns using crowdsourced data or details from wearable devices to build safe construction workplaces, smart and connected urban communities, and intelligent, energy-efficient building systems.

The Mitchell family, founders of [History Maker Homes] (http://www.historymaker.com/) , created the professorship as an interdisciplinary initiative to prepare students for careers in the increasingly diverse construction industry.

David Jeong , professor of construction science, holds the James C. Smith Construction Industry Advisory Council Professorship .

Jeong’s research interests include natural language processing for construction data analytics, data and information integration models for enhanced decision making, and civil integrated management.

The professorship honors Smith, the late, former head of the Department of Construction Science who founded the [Construction Industry Advisory Council] (https://cosc.arch.tamu.edu/public-information/industry-relations/construction-industry-advisory-council-ciac/) , an organization of leading builders who play a multifaceted, critical role in Texas A&M construction education by advising department administrators and faculty of contemporary construction developments, connecting with students at departmental career fairs and providing financial support to the department.

Dawn Jourdan , the college’s executive associate dean and professor of urban planning, holds the Harold L. Adams ’61 Endowed Interdisciplinary Professorship in [Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning.] (http://laup.arch.tamu.edu/)

Her research interests include land use law, growth management, on-premise signage, relocation grief, climate change, historic preservation, and intergenerational planning.

As president, CEO and chairman of [RTKL Associates, Inc.] (http://www.rtkl.com/) , Adams oversaw RTKL’s growth from a lone office to a design, planning and engineering firm with projects in more than 60 countries. He established the professorship to support its holder’s interdisciplinary teaching, research and professional development related to built environment professions.

Phil Lewis , associate professor of construction science, holds the Merry K. ’84 and William L. Raba ’86 Professorship .

Lewis’ research interests include air pollutant emissions from construction equipment, equipment management, project management, estimating, contracts and specifications, and constructions’ environmental impacts.

The holder of this professorship directs the graduate program in the Department of Construction Science. Distributions from this endowment will be used to support departmental graduate programs at the holder’s discretion.

Galen Newman , associate professor of landscape architecture and urban planning, holds the Nicole and Kevin Youngblood Professorship in Residential Land Development .

Newman’s research interests include urban regeneration, land use science, spatial analytics, community flood resilience, and community/urban scaled design. His current research focuses on the integration of urban regeneration and urban flood resilience.

The Youngbloods are part of the Mitchell Family, founders of History Maker Homes, who established the professorship to support college faculty’s teaching focus on residential development, construction and design.

Jinsil Hwaryoung Seo , associate professor of [visualization] (http://viz.arch.tamu.edu/) , holds the Rodney Hill Professorship in Creativity and Design .

Seo’s research interests include the aesthetics of digital hardware experience, immersive experience, materiality and wearable computing.

Hill has inspired students for decades since coming to the college in 1969. The professorship is a permanent source of support for a college faculty member whose teaching and research mirrors the creative legacy Hill established over the past four decades.

Xuemei Zhu , associate professor of [architecture] (http://dept.arch.tamu.edu/) , holds the James M. Singleton IV ’66, FAIA Education Architecture Professorship .

Zhu is interested in healthy community design, nonmotorized transportation, public health, healthcare facility design and general environment-behavior research as well as its application to health, disparity, and sustainability.

The Singleton professorship supports a full-time or visiting professor with a teaching and/or research focus on educational facility design.