CAPPA Awards

CAPPA JEDI and Sustainability Awards Competitions, 2022

 

IMPORTANT DATES

 

 Date  Activity
 Jan 28  Workshop for interested students
 Feb 1  Students register to participate
 Mar 28  Students confirm their participation
 Apr 4 Week  Posters complete and shared at public Poster Competition in Gallery

 

OVERVIEW

 

In Spring 2022, the College of Architecture Planning and Public Affairs will award four prizes to students engaged in thoughtful research and creative practices related to issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as a separate competition focused on sustainability. Critical to all of these awards are issues of social justice and the ways that our disciplines of architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, urban design, planning, and public affairs can contribute to the creation of a more equitable world, where access to resources like housing, green space, fresh food, air, and water is a fundamental human right. 


These awards are intended to support and encourage students who are creating impactful, evidence-based projects through coursework, independent research, or design studios that advance our ability to address inequity and promote more sustainable policies and practices. Faculty are encouraged to integrate these award programs into their courses, and/or support students that may develop work independently that may present strong entries for these awards.

To apply for the awards, students will submit a completed research poster and participate in a day-long event in the first week of April 2022 dedicated to sharing the work with peers and faculty. Posters will be judged by a jury composed of members of the CAPPA DEI committee according to a more detailed rubric that will be shared with students by January 2021. All students who enter are encouraged to consult with faculty to help shape their entries and to consider a topic that is also suitable for submission to a conference in your field of study. An informational workshop for discussion of the awards and submission requirements will be held in Teams on Friday, January 28 2022 at noon.

These awards are open to all CAPPA students in any major enrolled in any undergraduate or graduate program. There will be four awards and the winners will be promoted through CAPPA’s newsletter, web site, and social media:

  • Two CAPPA JEDI Awards of $1,000 each, one awarded to a graduate student and one to an undergraduate. To be eligible for the JEDI Awards, student projects must explicitly promote more just practices and address societal inequities through research and/or creative practice. The awards are generously funded by a gift from JHP Architecture.
  • Two CAPPA Sustainability Awards of $1,000 each, one awarded to a graduate student and one to an undergraduate. To be eligible for Sustainability Awards, student projects must explicitly address issues related to climate change and/or natural resource quality or scarcity through evidence-based research and/or creative practice. 

For students continuing in a UTA program, the award will be applied to your student account and serve as a scholarship. For students graduating from a UTA program, the award will be applied to your account and after any final balances are deducted, you will be issued a check for the balance. Please note that if students submit a group project, the $1000 award would be divided amongst all members of the team.

 

POSTER FORMAT

 

Posters should be portrait format, 24”x36” and include the following required elements:

  • Title of Project
  • Student name/program/anticipated year of graduation + name of university
  • Problem Statement/Thesis Statement (no more than 250 words)
  • Supporting text (no more than 750 words) plus images, diagrams
  • Bibliography/citation of sources as needed
  • For examples of conference research posters from a variety of disciplines represented by our college, please see Poster File
  • Review Rubric

QUESTIONS?

 

If you have questions about this research awards program, please plan to attend the January 28 workshop. You can also reach out to any member of the CAPPA DEI Committee for additional information – our mission and contact information are available here.

Previous Winners

Cappa student sustainability awards graphic banner

 

 

The office of the Dean congratulates the winner of the CAPPA Student Sustainability Awards!

 

The committee received four graduate entries for CAPPA’s first Student Sustainability Awards and reached a consensus that the winning design project is “Greenland: Agriculture as a Driver of Independence” by Sindi Malelli. The committee felt that this was an explicit exploration of an idea whose narrative and images made the project comprehensible to all committee members. A site- and climate-specific project, it was innovative in its multilevel approach, making connections between Greenland’s dependence upon imported food and how responding to the increase in arable land due to a warming climate can change this dependence. A circular design incorporating modules for vertical hydroponic farming, producing wash areas, producing storage, teaching kitchen, classroom, and the local market was presented as a flexible template that could be replicated. 

We wish to thank those undergraduate students who submitted entries for CAPPA’s first Student Sustainability Awards. Unfortunately, the committee received too few entries that met the minimal requirements and felt that this did not constitute a competitive pool. For that reason, the committee has decided not to issue an award this year. Nonetheless, feedback will be provided to the applicants and encourage them to re-apply next year. Students are encouraged to begin identifying projects for next year’s awards, while engaging with their faculty project advisor to review their application materials. The criteria for the awards are available below.

In preparation for next year’s Sustainability Awards, a workshop about creating a strong submission will be developed and made available to all students. Stay tuned for more details.

We wish to thank the committee for their work in reviewing the undergraduate and graduate submissions: Narjes Abbasabadi (Architecture), Ardeshir Anjomani (Planning), Douglas Klahr (Dean’s Office), Taner Ozdil (Landscape Architecture), and Jiwon Suh (Public Affairs)

The Green Land project

CAPPA Student Jedi Awards graphic banner

 

 

The office of the Dean congratulates the winner of the CAPPA Student JEDI Awards!

 

On behalf of the CAPPA Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee, it is a pleasure to announce Ph.D. student Shadin Nimery as the winner of the inaugural 2021-2022 CAPPA JEDI Award. The committee was impressed with her ongoing research project, “What are the Socio-Economic Implications of the Digital Divide on the Notion of Smart City in the DFW Metropolitan Area?" Nimery has offered a thorough analysis of a set of problematic JEDI issues, focusing upon the divide of internet access, particularly in the Dallas Metroplex of 7.5 million people. 

 

We are proud of the role she will play over the academic year, setting the pace for fellow students as the inaugural winner of the CAPPA award, encouraging others to dedicate themselves to scholarship and creativity projects that reflects the resolution of diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice at its core. The criteria for the awards are available below.

 

We wish to thank those undergraduate students who submitted entries for CAPPA’s first Undergraduate Student JEDI Awards. While the committee felt there were compelling parts to the submitted proposals, none met the complete requirements to issue an award this year. Nonetheless, feedback will be provided to the applicants, and we encourage all to re-apply next year. Students are encouraged to begin identifying projects for next year’s awards while engaging with their faculty project advisor to review their application materials.

 

Again, congratulations to Shadin, we wish her success as she moves forward with her research.