ARCC King Student Medal Program

Selection of recipients is based upon criteria that acknowledge innovation, integrity and scholarship in architectural and/or environmental design research. At Carnegie Mellon Architecture, the award is granted to a graduating Ph.D. student each year.

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Named in honor of the late Jonathan King, co-founder and first president of the Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC), the ARCC King Student Medal Award is given to one (1) student per ARCC member college, school, institute or unit each year. 

The ARCC defines "architectural research" broadly and inclusively across a range of domains in support of advancing knowledge of the built environment.

Selection of recipients is at the discretion of the individual member institutions, but is based upon criteria that acknowledge innovation, integrity and scholarship in architectural and/or environmental design research. At Carnegie Mellon Architecture, the award is granted to a graduating Ph.D. student at the annual diploma ceremony.

• 2026: Suzy (Zekun) Li (PhD-BPD '25), Dissertation: "Evaluating Smart Neighborhood Surfaces: Environmental, Social, and Infrastructural Implications for Sustainable Urban Futures"
• 2025: Sanaz Saadatifar (PhD-AECM '24), Dissertation: "Occupant-Centric Digital-Twin: An interactive real-time display, influencing human perception factor in thermal satisfaction decisions"
• 2024: Tian Li (PhD-BPD '24), Dissertation: "AI-Driven Building Energy and Carbon Emissions Benchmarking at Multiple Scales"
• 2023: not awarded
• 2022: Colleen Duong (MSSD '22), Thesis: "Tactical Sedimentation of Architectural Reef System: Designing a hybrid feedback system to create a positive relationship between humans & marine nonhumans"