Hadley Beacham

Hadley is a Harlem-based artist and educator with a deep commitment to arts education. She has worked in arts education for over 13 years, teaching at institutions including Friends of the High Line, the Intrepid Museum, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. She was previously a full-time staff member in the Center for Architecture’s K–12 Education Department and is now a longstanding teaching artist, leading After-School, Family, Vacation, and Summer Programs. She holds a master’s degree in art history from Sotheby’s Institute of Art.

Jessica Castillo

Jessica has been a freelance Design Educator at the Center for Architecture since 2013. She previously worked as a Senior Explainer at the New York Hall of Science for 8 years, where she managed educational experiences for exhibition visitors. Jessica received her Master’s Degree in Historic Preservation from Pratt Institute, where she wrote her thesis on the relationship between historic house museums and their local communities. She earned her Bachelor of Technology in Architectural Technology from the New York City College of Technology, CUNY.

Lisa Christopher

Lisa Christopher is a design educator with CFA, teaching architecture programs in NYC elementary schools. She studied architecture at Carnegie Mellon and has worked at Gensler for over 15 years on sustainability, workplace, media, base building and residential projects. Lisa enjoys teaching youth as well as traveling and eating yummy food with her own 3 kiddos!

Kelvin Hu

Kelvin is a Master of Architecture II candidate at Harvard GSD and holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Pratt Institute. He first joined the Center for Architecture in 2022 as an education program volunteer and has taught the middle school Digital Design program, high school Architecture Design Studios, and Design Discovery courses. Previously, he worked in the Store Development department at Giorgio Armani and at Risland US, the developer of Skyline Tower in Long Island City. He co-founded Fiveighten, an experimental design practice whose work has been shown at the Center for Architecture and the Siegel Gallery at Pratt.

Kayla Montes de Oca

Kayla Montes de Oca is a design researcher and educator from Miami, Florida, based in New York City. Her research examines how policy and design shape communities over time, focusing on how individuals sustain tradition, build legacy, and navigate the power of place in collective memory and identity. Kayla is currently an Associate Professor at The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union. She has a background in architecture with a Bachelor’s in Architecture from The Cooper Union and a Master’s in Design Studies from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

Justin Morris-Marano

Justin Morris-Marano is the co-director of External Affairs, a New York-based strategy and design agency working to turn science into technology. Throughout his career, Justin has developed and facilitated immersive learning programs that seek to empower youth with actionable tools for community change making. He is particularly interested in developing tools and processes that allow youth to be seriously considered as critical decision makers in shaping urban ecology and its collision with the built environment. Justin holds a degree in Industrial Design with a concentration in innovation design and digitally mediated making.

Noah Shipley

Noah is an artist, designer, and educator based in Brooklyn. He has taught visual art to students of all ages in high school and camp settings, developing original curricula in drawing, painting, printmaking, and architecture. Before teaching, he worked as an Associate Designer at MESH Architectures. In addition to teaching at CFA, Noah is a freelance designer and avid forager. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BArch & BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Howard Stern

Howard has been a freelance Design Educator with the Center for Architecture since 1997, helping to develop the program’s hands-on, inquiry-based approach to design education. He currently teaches in our Learning By Design:NY, Summer, Vacation, and After-School programs, specializing in digital design programs for middle and high school students, as well as design-build projects where students develop and implement improvements to their school environment. He previously taught architecture classes for youth at the Abrons Arts Center and the Queens Museum of Art. Howard is a licensed architect with over 18 years of experience as a practicing architect with a focus on affordable housing and institutional buildings. He has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the New York Institute of Technology.

Kaitlyn Stubbs

Kaitlyn is a Brooklyn-based artist and educator with 15 years of experience teaching art and design. She has worked with diverse audiences of all ages and abilities at institutions including MoMA, MFA Boston, SUNY Purchase, and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, recently joining the Center for Architecture team in 2024. Kaitlyn holds a BFA from the University of Georgia and an MFA from the New York Academy of Art.

Kimberly Tate

Kimberly is a multi-disciplinary artist, designer and educator based in Brooklyn, who joined the Center for Architecture in 2017. In addition to teaching with the Center for Architecture, she is also a Part-time Assistant Professor at Parsons the New School for Design. In practice, she has been a project manager and designer at CDR Studio Architects, Formactiv Architecture Design and Technology, and Arch Productions & Design, working on retail, residential, public interest and custom design fabrication projects at various scales and phases from schematic design to construction/installation. As part of the Empowerhouse Collaborative, she developed, built and exhibited a solar-powered home built to Passive House standards for the 2011 Solar Decathlon, which placed first in Affordability. Kimberly earned her Master's in Architecture with honors from Parsons School of Design.

Natalia Wang

Natalia is an artist and educator who recently joined the Center for Architecture’s K-12 Education team. With a background in art history and studio art from Northwestern University, Natalia brings experience teaching youth in museums across New York City. Natalia is passionate about developing hands-on programs that empower students to creatively and critically explore architecture and the built environment through projects connected to their own lives. Outside of the classroom, Natalia enjoys knitting and surfing at the Rockaways