We asked faculty and staff to share photos of their favorite recent high school graduates. Congratulations to all, and good luck as you continue your journeys!

When prominent content creators met with U.S. policymakers earlier this summer during Creator Row, a first-of-its-kind content creator gathering organized by the , Syracuse University was the only higher education institution represented on Capitol Hill.

Thomas O’Brien, project coordinator for the (CCE), was part of the University delegation invited to help inform and educate lawmakers on the unique challenges content creators face and learn more about potential legislative priorities involving creators.

O’Brien met face-to-face with elected U.S. representatives, content creators and employees from leading platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Meta, Patreon, Substack, Adobe and Rumble, to help advance the conversation around the creator economy as a growing economic sector.

“We’re the first school to create an academic resource center entirely focused on social media content creation and the revenue streams that exist within that industry, so it was fitting and a great honor to be able to represent both Syracuse and the Center for the Creator Economy at these events,” O’Brien says. “We’re paving a path forward and it’s an exciting time for content creators.”

It was the perfect opportunity for O’Brien and the University delegation—consisting of Carrie Welch, CCE launch director, and Cameron MacPherson, senior director of operations and government affairs with the —to share how the CCE helps students build real-world skills in media, entrepreneurship and digital strategy.

The CCE, a joint initiative between the and the , is a first-of-its-kind academic initiative dedicated to preparing students for careers in the creator economy.

Through meetings with elected representatives, the University’s delegation learned why support for the creator economy has become a priority at the local, state and federal levels, and how Congress is addressing the growing gap between what content creators need to be successful with potential overregulation of this emerging industry.

“The room was full of some of the biggest names shaping the creator economy, from tech companies and platforms to creators themselves, and it’s great that Syracuse University was in it,” MacPherson said of the event. “All in all, it couldn’t have gone much better for the University. It was a fantastic, dynamic event for us to participate in.”

The Creator Row event was organized and hosted by U.S. Reps. Beth Van Duyne of Texas and Yvette Clark of New York.

The Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems (SyracuseCoE) will serve as the organizing host of Healthy Buildings 2027 America, a flagship conference of the . The conference will be held June 20–23, 2027, in Syracuse.

Under the theme “Intelligent Environments: Designing, Retrofitting and Operating for a Healthy, Affordable and Resilient Future,” the conference will bring together subject matter experts from around the world, including researchers, architects, engineers, public health experts and policymakers, to address challenges in the built environment.

Keynotes, panels and breakout sessions will highlight scalable, effective and efficient technologies, collaborative design methods and practices, and policy pathways to healthier indoor environments across all building types and communities.

Healthy Buildings 2027 America will be chaired by Conference President , Ph.D., and Conference Co-President , Ph.D. The conference organizing committee leverages the expertise of faculty from the , , and , as well as the State University of New York’s .

The expertise will span disciplines that include mechanical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, geography, public health, architecture and chemistry. The scientific committee is composed of international experts in indoor environmental quality, building science, health and wellness.

Creating a Healthy Building Environment

“We are thrilled to welcome the global healthy buildings community to Syracuse again in 2027,” says Dong, SyracuseCoE’s co-director and Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “This conference is a celebration of collaboration, bringing together brilliant minds from across the world to share ideas, forge new partnerships and shape a future where every person, in every building, can have a healthy indoor environment. We look forward to an inspiring and transformative conference.”

“We look forward to welcoming everyone to Syracuse for an intellectual and enjoyable conference,” says Zhang, SyracuseCoE’s executive director and interim department chair of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “There is so much to discover and exchange to advance science and technology for the built environment.”

The goal of the Healthy Buildings conference series is to advance intelligent, inclusive, cost-effective and future-ready solutions to the converging challenges of climate change, public health disparities, aging infrastructure and rising construction costs. The conference will cover research themes, including the following:

• AI Applications in Healthy Buildings
• Smart Health Monitoring and Control
• Advanced and Sustainable Materials
• Retrofit and Resilience Strategies
• Intelligent New Building Design and Life Cycle Analysis
• Community-Scale Intelligence and Public Health
• Occupant Behavior, Health and Wellness in Buildings

“ISIAQ is very excited about the innovative slate of topics to be presented at the Healthy Buildings conference, as they are critically important to everyone interested in indoor environments around the world,” says Professor , ISIAQ President.

Healthy Buildings 2027 America will take place at the Marriott Syracuse Downtown in Syracuse. Abstract submissions open this month, and sponsorship opportunities are available. Conference registration will open in 2027. For more information, visit .

“Why have you traveled so far to be here? Why are you here?” Rev. Akhona Masiza asked the , local choirs and concertgoers at the Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. “The world is out of tune. And yet, I marvel at the sight in this room.”

It was truly marvelous. In May, over 50 members of the Hendricks Chapel Choir (HCC) visited South Africa—the choir’s first-ever visit to the African continent. The HCC performed six times in 11 days, from Johannesburg to Cape Town and several places in between. HCC Director José “Peppie” Calvar set the tone before departure: “During these trips, the choir is building a global network of kindness that lasts for a lifetime. Our choir students will develop lasting connections with each other and with the South African students they meet along the way,” he said.

Lasting Connections and Beautiful Concerts

The tour’s first dual-billed concert featured the University of Johannesburg Choir and the HCC performing as peers—comparing notes and breaking bread before sharing the stage. Each choir performed separately, then combined their voices to sing “Tshotsholoza,” a well-known South African song traditionally sung by migrant workers. Baritone Samuel Mincey ’28 featured prominently in the lively number.

At Aan-die-Berg Gemeente, a Dutch Reformed church in Randburg, baritone Nick Dekaney ’26 sang his first solo on South African soil, performing “Hlohonofatsa,” a traditional South African song. The choir then visited Rietondale High School, where the energy was electric from the moment they arrived. Destiny, a Rietondale student, declared that she plans to sing forever, inspired by what she heard.

“An experience I will carry with me is singing with the Rietondale High School Choir,” said HCC member Aurelia Harp ’28. “Each and every student in that choir carries a true passion for music and everyone wanted to sing. The students had such a positive energy and it made me feel very welcome in their community and excited to sing.”

Culture, History and the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir

Between concerts, choir members immersed themselves in South Africa’s rich and complicated history. They visited the Apartheid Museum, Nelson Mandela’s house and Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s house in Soweto, went on a safari in Pilanesburg, toured the Union Buildings in Pretoria and hiked in the Drakensberg Mountains. HCC members picked up greetings in Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans, often wearing their “be kind.” shirts—wearing their hearts on their sleeves, both figuratively and literally.

A highlight of the Pietermaritzburg leg was a workshop with the internationally acclaimed Drakensberg Boys’ Choir. The two groups combined for vocal and physical warmups, exchanged songs and sang “Tshotsholoza” together, a fitting echo of the tour’s spirit of connection. The HCC also performed that evening at the Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary alongside several local choirs, where soprano Eleanor Cjzakowski ’24 G’29 captivated the audience with the traditional spiritual hymn “I’ve Been in the Storm So Long.” Rev. Masiza’s challenge to the choir lingered long after the concert ended: they had come, he suggested, to relearn the dance of love and to make God known again as song.

Cape Town: The Final Leg

The final concert was held at St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town—a venue rich with history from the anti-apartheid movement and long directed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Much like Hendricks Chapel, the cathedral is known as a place of prayer and a space where people of all faiths meet in common acceptance. The HCC shared the stage with the University of the Western Cape Creative Arts Choir, and well-known South African musician Zolani Mahola was thrilled to hear both groups perform the traditional isiXhosa tune “Bawo.” Organists Anne Laver, associate professor in the Setnor School of Music and University organist; Annie Spink G’26 and Michael Guarneiri ’28 also showcased their skills on the cathedral’s stunning instrument.

For several choir members who had graduated just a week before the trip, the Cape Town concert was more than the last show of the tour—it was the last time they would sing together in their current formation. The Western Cape choir students sent them off with a blessing before the evening wound down to a celebratory wrap-up dinner, where the surprises kept coming: a birthday serenade for Laver and a spontaneous announcement from Bryce Meuschke G’26, who shouted, “I got the job!” The choir erupted in applause.

A Legacy of Giving

“One of the things we hope with trips like this is for you to forge lasting friendships with each other,” said Calvar at the tour’s closing dinner. “The Hendricks Chapel Choir has a long legacy of these trips because people a long time ago had a great experience and they later gave a gift to support this trip. At some point we hope you can help the choir travel again and create new experiences.” Calvar closed with a line from the Prayer of St. Francis: “It is in giving of ourselves that we receive.” The Hendricks Chapel Choir is already looking ahead to Hendricks Chapel’s 100th anniversary tour to New Zealand in 2030.

The Office has recognized two volunteers for outstanding service in helping to maintain academic integrity standards and policies across the University.

Recipients of the 2026 Academic Integrity Outstanding Service Award are , assistant teaching professor in the and , associate director of the Experiential Center in the .

Dunham and Henderson exemplify the  identified by the as essential to academic integrity work, says Kate Marzen, director of the Academic Integrity Office. Their handling of academic integrity cases and their visible support of the process make them exemplary models as volunteers, she says.

Dunham was recognized for managing academic integrity cases with thoroughness and precision, engaging fully in the process and embodying fairness without letting the complexities of cases hamper his focus on required procedures.

“His approach illustrates that the strength of the academic integrity process depends on faculty who take it seriously and implement it ethically,” Marzen says. “He supports students involved in the process, using hearing time to express his care for them, explain his thought process and ensure students know they can and will be successful. This approach reflects the understanding that academic integrity is educational and not punitive in its purpose.”

Henderson was honored for conducting her work in a meaningful way that illustrates the reliability of the academic integrity process, and for being one of the office’s most genuine and effective ambassadors, Marzen says.

“She brings a clear understanding of why academic integrity matters beyond the immediate classroom, demonstrating both institutional trust and care for students. She approaches every training, faculty conversation and academic integrity-related connection with openness about the office and positivity about the work. She repeatedly helps us build relationships and creates opportunities to engage with the campus community,” Marzen says. “That kind of peer advocacy is so valuable because it is often small moments made meaningful by role models like her that help build confidence in the academic integrity process.”

Henderson served as the Whitman School’s academic integrity coordinator for several years before moving into her current role and has continued volunteering as a hearing chair.

The Academic Integrity Outstanding Service Awards were launched last year;  inaugural recipients were , associate dean for academic affairs in the , and , assistant teaching professor of in the .

The Office of Academic Integrity promotes and facilitates campus policies and best practices for integrity through educational initiatives for students, staff and faculty. For more information visit the Academic Integrity Office .

The blueprint for a better building may be hiding beneath the forest floor.

To design sustainable, weather-resistant structures, is studying the fungal networks that span thousands of acres underground—among the most expansive living organisms on Earth.

Mycelium is the fiber network behind fast-growing mushroom colonies that can span miles. Its underground strands connect to transfer water, nutrients and minerals, helping mushrooms grow and eventually emerge aboveground.

Qin’s research explores how these natural fibers can be harvested, grown and engineered into high-performing materials that could reshape how we construct buildings for generations to come.

“We focus on how these mycelium fibers grow and flourish and how those fibers can be used to replace a lot of the synthetic polymers,” says Qin, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering in the . “We then apply that knowledge to the fundamental mechanics behind designing the internal structures of buildings to make them lighter, stronger and more resistant to dynamic forces like impact from earthquakes.”

From the Forest Floor to the Laboratory

Qin’s team begins its work at the most fundamental level, with a single spore. Researchers introduce mushroom spores into a carefully prepared growing medium then use time-lapse imaging to monitor how the fibers grow, branch and connect.

By adjusting such environmental conditions as humidity, temperature and substrate stiffness, the group can influence how quickly and densely the mycelium network develops.

Once the network reaches maturity, it becomes a natural adhesive.

When introduced to biomass materials like wood chips or sawdust, mycelium fibers grow into the gaps between particles and bind everything together, functioning like a biological version of wood glue without any synthetic chemicals.

“The beautiful thing is you don’t need to use glue or any synthetic adhesive,” Qin says. “Instead, you just use this natural fiber system to bind biomass together, and it spontaneously grows.”

The result is a material that resembles medium-density fiberboard but is produced entirely from natural components.

Qin calls the bonding process “biowelding,” a technique that effectively joins wood components the way welding joins steel, but without heat, chemicals or combustion risk.

To optimize the recipe for these composite materials, Qin’s lab uses artificial intelligence. Because biomass sources vary widely in particle size and chemical composition, no single equation can reliably predict the best combination of pressure, temperature and material inputs.

Instead, the team runs large-scale experiments and uses machine learning tools to identify which variables produce the lightest, strongest and most durable results.

“Using machine learning and AI is a very powerful tool that helps us understand these complex systems and figure out the correlation between this complex structure and the performance of the materials in that structure,” Qin says.

A Greener Way to Insulate

One of the most promising applications of Qin’s research involves building insulation, and Qin has discovered that mycelium insulation avoids many of the traditional negatives associated with current insulation options like fiberglass, cellulose and polystyrene.

Mycelium comes from a renewable source that is petroleum-free and possesses a much smaller carbon footprint than other insulation choices. Qin’s research has also shown that mycelium provides effective insulation while allowing the building to breathe.

“It’s a sustainable source, a green material,” Qin says. “It’s also safer and cheaper for scaled manufacturing purposes.”

In collaboration with mechanical and aerospace engineering colleagues and and , an assistant professor in the School of Architecture, Qin is developing mycelium-based insulation panels specifically designed for building retrofits, targeting older houses across New York state that have proven to be energy inefficient.

In 2024, the University received $846,000 from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to develop and demonstrate MycoCore, a product aimed at addressing a lack of low-carbon insulated façade systems for deep energy retrofits through a unique panelized solution manufactured with engineered bio-composites using regional agri-waste. Wilson serves as the principal investigator, while Qin, Bing and Jensen are co-principal investigators.

Mycelium research at the University began in 2019 with the interdisciplinary Mycelium Research Group—formed from internal research seed funding—examining mycelium building materials as one objective within the Architecture-led exploratory project.

Filtering the Air We Breathe

When Qin arrived at Syracuse University from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he created the , a research group studying biomechanics and biomaterials to improve the efficiency and performance of building materials.

His research earned Qin a in 2022. But in the beginning, while Qin recognized the benefits of using mycelium as an adhesive, he didn’t realize the mushroom’s unique network structure could also address air filtration challenges.

Working with Zhang and mechanical and aerospace engineering colleague , Qin’s lab is now exploring how mycelium materials can be integrated into heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems to capture airborne particles and absorb chemical gases that slowly release from synthetic wood products, furniture and paint.

“Once we start to collect samples and put them in the microscope, we see this unique complex network structure,” Qin says. “Once we do the mechanical testing, we see how this complex network connects to the mechanical, thermal and many material responses. At that point, we start to explore many different applications.”

This work is supported by a Center of Excellence faculty fellowship Qin received last year.

Qin credits the NSF CAREER grant with allowing his team of student researchers to spend four years exploring mycelium’s potential.

“We knew mycelium can be used as an adhesive, but we knew much less about the insulation or the air filtering implications,” Qin says. “The NSF CAREER grant really allowed us to explore the fundamental scientific applications found in mycelium while discovering all of the related applications. It was a game changer.”

will spend several months in the Bahamas this fall, supported by a as she studies how human practices surrounding the , a critically endangered reef fish, create conflicts over culture, economy and governmental regulation in that region.

The assistant professor of anthropology in the will pursue a project titled “Poaching in Bahamian Waters: Conservation and National Security in Caribbean Seascapes.”

The project extends Mallon Andrews’ earlier research among spearfishermen along the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, where declining fish stocks forced divers to go deeper into the water and farther out to sea, risking their physical safety and potentially crossing national borders to earn a living. Some eventually crossed into Bahamian waters and  were arrested and jailed as poachers.

For this project, the anthropologist will examine the issue from the perspective of Bahamian regulators. She will embed with personnel charged with poaching enforcement, including members of the , the ,  the and .

During peak poaching season, Mallon Andrews will participate in training programs for law enforcement officers and lawyers. She will accompany fishing patrols and speak with public officials who process illegal catches. She will follow Bahamian government agencies as poaching arrests play out in the country’s courts.

National Security Stakes

The proper regulation of marine resources is central to , according to the .  sustains roughly 20% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), although  threatens the economy’s long-term sustainability.

Tourism activity based on the country’s marine ecology—coral reefs, mangroves and pristine beaches—attracts millions of visitors yearly and generates about 50% of the country’s GDP. Although the country controls 250,000 square miles of maritime territory, about 35% of lobsters harvested from Bahamian waters are taken illegally. Between 2013 and 2019, 24 fishing vessels were apprehended, and the boats of 375 Dominican nationals were confiscated. Collectively, those poachers were sentenced to 239 years in prison, Mallon Andrews says.

Several conditions affect how the countries deal with those issues, Mallon Andrews says. Both Dominican fishers and Bahamian environmental agents are reacting to the increasing scarcity of Caribbean fisheries, a reality she says makes it easy for Bahamian institutions to blur the lines between environmental protection and national security. Global climate change is exacerbating the conditions that lead to poaching. And the Bahamas struggles with poaching on two fronts: Dominican fishers from the south and American poachers from the north.

Alternative Perspective

In the next phase of research, Mallon Andrews will focus on how poachers are perceived by Bahamian institutions, how conservation and security measures overlap in practice and what becomes of confiscated ships, gear and fish. She’ll view those issues from the perspective of those she describes as “being charged with navigating an uneven and difficult-to-control tapestry of conservation enforcement.”

“I’m hoping people will take seriously not only the regional and international implications of environmental crime but the upending of the narrative of criminals and enforcers,” Mallon Andrews says. “It is much more difficult to think about what that means for people whose lives are impacted by seafood industries, and for the people who are asked to enforce those regulations.”

Research With Real Stakes

Mallon Andrews’ previous research resulted in the forthcoming book “.” During that project and as an avid freediver and underwater photographer, she built a rapport with those she interviewed by diving alongside them and learning to spearfish as she heard their stories.

“A gesture like that really makes a big impact because its unique in the researcher-to-researched relationship. You really attempt to ask someone to integrate you into their daily life,” she says.

An Enforcement Perspective

Mallon Andrews expects to find the same willingness to share perspectives among the regulatory enforcers she encounters this time. “I feel lucky to have Fulbright support on this project because it’s a different relationship,” she says. “[These] enforcers are very concerned about the issue of poaching and what they want people to know about the practical conundrums they encounter on a daily basis.”

She also plans to organize a photo exhibition and produce a short documentary film and will present workshops and talks at the University of the Bahamas as the community engagement aspect of her work.

What makes this new project particularly interesting to her as an anthropologist, Mallon Andrews says, is that the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic differ in their histories, cultures and governmental structures. Those differences shape the values and politics each nation brings to the poaching problem.

She is excited to spend time “with people who have life stories entirely different from my own. I’m an ethnographer through and through, and I’m excited to learn things by walking in someone else’s shoes in the Bahamas—[things] that I couldn’t imagine from sitting here in an office in Syracuse.”

A stereotype in the global education sector is that it’s especially difficult for students in STEM—science, technology, engineering and mathematics—to study abroad. Syracuse Abroad combats this thinking through special partnerships allowing STEM students to explore their fields in a range of countries, with access to cutting-edge laboratories and transformative experiential learning activities.

The University’s international STEM opportunities range from a special program for aerospace, bio, civil, computer, electrical, environmental and mechanical  to internships at the Istituto di Neuroscienze of Italy’s National Research Council through the .

Coding With Scottish Schoolchildren

In February, computer engineering major Hassatou Bah ’28 traveled with a delegation from the London Center to visit Lockerbie, Scotland, the site of the Pan Am Flight 103 Air Disaster in 1988. With support from the Kim and Michael Venutolo ’77 Fund for Experiential Learning, students studying abroad in London are invited to participate in a special Remembrance Exchange weekend each semester.

Remembrance resonates with Bah because of her family’s experience and sacrifice. “My family crossed an ocean to give me opportunities they never had. The students who were lost were crossing an ocean for an education. Like me, they held hopes for what Syracuse could help them become,” she says.

While in Scotland, Bah “paid it forward” with younger students. Lockerbie Academy hosted more than 100 P7 pupils (the Scottish equivalent of sixth graders) for a special transition day designed to give them a sense of what studying in secondary school would be like. Syracuse London students were asked to lead workshops for the transitioning pupils, with a special request for a session about computer coding.

During an hour-long workshop (which they delivered four times in a row for different groups), Bah and a classmate highlighted women who have contributed to the development of computers, such as Ada Lovelace and Katherine Johnson. They taught the basics of HTML and guided pupils in a hands-on activity to develop their own code to display and graphically transform their names on a website.

“As an engineer, I’m drawn to building. But what Syracuse and Lockerbie have built together is far greater than any system: it is a bridge of memory, compassion and human resilience,” Bah says.

Understanding Holistic Healthcare

In summer 2024, teaching professor Lisa Olson-Gugerty from the Maxwell School’s public health department travelled to the UK for a special section of “Understanding Health Systems: Macro and Micro Perspectives” (PHP 306), which examined differences between the U.S., UK and Europe in how public health is managed, how health science is funded and how healthcare is delivered.

Syracuse Abroad Global Ambassador Tommy DaSilva ’26, a student in the course, was blown away by the UK’s centralized health system, and credits Olson-Gugerty for providing “more global insight that I can take with me into a future of federal policymaking.”

That summer, DaSilva also took the “Green Britain: Science, Devolution and Climate Controversies in the UK” traveling class, through which he had the opportunity to visit the Welsh Parliament (Senedd). The Senedd has been a leading political body for investment in climate justice and science-led environmental management, as well as inclusive healthcare. The course’s field studies in Cornwall highlighted the interactions between marine conservation projects like the UK’s �����Ի���planetary health.

After a summer abroad, DaSilva returned to campus as a 2024-26 Lender Student Fellow, which provided the opportunity to see how lessons from their experiences abroad could improve the social determinants of health for vulnerable groups, especially in relation to housing.

Engineering Sustainable Communities 

In spring 2019, Anna Feldman ’21 spent a semester in Florence with Syracuse Abroad’s Engineering program. A year later, she was named a Udall Scholar for her dedication to pursuing environmental work.

Feldman’s community engagement included teaching young teenagers about water chemistry in Onondaga Lake, sharing her love for physics with local Syracuse pupils and helping kids at the Museum of Natural History learn to work with microscopes. She also contributed to a project on micropollutants in Kampala, Uganda, co-authoring a paper published in . Today, she works on stormwater resiliency and green infrastructure projects as a water resources engineer in New York City.

“I build hydrologic and hydraulic models to visualize the impacts of extreme storms on our natural and built environment,” says Feldman. She credits much of her interest in water resources to , professor of practice in civil and environmental engineering and an expert in urban stormwater management and smart sensing “whose notes on closed pipe flow I still use on the daily,” Feldman says.

Allyson Greenberg ’22, another alumna of the Syracuse Florence

Engineering program, was part of the spring 2020 class whose time in Italy was cut short by COVID-19. Despite her hasty departure, Greenberg has some great memories from her time abroad, including time spent in the Arctic Circle while on a traveling seminar about sustainability in Northern Europe. She went on to graduate with a BS in environmental engineering and an .

After graduating, Greenberg began working as a sustainable energy consultant. The role gave her insight into the Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program, measuring and mitigating agricultural emissions, and the Department of Energy’s Better Buildings initiative, among others. The wide range of projects that she’d been exposed to allowed her to focus her interests, and this year she began a new job managing a program reducing residential greenhouse gases in Maryland.

Story by Becca Farnum

As part of their 2026 grant cycle funding ideas to expand architecture and design, the Chicago-based Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts recently announced , totaling $506,000, to individuals, including awards to School of Architecture faculty member , and to  (DAS), the collaborative practice led by School of Architecture faculty members �����Ի��� in partnership with Zhang Xintong.

Selected from more than 600 submissions, 86 individuals—including established and emerging architects, artists, curators, designers, filmmakers, historians, scholars and writers—were given the prestigious annual grants for their exhibitions, films, publications, research, site-specific installations and digital initiatives that contribute new interdisciplinary ideas on architecture and design to publics around the world.

“Congratulations to distinguished professor Brown and visiting professors Li and Hu,” says Michael Speaks, School of Architecture dean. “These honors are among the most distinguished in architecture and the fine arts, and they will help further the recipients’ research and scholarship while strengthening our school’s broader academic mission.”

Brown and , associate director of public programs at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and founder of Point Line Projects, were awarded funding to support their book project, “Now What?! A Call for Advocacy, Activism and Alliances in US Architecture,” which critically examines architects’ engagement with political and social movements since 1968, drawing lessons from the past to chart new ways forward.

Building from the exhibition, “Now What?! Advocacy, Activism and Alliances in American Architecture Since 1968” that traveled around the country and abroad from 2018 to 2024, the book uncovers the little-known history of grassroots advocacy and activism within architecture, tracing the connections between the design profession and broader social and political movements. Grounded in historical reflection, it explores how architects have challenged prevailing norms, built alliances and expanded their influence beyond traditional practice. More than a historical account, the book serves as a call to action for architects seeking to engage more meaningfully with the social and political issues of their time.

The book highlights the stories of architects working at the margins who recognized their agency and used it to reshape both the profession and the communities they served. By examining the successes, setbacks and lasting impact of advocacy efforts since the late 1960s, the authors assess their relevance and potential for addressing contemporary challenges.

“Receiving a Graham Foundation grant affirms the critical importance of raising awareness about the rich and dynamic history of how architects have engaged and responded to pressing social and political issues of their time,” says Brown. “Sarah and I hope that publishing this book at this particular moment in time will be a rallying call for architects and designers to fight for social justice in the built environment and become an invaluable and inspiring resource for students and practitioners alike.”

DAS partners Li Han and Hu Yan, who serve as visiting professors in the School of Architecture, along with Zhang Xintong have received funding for “The Death and Life of an Apartment Building,” an exhibition that explores how small business operators—from shopkeepers to street vendors—informally reshape China’s built environment through adaptation, negotiation and reinvention.

Based on 17 years of observation, the project traces urban transformations: from apartments converted into bars and shops to vehicles repurposed as mobile storefronts, revealing how individuals respond to economic pressures, urban redevelopment, and tighter regulations with ingenuity. These transformations mark a turning point in China’s urban development. As expansion slows, informal spaces are increasingly displaced by more regulated forms of urban development.

The exhibition visualizes these fleeting spaces through drawings, hand-built models, comics and animations, reflecting how people claim, occupy and transform them. In doing so, it offers new ways of reading the city from the bottom up, foregrounding informal practice as a source of spatial intelligence and highlighting the ingenuity inherent in everyday interventions. The project draws on the team’s long-standing observations about the vitality and adaptability of everyday urban life.

The exhibition will be presented at A83 in New York in fall 2027. In the city where Jane Jacobs authored “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” the exhibition brings reflections from the other side of the globe into dialogue with the intellectual context that first shaped that work.

“We are incredibly honored to receive support from the Graham Foundation. The grant offers an opportunity to look back on nearly 20 years of work devoted to a single subject and to reconsider it as a coherent body of research and creative practice,” say Li, Hu and Zhang. “It also enables us to present architectural drawing not simply as a means of representation, but as a medium that can take many forms and engage with a wide range of cultural and social questions. We are grateful for the Foundation’s support, which will help bring this project to life and share it with a broader audience.”

The 2026 grantees join a worldwide network of individuals and organizations that the  has supported over the past 70 years. In that time, the Foundation has awarded more than $46 million in direct support to over 5,300 projects by individuals and organizations around the world.

High temperatures and humidity couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of workers from across Central New York, including members of the University community, who gathered at Onondaga Lake Parkway on June 9 for the annual Syracuse WorkForce Run.

Due to the heat, organizers adjusted the format from a 5K run to a 2-mile walk. The event raised funds for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central New York.

Syracuse University turned out in force with 340 participants—the second-highest total among all competing companies and organizations. Otto the Orange was on hand to rally the Orange team members.

Each June, the in the Office of Human Resources sponsors the University’s participation in the WorkForce Run as part of its mission to empower employees to live balanced, healthy lives.

“We were thrilled to have record numbers of Syracuse University employees celebrating health, teamwork and Orange pride,” says Alex Dietrich, interim chief human resources officer. “The WorkForce Run embodies what we believe at the University—that focusing on well-being is essential to who we are as an institution. When our employees thrive, our entire university community benefits.”

For many, the WorkForce Run is an annual tradition. Jon French, associate teaching professor and undergraduate director of chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences, has participated since 2018, when the event was known as the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge. He keeps coming back for the sense of community it creates.

“It’s fun to get out with friends and colleagues in a different setting—to see people off campus, outside of a conference room or a Zoom meeting,” he says. “You connect with others who maybe you didn’t realize also had an interest in running. It’s also great that it’s open to all ability levels.”

The event also drew first-timers, including Elisha Glover, a custodian with Facilities Services who had signed up three years in a row but was finally able to participate this year.

“I was determined to get it done this year,” she says. “I found the event because I’m always trying to stay healthy and informed, so I often sign up for things through the Wellness Initiative. My motto: if you fail, keep on trying!”