Student Awards

CAPPA SUSTAINABILITY AWARD WINNER

 

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 JEDI AWARD WINNER

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.

The DEI Committee:
Dennis Antonio Chiessa, Assistant Professor (Architecture) 
Barbara Marini, Ph.D., FASID, IDEC, Director of Interior Design (Architecture)
Amber B. Raley, Ph.D. Student - Urban Planning and Public Policy (UPPP) (Planning)
James Brown, Academic Recruiter
Taner Ozdil, Ph.D., ASLA, Associate Professor; V. P. for Research and Creative Scholarship, CELA (Landscape Architecture)
Jiwon Suh, Ph.D., Assistant Professor (Public Affairs)
Austin Allen, Ph.D., ASLA, Committee Chair (Architecture)

 

Cappa student sustainability awards graphic banner

Award Amount: $1,000
Academic Year: 2021-22
Number of Awards: Two

The CAPPA Student Sustainability Awards provide one undergraduate and one graduate student each $1,000 in recognition of an outstanding design or research project that was completed as part of the student’s study at CAPPA. Although it is not required, students are encouraged to have a faculty mentor review their application materials before the submission deadline. These awards are open to CAPPA students in all disciplines.

Eligibility: students who will be continuing their education at CAPPA in Fall 2021 are eligible to apply since the award funding will be applied to their UTA student account in Fall 2021.

Application

Applications must include the following:

  • For an undergraduate design project: 8-10 images with captions and text totaling 800-1000 words.
  • For an undergraduate research project: an essay of 3000-3500 words with citations following the appropriate disciplinary method, e.g., Chicago Style, MLA, etc. Citations are included in the total word count.
  • For a graduate design project: 15-20 images with captions and text totaling 1500-2000 words.For a graduate research project: an essay of 7,000-8000 words with citations following the appropriate disciplinary method, e.g., Chicago Style, MLA, etc. Citations are included in the total word count.
  • All submissions need to explain how the design or research project addresses at least six of the following ten CAPPA Student Sustainability Award Principles which were adapted from an AIA framework.
  1. Working toward Equitable and Sustainable Communities
  2. Promoting Health and Wellbeing
  3. Protecting Ecosystems
  4. Keeping Economics in Mind
  5. Taking Care of Water
  6. Paying Attention to Energy
  7. Using Resources Responsibly
  8. Designing and Planning for the Future
  9. Learning from Experience
  10. Integrating Multiple Impacts

Examples of how CAPPA disciplines interface with the ten principles above:

  • Architecture Example 1 and Example 2
  • Interior Design
  • Landscape Architecture
  • Planning
  • Public Affairs

    All application materials should be sent to Douglas Klahr klahr@uta.edu by 5 pm, February 5, 2021. Late submissions will be ineligible.

    Selection Criteria

    Clarity of expression: definition, organization, and description of the project, especially how the sustainability principles it focuses upon are explained and interface with one another. Submissions should be written for the intended audience: a committee of faculty members from all CAPPA disciplines.

    Terms of the Award

    • Award recipients will be announced on March 10, 2021.
    • The award will be applied to the student’s UTA account in Fall 2021.

    • CAPPA Student Jedi Awards graphic banner

    Award Amount: $1,000
    Academic Year: 2021-22
    Number of Awards: Two

    The CAPPA Student JEDI Awards provide one undergraduate and one graduate student each $1,000 in recognition of an outstanding Design or Research project completed as part of the student’s study at CAPPA. Although it is not required, students are encouraged to have a faculty project advisor review their application materials before the submission deadline. These awards are open to CAPPA students in all disciplines.

    Eligibility: students who will be continuing their education at CAPPA in Fall 2021 are eligible to apply since the award funding will be applied to their UTA student account in Fall 2021.

    Extended Deadline for application submission is February 19, 2021

    Application

    Elements of research are in a design project and the reverse within research projects. However, applicants must identify their projects as either a Design or a Research Project and include the following:

    • For an undergraduate design project: at least 10 images with captions, or a five-minute video with full end credits for images, texts, and audio elements, and in addition, written text totaling no more than 400 words.
    • For an undergraduate research project: an essay of at least 2000 words with citations following the appropriate disciplinary method, e.g., Chicago Style, MLA, APA, etc. Citations are included in the total word count. Full reference lists are required but are not part of the word count. Projects may include additional digital media needed to explain, inform, or complement the research.
    • For a graduate design project: 15-20 images with captions, or a five-minute video with full end credits for images, texts, and audio elements, and, in addition, written text totaling 800 words or less.
    • For a graduate research project: an essay of 3,000 words with citations following the appropriate disciplinary method, e.g., Chicago Style, MLA, APA, etc. Citations are not included in the total word count. Projects may include additional digital media needed to explain inform or complement the research.
    • A 100-word Bio.
    • All submissions need to explain how the design or research project addresses the following four CAPPA JEDI Award Principles shaped by the CAPPA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee:
    1. Justice – The tangible actions or translations of the pursuit of equity and inclusion within social, cultural, political or even design and planning goals and strategies. These actions or mandates are often brought forth or implemented through legal terms, but also seen as a method of creating balance called for by equity through formal procedures and policies needed to change human behavior focused upon creating imbalance and inhumane living conditions and arrangements.
    2. Equity – The goals, practices, or philosophies tied to recognizing imbalances in society and its institutions and thus, advocating for the redistribution of goods, services, cultural values, social practices, and accessibility, to achieve a working level of parity between different people seeking access and livability within similar spaces, places, temporal, social and cultural frameworks. Equity is the act of seeking a balanced society by noting differences among races, classes, genders, identities, and other means of subdividing human practices.
    3. Diversity – The recognition of cultural and other societal differences, and the ability to exhibit leadership and strength by acknowledging a national history of inequity that extends to its academic institutions having denied equitable access and support to qualified students, faculty, and staff. Recognizing and celebrating differences within the human experience as the organizing tools for providing institutional growth, advances and advantages that reflect a democratic approach towards improving the human condition.
    4. Inclusion – … the processes by which students[all people] are made to feel not just that they belong, but also that they are full members of the community and are entitled to all the rights and privileges of that membership.[i] … the active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity -- in people, in the curriculum, in the co-curriculum, and in communities (e.g. intellectual, social, cultural, geographic) with which individuals might connect.[ii]

    In addition, the Committee recognizes the strong tie between service projects and JEDI practices. We strongly encourage you to consider your role and participation in service-learning projects as either the foundation for new innovations or continued work in a particular area.

    Examples of how CAPPA disciplines interface with the four principles above:

    All application materials should be sent to Austin Allen austin.allen2@uta.edu by 5 pm, February 5, 2021. Late submissions will be ineligible.

    Selection Criteria

    • Clarity of expression: definition, organization, and description of the project,
    • the impact upon issues of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the disciplines of Architecture, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture, Planning, Public Affairs, and Urban Design,
    • especially how the JEDI principles focus upon are explained and interface with one another.
    • Submissions should be written for the intended audience: a committee of faculty members and related professionals covering CAPPA disciplines.

    Terms of the Award

    • Award recipients will be announced on March 10, 2021.
    • The award will be applied to the student’s UTA account in Fall 2021.

    [i] as.harvard.edu/news/colloquy/summer-2019/beyond-access
    [ii] https://diversity.gwu.edu/diversity-and-inclusion-defined