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SOM Foundation
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Current Fellows

Since 1981, the SOM Foundation has supported the work of more than 350 emerging architects, landscape architects, interior architects, urban designers, and engineers. Below are the most recent recipients of the SOM Foundation's awards. A comprehensive list of all past fellows can be found here.

2025 China Fellowship

Somf 2025 china fellowship hao chang proposal 01
Somf 2025 china fellowship hao chang proposal 07

Rising Tides, Resilient Lives: Reimagining Vulnerable Communities in the River Deltas of Kampung Melayu, Jakarta

This research explores strategies to mitigate urbanization’s impacts in flood-prone areas, focusing on Kampung Melayu, Jakarta. It proposes a community center and modular, water-resilient shelters to address population density, social and economic vulnerabilities, flood resilience, and water security, aiming for holistic community development balancing environmental, social, and economic needs.

Hao Chang
Tsinghua University School of Architecture

Somf 2025 china fellowship lu ming proposal 01
Somf 2025 china fellowship lu ming proposal 05

Reconstructing the Power Order of the “Human-Water Relationship” Along China’s Grand Canal

Using the Grand Canal in China as the research subject, this study proposes a theoretical framework of “resilient water rights.” Through multi-scale institutional design, intelligent water network technology, and an ecological-social coordination mechanism, it explores innovative paths to resolve the contradictions in water rights allocation and enhance the sustainable resilience of the river basin. It provides a Chinese example for the governance of the global water crisis.

Lu Ming
Soochow University School of Architecture

Somf 2025 china fellowship zhang nan proposal 01

Four Dimensions of Water Security: Availability, Accessibility, Resilience, and Sustainability

This proposal analyzes water security through four dimensions—availability, accessibility, resilience, and sustainability—examining challenges and strategies in East/Southeast Asia and Australia. It integrates the UN’s sixth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6) (ensuring access to clean water and sanitation for all) with case studies in order to develop a cross-disciplinary evaluation toolkit for policymakers and designers.

Zhang Nan
Southeast University School of Architecture

2025 Researcher-in-Residence

Somf 2025 researcher in residence pablo castillo luna proposal 02
Somf 2025 researcher in residence pablo castillo luna proposal 01

A Permeable Atlas

Through a series of mappings, “A Permeable Atlas” will explore the circulations of water through buildings, landscapes, and bodies, tracing how hydrological infrastructures—past and present—might inform architecture’s response to contemporary climatic instability.

Pablo Castillo Luna
Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning

2025 Structural Engineering Fellowship

Somf 2025 structural engineering rebecca henig proposal 01
Somf 2025 structural engineering rebecca henig proposal 02

Reef Resilience: Designing Modular Solutions for Coastal Protection

During her fellowship, Rebecca Henig will reimagine structural solutions to enhance threatened coral reefs, ultimately serving to aid coastal protection and marine ecosystem vitality.

Rebecca Henig
University of Southern California Viterbi Sonny Astani Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

2024 Research Prize

Somf 2024 research prize frolet maxcy brown mcglohn proposal 01
Somf 2024 research prize frolet maxcy brown mcglohn proposal 02

Imaging Underground: Illustrating Wastewater Challenges and Opportunities to Inform and Empower Alabama’s Black Belt Communities

“Imaging Underground” will produce a Wastewater Design Manual for stakeholders and municipalities in the Black Belt. It will include three components: a history of regional wastewater practices, an explanation of cluster system functions, and suggested tools to give communities control over design decision-making during the economic development driven by new wastewater systems.

Aurélie Frolet
Auburn University School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture

Emily McGlohn
Auburn University School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture

Jillian Maxcy-Brown
Auburn University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Somf 2024 research prize yang yoos rockcastle altheimer cummings carlson cummings proposal 01
Somf 2024 research prize yang yoos rockcastle altheimer cummings carlson cummings proposal 04

Soft-Urban Riverfront: A New Paradigm for Headwater Metropolises

Pig’s Eye Lake at the Mississippi River in St. Paul, a site of historical pollution with significant Indigenous heritage and ecological importance, will serve as a catalyst project of the “Soft-Urban Riverfront: A New Paradigm for Headwater Metropolises” studio. Through a cross-disciplinary and cross-scalar approach, the studio will work with ecologists, scientists, historians, policymakers, and community stakeholders to create design strategies that enhance biodiversity, public health, and cultural awareness.

Dingliang Yang
University of Minnesota The Schools of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Interior Design (ALI)

Jennifer Yoos
University of Minnesota The Schools of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Interior Design (ALI)

Maura Rockcastle
University of Minnesota The Schools of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Interior Design (ALI)

Ross Altheimer
University of Minnesota The Schools of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Interior Design (ALI)

Roger Cummings
University of Minnesota The Schools of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Interior Design (ALI)

Daniel Carlson
University of Minnesota The Schools of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Interior Design (ALI)

Changó Cummings
University of Minnesota The Schools of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Interior Design (ALI)

2024 European Research Prize

Somf 2024 european research prize larkin mcfadden proposal 01
Somf 2024 european research prize larkin mcfadden proposal 02

Coastal Register: Research and Design of Nature-based Solutions for Wetland Water Security

“Coastal Register” aims to lay the foundation for efforts to protect and restore coastal wetlands along the western seaboard in County Mayo. This project asks the research question: How can architectural methods and interdisciplinary collaboration support the implementation of nature-based solutions for water security?

Steve Larkin
Technological University Dublin School of Architecture Building and Environment

Helen McFadden
Technological University Dublin School of Architecture Building and Environment

2024 Robert L. Wesley Award

Somf 2024 robert l wesley award ferras coulibaly 01

Ferras Coulibaly

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Architecture

Somf 2024 robert l wesley award erin kurtycz 05
Somf 2024 robert l wesley award erin kurtycz 03

Erin Kurtycz

University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

Somf 2024 robert l wesley award beni lawson 01

Beni Lawson

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign School of Architecture

Somf 2024 robert l wesley award salma rodriguez 06
Somf 2024 robert l wesley award salma rodriguez 05

Salma Rodriguez

Texas Tech University Huckabee College of Architecture

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