Ervin Garip's studies mostly focus on urban design, architecture and interior design. During his Ph.D. studies, he served as a visiting scholar in North Carolina State University College of Design (2009). His projects on urban and architectural design have been awarded, exhibited and published by several institutions. They have been awarded 11 first prizes, 3 second prizes, 2 third prizes and honorable mentions since 2000. His latest project, which won the 1st Prize in the "Istanbul Golden Horn Coasts Urban Design Competition," has been constructed and opened for public use as Waterfront Sports Park and Public Space in 2023. He teaches at Istanbul Technical University at the Department of Interior Architecture as a professor and as the chair of the department, and he works on design projects with 1+1 Design Team in Istanbul.

George Hallowell, PhD, AIA is a College of Design faculty member at North Carolina State University. His enduring research goal is to understand how the design of city form, space, and movement can foster resilient, equitable, and healthy communities. His publications have focused on the mechanism of change, particularly along the urban growth edge, including a new model of structural inertia relating to the morphological characteristics embedded in the built environment of cities. Other research and publications have concentrated on acoustics, environmental justice, healthy and smart city design, and sharing technologies and their relationship to urban public spaces. He has presented at numerous architecture and urban design conferences, including EDRA, AMPS, ISUF, IAPS, ACSA, AAG, ARCC, Healthy Cities, Spaces and Flows, Pandemic Urbanism, and the Great Asian Streets Symposium. His recent peer-reviewed publications include articles in Landscape and Urban Planning, the International Journal of Architectural Research, the Ekistics Journal, Geographical Analysis, the International Journal of Sustainability Education, Urban Morphology, the Journal of Space Syntax, and chapters in several recent books. Dr. Hallowell is an Emeritus member of the AIA and has practiced architecture professionally for over 30 years in New York, Houston, Seattle, and Raleigh. He has also taught architecture at North Carolina State University and the University of Houston. He has a PhD in Design, a Master of Architecture degree, and a B.A. in Urban Geography.

Professor Ellen Dunham-Jones is Director of the MS in Urban Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. She hosts the REDESIGNING CITIES podcast series and was recognized in 2017 and 2023 by Planetizen as one of the 100 most influential urbanists. She is co-author with June Williamson of Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Strategies for Urgent Challenges (EDRA Great Places Book Award; Wiley, 2021) and Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs, (PROSE Best Architecture/Urban Planning Book Award; Wiley, 2009, 2011). Their documentation of parking lot-dominated property types retrofitted into more sustainable places has been featured in The New York Times, TED, NPR and other prominent venues. She is a Fellow of the Congress for the New Urbanism as well as the Brook Byers Institute of Sustainable Systems, maintains a unique database on suburban retrofits, lectures and consults widely. Professor Ellen Dunham-Jones is Director of the MS in Urban Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. She hosts the REDESIGNING CITIES podcast series and was recognized in 2017 and 2023 by Planetizen as one of the 100 most influential urbanists. She is co-author with June Williamson of Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Strategies for Urgent Challenges (EDRA Great Places Book Award; Wiley, 2021) and Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs, (PROSE Best Architecture/Urban Planning Book Award; Wiley, 2009, 2011).

Jason Sowell is a registered architect and an Associate Professor at the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Urban Planning. He is a design research-practitioner who examines how technologies recover landscapes after disturbance, focusing on ecological processes as a method for land management. This work is explored through housing, public space, and the research campus. His work and teaching has received national and international design awards and been exhibited in a range of venues, including the Venice and Pan American Biennales. Prior to joining the University at Buffalo’s School of Architecture and Planning, Jason was an Associate Professor and the Director of the Graduate Program of Landscape Architecture at The University of Texas at Austin; and an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at Texas Tech University. Jason is also the consultant and co-principal of SSAU Stiphany Sowell Architecture + Urbanism, LLC for projects commissioned by the public and private sector. Jason holds a Bachelor of Architecture magna cum laude from the University of Tennessee and a Master in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

Gelun, recipient of the inaugural National Natural Science Fund of China in health design, boasts over two decades of expertise in hospital architecture. A trailblazer in the convergence of "Industry-Education-Research," Gelun pioneered the theory of "the three troikas" (PPE: whole Planning-whole Program-whole Evaluation). Leading a team, she developed GMARS methods, medical program coupling guidelines, and the SHAPE + evaluation tool, positively impacting 100+ hospitals. Her innovations resolved 1000+ issues and optimized construction investments by 5%-10%. Renowned as a champion of "Pre-design planning and Post Occupancy Evaluation" in Chinese hospital development, Gelun's leadership has earned national acclaim, marked by gold medals for design projects and accolades from esteemed hospital clients.

Jeri Brittin, Ph.D., Director of Social and Behavioral Sciences at HDR, leads a transdisciplinary team of social, behavioral, and health scientists whose work informs optimal strategies, planning, organizational and design decision-making. With her background in design, doctoral training in social and behavioral health, and experience leading multi-disciplinary teams, Jeri is passionate about developing systems and environments that promote positive and equitable outcomes. Jeri’s work focuses on wellness and behavioral outcomes related to environmental and social determinants in buildings, campuses, neighborhoods and cities. Dr. Brittin maintains an active national and international research collaboration network, is a frequent speaker, has published numerous refereed articles, and serves on several national committees focused on design and health.

Ashraf Salama is a Professor in Architecture and Urbanism and Head of the Department of Architecture and the Built Environment, University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK. He is co-Director of the UNESCO/UIA Validation Council for Architectural Education, Paris. Professor Salama has chaired and led three schools of architecture over the past 25 years in Egypt, Qatar (2009-2014), and the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom (2014-2020). He is an honorary professor of architecture at the University Putra Malaysia and has held tenured and visiting positions in Europe and the Middle East. He holds B.Sc. MSc. and PhD in architecture and has received his education at Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt and North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA. He is the chief editor of the International Journal of Architectural Research (Archnet-IJAR). Having published more than 200 articles and authored and co-edited 17 books on design pedagogy and on urbanization in emerging cities, he is the UIA 2017 Recipient of Jean Tschumi Prize for Excellence in Architectural Education and Criticism.

Mohammad Gharipour is an ACSA Distinguished Professor and professor and director of the Architecture Program at the University of Maryland, College Park. He serves as an affiliate faculty at the National Center for Smart Growth and Persian Studies Program. Dr. Gharipour obtained his PhD in architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Master of Architecture from the University of Tehran. Gharipour’s scholarship and work has earned him several prestigious national and international awards and grants, including the Society of Architectural Historians (2008), Dumbarton Oaks (2010), National Endowment in Humanities (2015), Fulbright-Hays (2016), Foundation for Landscape Studies (2016), Council of Educators of Landscape Architecture (2016), American Institute of Architects (2018), Fulbright (2019), National Institute of Health (2020), and Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (2024). In 2016, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine named Gharipour as a minority scholar making their mark in U.S. academia.

Stan Carroll lives and breathes a digital 3D design-centric career which stretches well beyond the typical domain of an architect and deeply into advanced computational design and digital fabrication. A 20-year architectural practitioner, and 15 years as a sculptor. Carroll’s work spans from design to digital fabrication within the domains of furniture design, architecture, and urban placemaking through large scale public art. Carroll has taught design and digital fabrication at the university level for six years as an architectural professor and researcher exploring the area of computational design methodologies. He also maintains an award winning private practice as director of Beyond Metal, a hands-on design workshop pursuing projects involving complex geometries in architecture and public art. Project highlights include his role as co-designer on the award winning, 198 feet tall, SkyDance Pedestrian Bridge in Oklahoma City and the recently completed Doris Miller Memorial in Waco, Texas. At the heart of this memorial is a stainless steel wall that advances the geometrics of modern construction systems and is truly breathtaking.

Christina (Chris) Hite, FASLA, LEED AP is a Founding Partner at Dix.Hite + Partners, bringing more than 35 years of extensive experience in a holistic landscape architecture practice for both public and private clients. As Chairman of the Board and consulting principal, Chris has helped define Dix.Hite as a firm with a national reputation for excellence. Chris received a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of Georgia in 1987, and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Florida in 2012. Chris has led and designed a wide range of projects, ranging from parks and multi-model transportation projects to the design of residential spaces, with an emphasis on placemaking for communities. She fosters the advance and influence of the landscape architecture profession through leadership in design, practice, academic, and community service, and is the current President of the OUTSIDE Collaborative, working to shift the landscape paradigm with research, policy, culture, and industry through collaboration to position landscapes as a vital solution to sustainability. She was recognized for her excellence in leadership and management by her peers nationally and elevated to Fellow in the American Society of Landscape Architects.