10 faculty appointed to endowments
The College of Architecture has appointed 10 outstanding faculty members to various endowed professorships supporting their fields of work. These endowed professorships, funded by donors, allow faculty members to engage in pioneering research, elevate their teaching practices and provide exceptional mentorship to our students.
The 2024 endowed professors are:
Dr. Kunhee (KC) Choi
Professor
Department of Construction Science
Appointment: History Maker Homes Endowed Professorship in Construction Science
Donor: Bryan N. and Sandra K. Mitchell
Dr. Choi’s interests have centered on improving the adaptive capacity of the legacy transportation system by creating and testing cyber-enabled systems to empower digital twinning intelligence, which ultimately revolutionizes the way we live, work and travel. Learn more here.
Benjamin Ennemoser
Assistant Professor
Department of Architecture
Appointment: Harold L. Adams ’61 Interdisciplinary Studies Professorship in Architecture
Donor: Harold L. Adams ’61
Ennemoser is a licensed architect and works within the field of computational design techniques, generative processes, computer science and new media as a design speculation and focuses on digital design, AI/machine learning, digital fabrication, applied robotics, soft-robotics, VR and AR and interactive architectural systems. Learn more here.
Dr. Roxana Jafari
Assistant Professor
Department of Architecture
Appointment: Ronald L. Skaggs, FAIA Endowed Professorship in Health Facilities Design
Donor: Ronald L. Skaggs ’65
Dr. Jafari’s research incorporates human-centered design, evidence-based design, and socio-technical systems approaches to improve occupants’ safety and well-being in high-stress, complex healthcare environments, such as operating rooms and intensive care units. Learn more here.
Dr. Zhipeng Lu
Assistant Professor
Department of Architecture
Appointment: Julie and Craig Beale Endowed Professorship in Health Facilities
Design
Donor: Julie and Craig Beale ’71
Dr. Lu interests include health facility design, housing for the elderly, healthy community planning and environmental psychology. Learn more here.
I am thrilled and honored to be appointed as the Julie and Craig Beale Endowed Professor!
Dr. Zhipeng Lu
Dr. Chukwuma (Chuma) Nnaji
Assistant Professor
Department of Construction Science
Appointment: Cecil O. Windsor Jr. ’66 Endowed Professorship
Donor: Gamma Construction Company and The Construction Industry Advisory Council
Dr. Nnaji’s research focuses on formulating strategies and developing decision support tools that enhance construction safety and health, sustainable construction, human-robot interactions, construction automation, workforce development in different construction environments. Learn more here.
Dr. Walter Peacock
Professor
Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning
Appointment: Sandy & Bryan Mitchell Master Builder Chair
Donor: Sandy and Bryan Mitchell ’70
Dr. Peacock is interested in urban planning, sustainability and resiliency issues, natural hazard, hazard mitigation and adaptation, long-term disaster recovery, hurricane evacuation and quantitative methods. Learn more here.
Dr. Andrew R. Tripp
Assistant Professor
Department of Architecture
Re-appointment: John Only Greer Architectural Heritage Professorship
Donor: Friends of James C. Snyder
Dr. Tripp approaches architecture as a discipline in the humanities. His research contributes to the fields of architectural education and architectural history and theory. Learn more here.
Lane Wright
Lane Wright
Associate Professor of the Practice
Department of Construction Science
Appointment: George W. Seagraves ’80 Faculty Fellowship in Residential
Construction
Donor: George W. Seagraves ’80
Wright embraces leadership as the art of influencing and aligning individuals that are hungry, humble, and smart to achieve outsized results. Learn more here.
Thank you, and all that supported me, for sharing this excellent news, I’m honored and grateful to receive this endowment. I’m committed to using these funds in the spirit in which it is awarded.
Lane Wright
Dr. Wei Yan
Professor
Department Architecture
Appointment: William M. Peña Endowed Professorship in Information
Management
Donor: CRSS Center
Dr. Yan’s areas of academic interest include computational methods in architecture, augmented reality, AI, parametric modeling, building information modeling and building science. Learn more here.
I am deeply honored and grateful to receive such a prestigious title.
Dr. Wei Yan
Dr. Xinyue Ye
Professor
Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning
Re-appointment: Harold L. Adams ’61 Interdisciplinary Studies Professorship in Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning
Donor: Harold L. Adams ’61
Dr. Ye focuses on developing innovative frameworks and tools that address critical challenges in understanding and managing urban systems and socioeconomic dynamics. Learn more here.
It is a great honor for me to serve this role!
Dr. Xinyue Ye
