Faculty Areas of Expertise

CAPLA's innovative and award-winning faculty have a wide array of expertise as demonstrated in their research and practice.

View, filter and search faculty areas of expertise; click on the faculty member to learn more about their work and expertise:

Arlie Adkins

Arlie Adkins

Associate Professor of Urban Planning
Program Chair, MS Urban Planning Program
Areas of Expertise
  • Affordable housing
  • Health and safety disparities
  • Transportation
  • Walkability
Headshot of nataliya-apanovich

Nataliya Apanovich

Lecturer in Sustainable Built Environments
Areas of Expertise
  • Food systems
  • Intersection of food and energy security
  • The role of culture in people's livelihoods
Jonathan Bean

Jonathan Bean

Associate Professor of Architecture, Sustainable Built Environments and Marketing
Faculty Advisor, Master of Science in Architecture Sustainable Market Transformation Concentration
CUES Distinguished Fellow
Areas of Expertise
  • Building science and market transformation
  • Home and Homebuilding
  • Social Science
  • Taste and consumer culture theory
Sandra Bernal

Sandra Bernal Cordova

Lecturer
UArizona Hispanic Serving Institution Fellow
Areas of Expertise
  • Arid lands with emphasis in the built environment and health due to climate change
  • Cultural implications of sustainability
  • Environmental impacts of education
Brian Bidolli

Brian Bidolli

Lecturer in Real Estate Development and Urban Planning
Areas of Expertise
  • Business and finance
  • Real estate development
  • Smart cities
  • Transportation
Carina Bien-Willner

Carina Bien-Willner

Adjunct Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Architectural design
  • Furniture design
  • Product design
  • Professional architectural practice
David Brubaker

David Brubaker

Adjunct Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Architecture and design
  • Building science incorporating sustainable design
  • Energy modeling integration into design concepts
  • Innovation in healthy environments
Laura Carr

Laura Carr

Senior Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Culturally specific design
  • Integrated design
  • Performative design
  • Sustainable design
Kelly Cederberg

Kelly Cederberg

Adjunct Lecturer in Landscape Architecture
Pronouns:
she, her, hers
Areas of Expertise
  • Design thinking
  • Landscape design and site analysis
  • Parks and public spaces
  • Urban design
Nader Chalfoun

Nader Chalfoun

Professor Emeritus of Architecture and Environmental Sciences
Areas of Expertise
  • Building simulation and design
  • Energy code and compliance
  • Net-Zero environmental design
  • Outdoor thermal comfort
  • Urban heat island mitigation design

Gina Chorover

Senior Lecturer in Planning and Landscape Architecture
Chair, Heritage Conservation Certificate Program
Areas of Expertise
  • Cities and placemaking
  • Cultural and historic landscapes
  • Historic preservation documentation programs
  • History and sociology of public space
Zach Colbert

Zach Colbert

Lecturer in Architecture
Pronouns:
he, him, his
Areas of Expertise
  • Architecture
  • Climate futures
  • Equitable housing
  • Urban design
Jonathan Jae-an Crisman

Jonathan Jae-an Crisman

Affiliated Assistant Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning
Assistant Professor of Public and Applied Humanities
Areas of Expertise
  • Cultural policy
  • Participation
  • Placemaking
  • Urban design
Courtney Crosson

Courtney Crosson

Associate Professor of Architecture
Director, The Drachman Institute
MS.Arch Faculty Advisor, Urban Design Concentration
Areas of Expertise
  • Decentralized water and energy systems
  • Net zero, net positive and sustainable resource design and evaluation
  • Urban design
  • Urban infrastructure modeling and optimization
Kristina Currans Head shot

Kristina Currans

Associate Professor of Urban Planning
Vice Chair, Council of Faculty Members
Areas of Expertise
  • E-scooters
  • Land development
  • Off-street parking
  • Transportation
  • Transportation Impact Analyses/Studies
  • Travel Behavior
Kersu Dalal

Kersu Dalal

Lecturer in Sustainable Built Environments
Areas of Expertise
  • Campus planning
  • Mixed-use development
  • Regional planning
  • Urban design
Noémie Despland-Lichtert

Noémie Despland-Lichtert

Visiting Assistant Professor of Architecture
Emerging Faculty Fellow
Pronouns:
she, her, hers
Areas of Expertise
  • Curating
  • Public history
  • Critical theory
  • Archival research
Susannah Dickinson

Susannah Dickinson

Associate Professor of Architecture
Faculty Advisor, MS Arch Urban Design and Independent Concentrations
Biosphere 2 Faculty Innovative Teaching Fellow
Chair, Council of Faculty Members
Areas of Expertise
  • Contemporary architectural theory
  • Design studio
  • Digital design methodologies
  • Multiscalar biomimetics and complexity
Kirk Dimond

Kirk Dimond

Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Landscape grading and drainage
  • Landscape performance
  • Renewable energy landscapes
  • Site design and construction
Christopher Domin

Christopher Domin

Associate Professor of Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • (Meta)Physics of light
  • Critical practices in architecture
  • Environmentally adaptive systems
  • Regional architectural technology

Dennis Doxtater

Professor Emeritus of Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Cultural landscapes
  • History of ritual
  • Landscape patterns
  • Mapping

Erika Ebermann Vera

Global Lecturer in Sustainable Built Environments
Areas of Expertise
  • Historic preservation and restoration
  • Interior design
  • Retail development
  • Sustainable architecture
Altaf Engineer

Altaf Engineer

Associate Professor of Architecture
Chair, Master of Science in Architecture Program
Areas of Expertise
  • Daylighting
  • Health and wellbeing in the built environment
  • Indoor air quality
  • Occupant comfort
  • Social and behavioral issues
Maria Teresa Flores

Maria Teresa Flores

Adjunct Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Architectural lighting design
  • Architecture
  • Graphic representation in architecture and design
  • Interior design
Vera Gates

Vera Gates

Adjunct Lecturer in Landscape Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Landscape design
  • Professional practice
C. Kat Grimsley

C. Kat Grimsley

Adjunct Lecturer in Real Estate Development
Areas of Expertise
  • Global real estate development
  • Sustainable development and SDGs
  • International property law
  • Urban policy and planning
Eduardo Guerrero

Eduardo Guerrero

Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Urban Design
Areas of Expertise
  • Affordable housing
  • Architecture
  • Neighborhood redevelopment and planning
  • Urban design
Jay Habansky

Jay Habansky

Adjunct Lecturer in Real Estate Development
Areas of Expertise
  • Land use practice and law
  • Resiliency planning
  • Transit-oriented development
  • Urban and regional planning
Mary Hardin

Mary Hardin

University Distinguished Professor of Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Affordable housing design and delivery
  • Design-build pedagogy
  • Energy conservation strategies for affordable housing
  • Rammed earth construction
Laura Hollengreen

Laura Hollengreen

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Associate Director, School of Architecture
Associate Professor of Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Ancient and medieval architecture
  • History of ritual
  • History of urbanism
  • Theories of the visual

Joey Iuliano

Lecturer in Sustainable Built Environments
Areas of Expertise
  • Active transportation
  • Bicycle planning
  • Science and decision-making
  • Urban planning
Atticus Jaramillo

Atticus Jaramillo

Assistant Professor of Planning and Real Estate Development
Areas of Expertise
  • Housing policy
  • Community development planning

R. Brooks Jeffery

Professor Emeritus of Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Heritage conservation
  • History of built environments in Tucson and Southwest
  • Traditional earthen materials and construction systems
  • Vernacular architecture and cultural landscapes

Linus Kafka

Professor of Practice in Planning and Real Estate Law
Areas of Expertise
  • Historic preservation law and policy
  • Real estate law
  • Urban history
  • Zoning and local planning law
Claudia Kappl-Joy

Claudia Kappl-Joy

Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Applied science and advanced technology
  • Architectural lighting and interior design
  • Integrated design and coordination
  • Performance and wellbeing in the built environment
Ladd Keith

Ladd Keith

Assistant Professor of Planning and Sustainable Built Environments
Faculty Research Associate, Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy
Areas of Expertise
  • Climate action planning
  • Climate change
  • Extreme heat
  • Urban planning
Kenneth J. Kokroko

Kenneth J. Kokroko

Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture
Deans' Equity and Inclusion Initiative Fellow
Areas of Expertise
  • Community outreach and engagement
  • Community-based participatory planning and design
  • Design theories of landscape infrastructure
  • greenway and urban trail planning and design
Michael Kothke

Michael Kothke

Professor of Practice in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Architecture and design
  • Creative process
  • Digital and analog tools and representation
  • Environmentally adaptive systems
  • Innovations in architectural pedagogy
Paul Kraft

Paul Kraft

Adjunct Lecturer in Real Estate Development
Areas of Expertise
  • Return on investment analysis for real estate
  • Risk/loan underwriting of commercial real estate
  • Valuation of income properties
Daniel Kuhlmann

Daniel Kuhlmann

Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development and Planning
Areas of Expertise
  • Housing policy
  • Planning
  • Real estate development
Valerie Name

Valerie A. Lane

Senior Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Architectural structures and building technologies
  • Commercial and residential renovation
  • Health and the built environment
  • Multi-unit housing and mixed-use design
  • Urban infill development
Damon Leverett

Damon Leverett

Senior Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Equity, diversity and inclusion in the design arts
  • Healthcare facilities design and architecture
  • Higher education facilities design and architecture
  • Industrial and manufacturing facilities design and architecture
Daniel A. Linder

Daniel A. Linder

Lecturer in Real Estate Development
Areas of Expertise
  • Corporate finance and real estate
  • Digital transformation
  • Real estate development
  • Real estate investment

Margaret Livingston

Professor of Landscape Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Resilient landscapes for urban microclimates in arid environments
  • Urban wildlife habitat establishment and preservation
  • Water conserving practices in urban environments
Oscar Lopez

Oscar Lopez

Senior Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Light and shadow
  • Materiality
  • Narrative-based design
  • Phenomenology

Wendy Lotze

Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Pedestrian transportation
  • Recreational trails planning, design and construction
  • Sonoran region landscape connections
Bill Mackey

Bill Mackey

Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • 19th and 20th century housing
  • Design methodologies
  • Public space
  • Social and political construction of space

Álvaro Malo

Professor Emeritus of Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Desert land ethic (aesthetic research)
  • Emerging materials technology
  • Modeling (heuristics, instrumentality, rheology)
  • Tectonics (ideas/materials)
James Marian

James Brian Marian

Lecturer in Real Estate Development
Areas of Expertise
  • Commercial real estate sales and brokerage
  • Real estate development
  • Real estate finance and investment
  • Real estate industry ethics
  • Real estate valuation and analysis
Savannah McDonald

Savannah McDonald

Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Architectural design
  • BIM
  • Practice management
  • Site planning
Sarah Meggison

Sarah Meggison

Adjunct Lecturer in Urban Planning
Areas of Expertise
  • Development review
  • Project management
  • Public housing development
  • Urban and regional planning
Joel D. Mesik

Joel D. Mesik

Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Americans with Disabilities Act
  • Building codes
Robert Miller

Robert Miller

Professor Emeritus of Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Academic administration
  • Architectural theory
  • Design-build
  • Urban design
Arthur C. Nelson

Arthur C. Nelson

Professor Emeritus of Urban Planning and Real Estate Development
Areas of Expertise
  • Demographics and the built environment
  • Efficient development patterns
  • Transit-oriented development
  • Urban containment policies and outcomes
Seth Asare Okyere

Seth Asare Okyere

Visiting Assistant Professor of Urban Planning
CAPLA Emerging Faculty Fellow
Areas of Expertise
  • Community resilience planning
  • Equity in everyday urbanisms
  • Global south urbanisms
  • International development planning
Morgan Oster

Morgan Oster

Adjunct Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Design and graphic communication
Myles Peña

Myles Peña

Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Conceptual planning and application
  • Design communication
  • Construction and coordination
  • Professional practice
Robert Perkins

Robert Perkins

Senior Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Building technology
  • Construction documents
  • Parametric design methodologies
  • Sustainability

Gary Pivo

Professor of Real Estate Development and Urban Planning
Areas of Expertise
  • Sustainable Real Estate
  • Urban planning
  • urban water policy
Nancy Pollock-Ellwand

Nancy Pollock-Ellwand

Dean
Professor of Landscape Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Cultural landscapes
  • Heritage conservation
  • Landscape architecture
  • Urban reform history
Clare Robinson

Clare Robinson

Associate Professor of Architecture
MS Arch Faculty Advisor, Heritage Conservation Concentration
Inclusive Leadership Fellow
Areas of Expertise
  • Architectural design
  • Campus architecture
  • Heritage conservation
  • History and theory of modern architecture and urbanism
  • Urban design
Jesus Robles

Jesús Edmundo Robles Jr

Assistant Professor of Practice in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Craftsmanship of matter and space
  • Phenomenology, place and existential space
  • Professional design-build delivery
  • Sustainable material development (focus on earthen and concrete)
Teresa Rosano

Teresa Rosano

Assistant Professor of Practice in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Alternative building systems
  • Architectural practice management
  • Site planning
Erik Schmahl

Erik Schmahl

Lecturer in Landscape Architecture
Pronouns:
he, him, his
Areas of Expertise
  • Garden design
  • Psychogeography
  • Visual communication
Lisa Schrenk

Lisa Schrenk

Professor of Architectural History
Areas of Expertise
  • Architecture of Chicago
  • Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright
  • Design of international expositions
  • World architecture and heritage
Michael Silver

Michael Scott Silver

Assistant Professor of Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Advanced materials
  • Co-robotics
  • Design computation
  • Sustainable design
Garrett Smith

Garrett Smith

Lecturer in Sustainable Built Environments and Landscape Architecture
Interim Chair, Sustainable Built Environments Program
Areas of Expertise
  • Advanced statistics and research methods
  • Data science
  • Geospatial analysis
  • Recreation ecology
Ryan E. Smith

Ryan E. Smith

Director, School of Architecture
Professor of Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Affordable housing
  • Housing production
  • Knowledge management
  • Offsite construction
Esther Sternberg

Esther Sternberg

Professor of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Planning (Joint Appointment)
Professor of Medicine and Psychology
Inaugural Andrew Weil Chair for Research in Integrative Medicine
Founding Director, Institute on Place, Wellbeing and Performance
Research Director, Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine
Areas of Expertise
  • Design and health
  • Integrative medicine and health in the built and natural environments
  • Wearable and stationary devices
  • Wellbeing in the built environment
Philip Stoker

Philip Stoker

Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Planning
Areas of Expertise
  • Geographical information systems (GIS)
  • Inferential statistics
  • Rural and gateway community planning
  • Urban water sustainability
Shawn Swisher

Shawn Swisher

Adjunct Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Architecture and design
  • Digital fabrication
  • Methods of representation

Robert Vint

Assistant Professor of Practice in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Affordable infill housing design and development
  • Alternative low-carbon materials design and construction
  • Arid region urban design
  • Historic preservation and adaptive reuse
Sheehan Wachter

Sheehan Wachter

Senior Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Architectural representation
  • Computational design
  • Material, making and fabrication
Trevor

Trevor Watson

Adjunct Lecturer in Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Design communication
  • Fabrication
  • Material research
Eric D. Weber

Eric D. Weber

Associate Professor of Architecture
Areas of Expertise
  • Design-build pedagogy
  • Materials/tectonics as generators of architectural meaning
  • Phenomenology and architecture
  • Regionally responsive design
Beth Weinstein

Beth Weinstein

Associate Professor of Architecture
Program Chair, Object and Spatial Design emphasis areas, BA Design Arts & Practices (BA DAP)
University of Arizona Inclusive Leadership Fellow
Areas of Expertise
  • Architecture and design
  • Critical spatial practices
  • Performance and Choreography in/of Space
  • Public space
  • Sites of Internment
  • Spatial Politics
Kenny Wong

Kenny H. Wong

Lecturer in Sustainable Built Environments
Areas of Expertise
  • Affordable housing and housing policy
  • Design research
  • Engaged scholarship
  • Urban humanities
Bo Yang

Bo Yang

Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning
Associate Dean for Research
Areas of Expertise
  • Community planning and design
  • Green infrastructure
  • Landscape performance
  • Stormwater management
Omar Youssef

Omar Youssef

Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Sustainable Built Environments
MS Arch Faculty Advisor, Design and Energy Conservation Concentration
Areas of Expertise
  • Climate analysis
  • Design and energy conservation
  • Health and wellbeing
  • Technology integration (drones, VR, wearable devices)