EDRA SERVICE AWARD

Eligibility

This award is given to EDRA members who have contributed above and beyond exemplary service to the organization, either in the form of specific significant service contribution to the organization or field or in sustained service to the field and organization as members and volunteers over a period of time.

All nominees must be EDRA members in good standing*.

*Past recipients are not eligible to receive this award more than once. Current board members are not eligible for this award while in office; however, they may be nominated after three (3) years of leaving the board.

Timeline

• Closed for this year.

Nomination Process

The materials should be submitted in one (1) PDF document and should not be more than 20 pages in length and 5 MB in file size.

Nominations (by self or others) are invited to submit for this award. The nomination packet must include:

• One page summary explaining the reasons for the nomination;
• Brief supporting statements from three (3) EDRA members;
• and Additional supporting materials illustrating the nominee’s significance of service.

Separate from the nomination packet, we request the nominator(s) to include a publish-ready photo of the nominee and a short biography. These additional items should not exceed 5 MB in file size.

2026 EDRA Service Award

Dr. Hui Cai

Dr. Hui Cai is Professor in the School of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Executive Director of the SimTigrate Design Center, an interdisciplinary hub that advances design-driven innovations to improve health outcomes and human well-being. She earned her Ph.D. in Architecture from Georgia Tech, and her scholarship employs performance-driven, evidence-based design methods to interrogate how culture, human behavior, and the built environment interact, particularly within healthcare facilities and healthy community settings. Dr. Cai integrates space-syntax analysis, discrete-event simulation, and behavioral mapping to generate actionable insights that inform both practice and policy.

Widely published and invited to speak at international venues, Dr. Cai’s work has garnered numerous awards, including the International Academy Award for Best Research Project, the AIA-AAH/AAH Foundation Burgun Fellowship, and Wilbur H. (Tib) Tusler, Jr. Health Design Research Prize from the Foundation for Health Environments Research in 2022 and 2024. In 2021, she was recognized as one of the HCD 10 Healthcare Design Educators. She has also served on the Board of Directors for the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) from 2020-2023 to support the community of environmental design and research.

PAST SERVICE AWARD WINNERS