by Center for Architecture
We’re thrilled to announce that the Center for Architecture, in partnership with AIA New York, has awarded $77,000 in academic scholarships to 16 students through its Grants and Scholarships Program, a platform dedicated to making architecture education accessible, diversifying research in the field, and connecting students and emerging professionals with AIANY members and programs.
In recent years, the Center has expanded this initiative to provide more scholarships to a wider range of students pursuing studies in architecture. Below is a summary of all planned scholarship funding for 2026:
Center for Architecture Design Scholarship
The Center for Architecture’s namesake scholarship, the Center for Architecture Design Scholarship, is offered to students seeking their first professional degree in architecture or a related design discipline from an accredited school in New York State. The dean or chair of the architectural school or accredited design program may invite up to two students from their respective college or university to apply based on their academic performance and evidence of financial need. The student’s financial need will be determined by the guidelines of the Financial Aid Officer of the school nominating the candidate.
In 2026, the Grants and Scholarships Committee awarded three merit-based scholarships totaling $7,000. One awardee also received an AIA Component Matching Scholarship Grant of $1,000:
Jeewon Seo was awarded $3,000 towards the Master of Architecture program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). Jeewon’s work operates across scales, engaging interspecies urbanism and sustainable material systems. Grounded in a human-centered approach, he explores how architecture can mediate relationships between people, nature, and the built environment. He aims to develop resilient and ecologically responsive design strategies that foster meaningful connections across urban and environmental systems.
Nandini Satheesh Kumar was awarded $3,000 towards the Master of Architecture program at Pratt Institute. Nandini has experience in architectural design development across residential, commercial, and hospitality projects, as well as project documentation. Her academic and professional work explores the relationship between space, materiality, and interiority in shaping thoughtful and engaging environments. Through recent studio work, Nandini has developed an interest in housing and community-oriented design, with a focus on integrating environmental systems and construction strategies into the design process. She is particularly interested in adaptive reuse and spatially driven, material-focused architecture that responds to both programmatic and contextual conditions. Her experience includes developing design proposals, producing drawings and visualizations, and participating in client discussions, which has strengthened her understanding of the design process across different scales. Nandini is interested in contributing to projects that balance technical precision with social and civic engagement.
Lillian Ayodele was awarded $1,000 from the Center for Architecture and $1,000 from AIA National as part of the AIA Component Matching Scholarship Grant. Lillian is a Bachelor of Architecture student at New York Institute of Technology. Her academic work explores how architecture can move beyond function to create spaces that promote connection, belonging, and everyday interaction. Through the integration of light, material systems, and spatial organization, she investigates how design shapes human experience, with an emphasis on accessibility, wellness, and collective engagement. Her projects range from multi-generational housing to community-based recreational and cultural spaces, all driven by an interest in transforming underutilized urban conditions into meaningful, shared environments that respond directly to community needs. She is particularly interested in using building performance analysis to test how environmental strategies can enhance both social and spatial outcomes. Outside of studio, Lillian serves on the board for the NYIT Old Westbury Long Island chapters of NOMAS and AIAS, where she represents student voices and contributes to conversations around equity, advocacy, and representation in architecture.
Allwork Scholarship
The Allwork Scholarship supports architecture students with demonstrated financial need seeking their first professional degree in architecture or a related design discipline from an accredited school in New York State. Students must be nominated by the dean or chair of the school of architecture in which they are currently studying in order to apply for this award.
In 2026, the Grants and Scholarships Committee awarded four merit-based scholarships totaling $25,000:
Emily Mejia was awarded $5,000 towards the Bachelor of Architecture program at the New York Institute of Technology. Emily is driven by a passion to use her degree to design meaningful spaces that are influenced by the community. She hopes that in the future she can work somewhere where she can focus in designing for underserved communities, and to make lives safer for everyone. Emily is the current President and BGL Competition Director of NOMAS at our NYIT Long Island campus and co-founder and current Vice-President of the first NY student chapter of Arquitectos.
Justine Frances Flora was awarded $5,000 towards the Master of Architecture program at the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture. Flora’s early career drafting for the luxury retail sector taught her the nuances of construction documents, code, and spatial layouts. Yet the rapid turnover of projects and use of rare materials left her committed to finding design that could engage more meaningfully with public life and environmental responsibility. Her later explorations into landscape architecture, graphic design, illustration, yoga education, and food activism deepened her belief in the power of design to strengthen collective networks. With this perspective and intention, her graduate work at Spitzer has focused on civic architecture, adaptive reuse, and bio-based materials as pathways toward a more reciprocal relationship between people, buildings, and their ecosystems. Looking forward, she aspires to contribute to civic infrastructures that knit New York’s communities more tightly together.
Stephanie Ng was awarded $7,500 towards the Master of Architecture program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). Stephanie Ng is an architectural and interior designer with international experience spanning Hong Kong, Sydney, London, Singapore, and New York. She has worked with WOHA Architects in Singapore and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in New York.She holds a First Class Honours BA (Hons) in Architecture from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, and is currently pursuing a Master of Architecture at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). Her academic work has been recognised with a RIBA Bronze Medal Commendation for Life in Common: Re-enchanting the City through Urban Commoning (2023) and the RIBA London Student Award (2021). Her work investigates the intersections of architecture, infrastructure, and ecological systems, with a focus on how spatial practice can respond to environmental uncertainty and support urban resilience. Grounded in research-driven methodologies, she draws on interdisciplinary engagement and community-based perspectives to develop more socially responsive design approaches. Ng approaches architecture as a medium operating across scales—from material assemblies to territorial infrastructures—while seeking to bridge architecture and interior design into cohesive spatial systems. Her work explores new frameworks for living that foreground equity, adaptability, and more resilient relationships between people and the environments they inhabit.
Yuka Imada was awarded $7,500 towards the Master of Architecture program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). Originally from Japan, her work explores the relationship between material culture, environmental cycles, and collective memory through architecture. She received her Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Cincinnati, where she developed an interest in experimental fabrication and material systems. During her undergraduate studies, she participated in a research-based studio investigating robotic fabrication and biodegradable materials. The resulting collaborative project was later exhibited at the La Biennale di Venezia, introducing her to architecture as a platform for material research, fabrication, and public discourse. Yuka has also pursued specialized training in timber construction through the Wood Architecture program at YACademy in Bologna, Italy. There, she studied contemporary timber construction, sustainability, and structural design, deepening her interest in renewable materials and their role in future building practices. Alongside her academic work, Yuka has gained professional experience in both Japan and the United States, including Kengo Kuma and Associates. These experiences strengthened her interest in wood construction, craft traditions, and the integration of natural materials into contemporary architecture. Her recent research investigates how materials often considered waste, such as wood debris and soil, can be transformed into new architectural systems. Through both research and design, Yuka aims to develop architectural approaches that connect material innovation, cultural memory, and environmental responsibility.
Walter A. Hunt, Jr. Scholarship:
The Walter A. Hunt, Jr. Scholarship was founded to promote and encourage the study of architecture by New York public high school students. The scholarship provides financial assistance to supplement tuition and related costs during a student’s freshman and sophomore years at a NAAB-accredited school of architecture in the U.S. The scholarship honors Hunt’s dedication to the field of architecture and architectural education.
After careful consideration of the highly competitive applications received, three applicants were selected to receive awards totaling $30,000:
Maliha Fairoz, a graduate of the A Philip Randolph Campus High School, will begin the Bachelor of Architecture program at Pratt Institute with $20,000 in tuition supporting her freshman and sophomore years.
Cinnya Chen, a graduate of Stuyvesant High School, will pursue the Bachelor of Architecture program at Carnegie Mellon University. She is a recipient of a $5,000 award in tuition toward her freshman year.
Daniel Kim, a graduate of Midwood High School at Brooklyn College, will begin the Bachelor of Architecture program at the University at Buffalo as a recipient of a $5,000 award in tuition toward his freshman year.
2030 Fund
The 2030 Fund provides student loan debt relief and licensure support for aspiring BIPOC architects pursuing licensure. The fund, created by 2021 AIANY President Kenneth A. Lewis, AIA, in collaboration with the New York Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (nycoba|NOMA), seeks to support NOMA’s 2030 Challenge, which aims to double the number of licensed Black architects by the end of the decade. In 2026, its fifth year, the 2030 Fund awarded $14,000 in loan forgiveness to six recipients.
Scholarships were awarded by the following 2026 Committees:
Scholarship Committee:
Benjamin Gilmartin, AIA, DS+R (co-chair)
Peter Robinson, Parsons School of Constructed Environments; Cornell University (co-chair)
Jennifer Sage, FAIA, LEED AP, Sage and Coombe Architects
Dan Burdzy, AIA, Henning Larsen
Sara Caples, AIA, Caples Jefferson Architects PC
Latoya Kamdang, AIA, Ennead
Sydney Maubert, Illinois Institute of Technology
Zoe Small, AIA, LEED AP, BD+C
Karen-Marie Stonely, AIA, LEED AP, SPAN Architecture
Richard Yancey, FAIA, LEED AP, NCARB, Building Energy Exchange Walter
A. Hunt, Jr. Committee:
Judy Hunt, wife of Walter Hunt
Keith Frome Rosen, AIA, Gensler
Madeline Burke-Vigeland, FAIA, LEED AP, NCARB, Gensler
Joshua Katz, AIA, Gensler
Ambrose Aliaga-Kelly, AIA, Gensler
Leslie J. Jabs, AIA, CDT, Gensler
2030 Fund Selection Committee:
Harpreet Dhaliwal, AIA, BKSK Architects
Keristen Edwards, Assoc. AIA, Black Spectacles | Spectacular Design
Mark Gardner, AIA, Jaklitsch / Gardner Architects
Benjamin Gilmartin, AIA, DS+R
Priyanka Jain, 3×3
Jesse Lazar, Assoc. AIA, Executive Director, AIA New York | Center for Architecture
Kenneth A. Lewis, AIA, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
About Center for Architecture Grants and Scholarships
The Center for Architecture, in partnership with AIANY, awards scholarships and grant awards throughout the year for architectural students, architectural student journals, and practicing architects. Scholarships are open to New York City, and grants are open to applicants nationwide.
To find out more about our upcoming deadlines, please visit: centerforarchitecture.org/scholarships-grants.