MEET THE CANDIDATES 
We are delighted to announce the nominees for election to the ARCC Board of Directors (2023-2025). Board elections permit one vote per ARCC member institution for each of the three open positions: Secretary, Treasurer, and At-Large Director.

> NOMINATIONS for SECRETARY (1 nominee)

Alexandra Staub, Pennsylvania State University
Alexandra Staub, Ph.D. is a Professor of architecture at Penn State University and an affiliate faculty of Penn State’s Rock Ethics Institute and Penn State’s Social Science Research Institute. I currently serve as the Secretary of the ARCC Board. With degrees both from Germany and the United States, my research centers on the intersection of culture and our built environment, with two books and multiple articles and book chapters on topics ranging from gender and architecture, urban systems in the United States, Europe, India, and China, and ecological building and sustainability. In addition to teaching studio courses in Penn State’s professional programs, I regularly offer courses on research methods for M.S. and Ph.D. students as well as a topical seminar on ethics in the built environment.
Brief Statement of Interest

> NOMINATIONS for TREASURER (2 nominees) 

Benjamin Bross, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Benjamin Bross, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He grew up in a multicultural Mexican environment. His research examines spatial production that embodies sociocultural identity. His first book, Mexico City’s Zócalo: A History of a Constructed Spatial Identity (Routledge, 2021) examines Mexico’s most important public realm. His next book, Placemaking as a Holistic Sustainability Strategy: Baja California Sur’s Mining Towns (Routledge, 2024) deploys place-based phenomenology as a sustainability strategy. Recently, the NEH named him alternate Research Fellow, and SAH a Scott Opler Fellow. His PhD is from Mexico’s Universidad Iberoamericana; M.U.D. from UC Berkeley; and M. Arch. from Harvard.
Brief Statement of Interest

Saif Haq, Texas Tech University
Saif Haq, Ph.D. is an award-winning researcher, educator, administrator, and design professional with over 30 years of international experience. He serves as a Professor in the Huckabee College of Architecture, Texas Tech University, where he is also the founder-director of its Design for Health program. He studies Architectural Theory, Urban Design, Non-Western Architecture, Spatial Cognition, Space Syntax, Public Health, and Healthcare Facilities Design. He has taught in each of these areas, researched and published in leading international journals, and in turn been cited by major authors. He holds a Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology, an M.S. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a professional B.Arch. from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
Brief Statement of Interest

> NOMINATIONS for AT-LARGE DIRECTOR (4 nominees)

Ming Hu, University of Notre Dame
Ming Hu, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at the School of Architecture, University of Notre Dame, and Associate Clinic Professor at School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, University of Maryland. She is a building scientist and environmental engineer who studies how to decarbonize the built environment through net-zero impact and healthy building design, particularly focusing on life cycle impact and human health-centered decarbonization of the US building stock. Specifically, she investigates the life cycle environmental impacts associated with building technologies and policies, as well as how community and societal priorities can be better incorporated into decision-making processes. Her research methods encompass life cycle assessment, energy modeling, computer vision, and complex relationship modeling.
Brief Statement of Interest

John Odhiambo Onyango, University of Notre Dame
John Odhiambo Onyango, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame.  He has over 22 years’ experience in academia (teaching and research) and professional practice. At University of Notre Dame, he leads an interdisciplinary lab BUILD+PERFORM@ND that asks: (1) How do design methodologies influence sustainable place-making in the built environment? (2) What impacts do design decisions and methods have on sustainability in energy and environmental performances at the urban and building levels? (3) How do design decisions of the built environment promote human health, dignity and integral development? We use evidence-based research to study the design, construction and operation of Sustainable Traditional Buildings and Cities.
Brief Statement of Interest

Seung Ra, Oklahoma State University 
Seung Ra, M.S. is an Architect and Professor at Oklahoma State University, where he teaches architectural design and history/theory of urban form. His educational background includes a Master’s degree in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from OSU. His fields of research and design practice focus on interdisciplinary approaches to architecture and urbanism. He taught at New York Institute of Technology, University of Nebraska, and Korea National University of Arts. He has served as a design critic at GSAPP Columbia, USC Architecture, Hong Kong Polytechnic, and Seoul National University.
Brief Statement of Interest

Madlen Simon, University of Maryland
Madlen Simon, M.Arch., is a Professor of Architecture at the University of Maryland. Recipient of the AIA Upjohn Research Initiative Award, she applies neuroscience to study human response to built environments. Simon’s collaboration with colleagues in Iraq was recognized with the Architect Magazine Studio Prize and has led to publications including a forthcoming book chapter on urban design in Iraq and a Best Paper Award at a recent EAAE-ARCC international conference. A Fellow of UMD’s Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, she coaches design thinking workshops at the Stanford d.school for faculty from architecture schools around the US and the world. She holds an M.Arch. and B.A. from Princeton University.
Brief Statement of Interest