Juan Antonio Bueno is Professor of Landscape Architecture at Florida International University, where he has also served as Founding Dean of the College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts, dean of the School of Architecture, director of the School of Design, and director of the Graduate Program in Landscape Architecture. He completed his graduate education in landscape architecture at the Graduate School of Design of Harvard University and his undergraduate education in engineering at the University of Miami. He is a registered landscape architect and professional engineer in the State of Florida. Academically, his research focuses on the South Florida landscapes, the Spanish patio and cloister, and the natural and cultural landscapes of Havana, including the research, planning and design project for the urban region of Havana and Its Landscapes. Professionally, his practice involves the planning and design of regions and communities, parks and greenways, as well as plazas, gardens, and patios.

Jason R. Chandler, AIA, is Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture, where he was Department Chair for eight years starting in 2021. Chandler’s academic activities focus on building construction systems and their integration into architecture and urban design. Professor Chandler’s research has been supported by grants and fellowships from the National Institute for Architectural Education, the International Hurricane Center, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Knight Foundation, the Cejas Family Foundation, the Metropolitan Center at FIU and the United States Department of Education. He is co-author with Shahin Vassigh on Building Systems Integration for Enhanced Environmental Performance (2011). Chandler holds the Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University and the Master of Architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.

Through some 150 works composed in a wide range of performance genres, many premiered at major festivals by internationally renowned performers, Orlando Jacinto García is an important figure in the new music world. His works are recorded on 7 solo CDs and numerous compilations released by a variety of respected labels. His collaborative multi-media work on the theme of rising seas has been funded by the James L. Knight Foundation and Faena Arts. The recipient of various honors and awards including fellowships from the Fulbright, Rockefeller and Cintas Foundations and 4 Latin Grammy nominations, Garcia is Distinguished University Professor of Composition for the School of Music and Composer in Residence for the CARTA Miami Beach Urban Studios at Florida International University in Miami.

Nick Gelpi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture and the Design Principal and Founder of GELPI Projects, a collaborative design firm in Miami, Florida. Gelpi’s research is concerned with the tensions between materials and representation, often incorporating procedures of fabrication and the conventions of testing through mockups. Professor Gelpi’s research has been supported by grants and fellowships from Cejas Family Foundation, Wells Fargo, and through the funding of private industrial partnerships. Gelpi is currently authoring a book on the history and contemporary use of full scale mockups in the design process, titled The Architecture of Full Scale Mockups, to be published by Routledge. Gelpi received his Bachelor’s of Architecture degree from Tulane University in 2002 and his Masters of Science in Advanced Architecture Design from Columbia University in 2003.

Susan Jacobson, PhD, is an Associate Professor and Interim Chair in the School of Journalism and Media. She is the project manager of the Sea Level Rise Toolbox (http://eyesontherise.org/app), an interactive sea level rise viewer that has received press coverage from around the world. She is currently working with her students, with FIU’s Sea Level Solutions Center, and with community organizations such as the CLEO Institute (Climate Leadership Engagement Opportunities) and Code for Miami, to engage citizens in documenting incidents of sunny-day flooding related to sea level rise in South Florida (http://eyesontherise.org/flood). She is a graduate of New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, the leading digital program in the U.S. Her research investigates the expressive qualities of digital media, and she has published in top international journals, including New Media and Society, The Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media and Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism. She teaches classes in coding and media innovation.

Jacek J. Kolasinski, PhD is a New-Media artist and an Associate Professor of Visual Arts in the Art and Art History Department, where he was Department Chair for six years and is the Founding Director of the Ratcliffe Art + Design Institute. He studied history and philosophy at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, and holds a BA in International Relations, a BFA in Studio Art and an MFA in Visual Arts from FIU, and a PhD from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland. Kolasinski’s work, focused on a search for identity in the vortex of cultural displacement, is rooted in an international dialogue between old and new worlds. His artwork includes video installations, single and multiple channel projections, and site-specific projects. The Miami-Florida European Union Center of Excellence Faculty Research Award supported Lapadarium, his solo exhibition at the Latvian Art Academy, Riga (2015). Kolasinski was awarded a Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship (2003) and the prestigious Kosciusko Foundation Fellowship (2000). His work has been presented in international venues including: Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Festival Internacional Cervantino, Guanajuato, Mexico; 61 Festival de Cannes, France; Cinema Politic, Barcelona, Spain; and Digital Fringe, Melbourne, Australia.

Mark Marine is Director of FIU by DESIGN, and faculty member in the Department of Architecture. He holds the Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies from Florida International University the Master of Architecture degree with high honors from UCLA. Marine worked with Associated Housing Development Corporation, a consultant group for the City of Los Angeles, on revitalization and adaptive reuse strategies for low-income housing in South Central Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. He worked on a new Master Plan for San Pedro Harbor, allowing the City of Los Angeles to reclaim abandoned land and compete with the City of Long Beach. With R2Arch, he completed urban planning for Little Tokyo and Homeboy Industries. In Miami, he co-founded Danger Marine Design. Marine’s work has been exhibited in galleries in Los Angeles and Miami, has been the subject of numerous public lectures and presentations, and has been published nationally.

Marilys R. Nepomechie, FAIA, is an architect, Distinguished University Professor of Architecture, Associate Dean of Faculty and Program Development, and a former President of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. Her professional and academic projects –focused on urban resilience and on the design of sustainable, affordable housing and infrastructure– are included in the archives of the National Building Museum. They have been honored with over 40 design and research awards, national and international exhibition, and wide publication. The National Science Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Administration of China, Graham Foundation, CINTAS Foundation, International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam and the American Institute of Architects have funded her work. With Marta Canavés, Nepomechie is co-curator of Miami 2100: Envisioning a resilient second century (2015) and Miami | La Habana: Magic City | Novia del Mar. She is co-curator of La Habana Moderna: 1902-1959, and author of Building Paradise: An Architectural Guide to the Magic City (2010).

Ebru Özer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture + Environmental and Urban Design. Her research concentrates on integration of green infrastructure systems into urban design, sustainable landscape construction, and sustainability in park design. Her research has been supported by grants from the national Landscape Architecture Foundation, The United States Department of Education, Florida Department of Transportation, City of Sweetwater, The Metropolitan Center at FIU, the Cejas Family Foundation, and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation | The Wolfsonian-FIU. She is co-author of Best Practices in Sustainable Building Design (2012). Özer holds a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from Louisiana State University, a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Dokuz Eylul University, and a Physics degree from Ege University. Özer currently is a member of the FIU President’s University Sustainability Committee and serves on the FIU GIS Advisory Committee.

Eric Peterson is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Architecture. He is a graduate of Middlebury College (B.A. 1991) and the University of Florida (M.Arch 2005). Peterson served an apprenticeship in traditional English joinery and worked as a journeyman carpenter and construction supervisor for ten years. Recent projects include the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011– interior team leader; Palletcraft – an exhibition of furniture made from recycled materials (2013); and Miami 2100 – an exhibition on the impact of sea level rise on Greater Miami (2014- 15). Having served as Fabrication Lab Manager for seven years at FIU he continues to be actively involved in shaping a culture of making within the Department of Architecture. He teaches both introductory and graduate level architectural design studios as well as courses in computer modeling, graphics, furniture design and fabrication.

Associate Professor Gray Read holds the PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and is a registered Architect. Her research focuses on historical practices of urbanism in architecture to inform contemporary sustainable design. Her most recent book Modern Architecture in Theater: The Experiments of Art et Action (Palgrave Press, 2013) focuses on the experimental work of a modern architect in Paris in the 1920s who used theater to model archetypal urban events. An edited volume, Architecture as a Performing Art, with Marcia Feuerstein, (Ashgate Press, 2013), brings together scholarship on architectural design for the theater of urban life. And The Miniature and the Gigantic in Philadelphia Architecture: Essays on Designing the City to Human Scale, (Mellen Press, 2007), reveals a poetic vernacular of architectural dimension. Her most recent project is a collaboration with FIU students to develop design ideas for Miami that will enhance the quality and sustainability of urban life.

Camilo Rosales, AIA is an Associate Professor of Architecture. He was director of one the School of Architecture’s programs and has been a fellow of the FIU Honors College since 2010. Mr. Rosales’ academic research is a reflection of his award- winning professional practice, which seeks to harmonize nature, culture, and technology. He has participated in a number of sustainability related projects with colleagues and students. Noteworthy among them is a $793,000 U.S. Department of State grant to reduce energy consumption in over 400 municipal building in three South American countries. In 2013 he was recognized as a Top FIU Scholar and in 2000 he was elected Fellow of the International Institute for Advanced Studies (IIAS) for work related to sustainable development. Mr. Rosales received a Master of Architecture II from Harvard University, and a Master and Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin.

Roberto Rovira, ASLA, is principal of Studio Roberto Rovira, Associate Professor, and past Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture + Environmental and Urban Design. As a registered landscape architect with a design, engineering, and fine arts background, his teaching, research, and creative work explore the potential of landscape architecture in public space and the intersection of technology and living systems. Roberto has been recognized nationally and internationally for his work as an educator and professional. The Architectural League recognized him as one of eight 2015 Emerging Voices, one of the most coveted awards in North American Architecture, spotlighting individuals and firms based in the U. S., Canada, and Mexico with distinct design voices and the potential to influence the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, and urbanism. He has been lead designer in national and international projects and his work ranges from environmental installations and competitions, to art commissions, exhibits, and landscape architecture projects.

Thomas Spiegelhalter, Professor and Co-Director of the Structural and Environmental Technologies Laboratory [SET Lab], has engineered, designed and built in Europe and the U.S. hundreds contextual solar, net-zero-fossil-energy building realizations and large-scale sustainability master planning projects. Many of his projects have been published in International journals, conferences and anthologies of European and American Architecture. Spiegelhalter’s multi-million dollar research projects have been supported by grants from the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, Saxon Ministry of State, Intelligent Energy Europe, U.S. Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Department of State Energy and Climate Partnership of The Americas, and others. As a result of his 26 years of design, parametric modeling and built work, professional consulting, research and teaching, Spiegelhalter has received 52 prizes, awards, and honors in European and US sustainability competitions, individually and in collaboration with landscape architects, and engineers.

John Stuart, AIA, Associate Dean for Cultural and Community Engagement in the FIU College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts, Executive Director of the Miami Beach Urban Studios and director of the new CARTA Innovation Lab, is a full professor in the Department of Architecture at FIU where he has taught for over two decades. His research projects were funded by The National Endowment for the Arts, The National Science Foundation, and The National Endowment for the Humanities. Stuart’s books include: The Gray Cloth, Paul Scheerbart’s Novel on Glass Architecture (MIT, 2001); Ely Jacques Kahn, Architect: Beaux-Arts to Modernism in New York (Norton, 2006, with Jewel Stern), and The New Deal in South Florida: Design, Policy and Community Building, 1933-1940 (UPF, 2008, with John F. Stack, Jr.). Stuart holds advanced degrees in architecture and classical archaeology from Columbia and Princeton, and undergraduate degrees in classics and applied mathematics from Brown University.

Shahin Vassigh is Professor of Architecture and Director of Research and Technology in the College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts and the Director of the Robotics and Digital Fabrication Lab. She serves as Co-Director of the Structural and Environmental Technologies Laboratory and the ICAVE. She is a recipient of several major federal grants focused on improving building technology and sustainable building design education by developing alternative teaching pedagogies. Vassigh has considerable professional experience through her work at various consulting engineering firms ranging from bridge analysis to large-scale building design and construction. She is the author of Interactive Structures: Visualizing Structural Behavior (2008), and the lead author of Building Systems Integration for Enhanced Environmental Performance (2011), and Best Practices in Sustainable Building Design (2013). She has a Master of Architecture, a Master of Urban Planning and a Bachelor of Science in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering from University at Buffalo, the State University of New York.