Archives: Faculties

Margaret Portillo

Margaret Portillo

Department of Interior Design
Professor
(352) 294-1406
ARCH 331C
mportill@ufl.edu

Ph.D.

In the College of Design, Construction and Planning, Margaret Portillo, Professor of Interior Design, is serving as Associate Dean for Research + Strategic Initiatives. As a researcher, she leverages mixed methods, to explore human-centered design innovation.  Recently, she was a co-recipient of an EDRA Research Excellence commendation on mixed-use learning zone spaces and typologies, a study, funded by ASID. This national award recognized the study’s translational significance and practice impact.  Currently, she is collaborating on a study examining design transformation within university library, part of a larger Association of College and Research Libraries initiative. Through books, articles, and essays as well as academic and industry-invited presentations, her work has been shared nationally and internationally.  Portillo also is committed to high impact scholarly service. For example, she chaired the CIDA standards development project that involved an extensive three-year process of exploring, evaluating, and testing societal influences that informed a major revision of international interior design accreditation standards.  Portillo served two as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Interior Design (2006-2015), published under the auspices of IDEC, successfully moving to a quarterly publication schedule and a revisioning of the journal’s focus, reach, and readership that appreciably elevated the journal’s ranking.

In addition to advising MID and PhD students, Portillo developed a course on design innovation and also has taught applied color theory and environment and behavior at the undergraduate level.  Portillo also created a graduate seminars on creativity seminar and has taught research methods.  She regularly participates in studio reviews and gives guest lectures. Representing design education, IIDA invited her to jury for the IIDA MidAmerica and InWards competitions, in Kansas City and Seattle respectively.

 

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Christopher Silver

Christopher Silver

Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Professor Emeritus
352-294-1435
silver2@ufl.edu

BA St. Lawrence University
MA and PhD University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
MURP Virginia Commonwealth University

Christopher Silver is Professor of Urban and Regional Planning who joined the faculty at UF in 2006 as Dean of the College of Design, Construction and Planning (until 2016).  He previously served as Head of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1998-2006) and as Professor of Planning and Associate Dean at Virginia Commonwealth University.  Silver has been a four-time Fulbright Senior Scholar at two Indonesian Universities, and in 2018 he was awarded an honorary professorship at the University of Indonesia in their Faculty of Engineering and another in 2019 at the Institute of Technology, Bandung in their School of Architecture, Planning and Policy Development.  He served as a consultant to Indonesia’s National Development Planning Board from 1995-1997 under their Regional Directorate.   Silver’s teaching and research draws upon his international engagement in planning and urban development since the 1980s, and shaped by his academic preparation in the fields of history and planning.  He received his Master and PhD degrees from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in History, with a particular focus on urban and planning history.  This was supplemented by courses in urban and regional planning at Chapel Hill that culminated in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1979.  He earned membership in the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and later was elevated to the rank of Fellow in the AICP.  He currently teaches courses in international city development and planning, including Cities of the World, Sustainable Urbanism in Europe, and International Development Planning.   This combination of planning and history is also reflected in Silver’s research, which includes 8 books (authored, co-authored and edited), 16 book chapters and 18 refereed articles.  His initial publications dealt with race, politics and planning in the United States, including Twentieth Century Richmond:  Planning, Politics and Race (1984) and (with John Moeser) The Separate City: Black Communities in Urban South, 1940-1968 (1995) and (with Mary Corbin Sies) Planning the Twentieth-Century American City (1995).  Teaching, consulting and researching in Indonesia led to Planning the Megacity:  Jakarta in the Twentieth Century (2008), (with Victoria Beard and Faranak Miraftab) Decentralization and Planning:  Contested Spaces for Public Action in the Global South (2008) and (with Andrea Frank) Urban Planning Education:  Beginnings, Global Movement and Future Prospects (2018).  His current publications focus on water management in Jakarta and the problems of flooding and inadequate water services in one of the world’s fastest sinking megacities. Silver is the Guest Editor of a special issue of the Journal of Regional and City Planning on Rapid Urbanization in Asia.  He is a past co-editor of the Journal of the American Planning Association and the founding editor of the Journal of Planning History.  He has served as president of the Society of American City Planning History, vice president and president of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, president of the Global Planning Education Association Network, and Executive Secretary of the International Planning History Society. 

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Franca Stocco

Franca Stocco

School of Architecture
Vicenza Institute of Architecture Administrative Director
fstocco@ufl.edu

Accounting Certificate, Vicenza Technical Commerical Institute, 1988
English Language Certification, Weybridge Brookland College, 1984
Diploma, Veneto Regional Institute, 1977
Diploma, University of Padua, 1975

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Ravi Srinivasan

Ravi Srinivasan

College of Design, Construction and Planning, M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management
Associate Dean for Research and Strategic Initiatives, Professor
(352) 273-1164
ARCH 331C
sravi@ufl.edu
https://urbsys.org/

Ph.D. in Architecture (Building Technology), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
MS in Architecture (Building Technology), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
MS in Civil Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

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Areas of Focus:
Sustainability (Building Energy, Building Materials, Built Environment Resilience, Renewable Energy, Smart Buildings/Cities, Sustainable Architecture and Design, Sustainable Construction,, Sustainable Technology)
Developing dynamic sustainability information modeling (dSIM) platform; more info is available here: https://built-ecologist.com/2019/05/11/dynamic-sustainability-information-modeling-d-sim-for-smart-cities/

Bio:

Dr. Ravi Shankar Srinivasan, Rinker School Full Professor hold a M.S. degree in Civil Engineering from University of Florida; and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Architecture (Building Technology) from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM), LEED Accredited Professional, Green Globes Professional (GGP), Certified U.S. Institute of Building Documentation (USIBD) Level of Accuracy v3.0., and FAA Certified Remote (Drone) Pilot. He is the Director of UrbSys (Urban Building Energy, Sensing, Controls, Big Data Analysis, and Visualization) Lab at the Rinker School, DCP. He is an external faculty collaborator with the Center for Environmental Building & Design at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design; and a faculty collaborator with UF Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases.

Dr. Srinivasan has served as PI and Co-PI on projects funded by external sponsored agencies including National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD), U.S. Veteran Affairs (VA), National Research Council (NRC) of Canada, Diakin Open Innovation Lab in the Silicon Valley, Nesta Enterprises UK, and other private companies. He has published one book as a lead author titled, “The Hierarchy of Energy in Architecture: Emergy Analysis,” Routledge and co-edited a book titled, “Smart Cities: Foundations, Principles, and Applications,” John Wiley & Sons. His research has been disseminated as high-quality technical articles that have gained several citations, Google Scholar. He holds eight patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Dr. Srinivasan has advised undergraduate honors theses, chaired ten masters’ theses and seven Ph.D. dissertations. His Ph.D. students were successfully employed in the industry including NVIDIA and academia. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses including Building Energy Modeling. Currently, he serves on the board of directors at the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) and chairs the handbook subcommittee (Technical Committee 4.5) for the American Society for Heating, Refrigeration and Air conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Handbook of Fundamentals.

 

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Ruth L. Steiner

Ruth L. Steiner

Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Professor and Director, Center for Health and the Built Environment
(352) 294-1492
ARCH 458
rsteiner@dcp.ufl.edu
https://dcp.ufl.edu/urp/centers-opportunities/center-for-health-and-the-built-environment/

Ph.D., City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley, California, 1996
M.C.P., Community Planning, University of California, Berkeley, California, 1988
M.B.A., Business Administration, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1982
A.B., History, Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin, 1979

Areas of Focus: Sustainability (Built Environment Resilience, Renewable Energy, Smart Buildings/Cities) Her research focuses on the coordination of transportation and land use, with a particular focus on planning for sustainable modes of transportation, and its impact on communities, the environment, and public health. Her current research is on the impact of school siting, school transportation and land development patterns on children’s travel, transportation and aging, the changing pattern of travel among millennials, impacts of new transportation technologies on transportation systems, parking supply and demand management, equity in planning, and the incorporation of risk into long-range transportation planning Bio: Ruth L. Steiner, Ph.D. is a professor and director of the Center for Health and the Built Environment in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and an affiliate faculty in the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) and the Transportation Institute (UFTI) at the University of Florida.   Her research focuses on the coordination of transportation and land use, with a particular focus on planning for all modes of transportation and its impact on communities, the environment, and public health.  Her current research is on the impact of school siting, school transportation and land development patterns on children’s travel, transportation and aging, the changing pattern of travel among millennials, impacts of new transportation technologies on transportation systems, equity in planning, and the incorporation of risk into long-range transportation planning.  She is co-author of Energy Efficiency and Human Activity: Global Trends and Prospects (Cambridge University Press, 1992) and author of over one hundred book chapters, journal articles, reviews and research reports.  She has served on the Pedestrian Committee, Transportation and Land Development Committee and Transportation History Committee of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the Scientific Committee of the World Congress on Transportation Research Society (WCTRS). She teaches courses in Transportation Policy and Planning (URP6716), Transportation and Land Use Coordination (URP6711), Planning Research Design (URP6203), Health and the Built Environment (URP6526), Urban Planning Project (URP6341) and Ecological Issues in Sustainable Design (DCP6205). After earning her AB in History from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, Ruth worked as a computer programmer and systems analyst for First Wisconsin Bank (now a part of US Bank).  During this time she earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.  She later earned a Masters of City Planning (MCP) from the University of California, Berkeley.  She then worked for two years as a policy analyst for the Vermont Public Service Board (now the Vermont Public Utility Commission).  She returned to the University of California, Berkeley, where she completed her Ph. D. in City and Regional Planning.

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James G. Sullivan

James G. Sullivan

M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management
Director of Undergraduate Program
// Assistant Professor
352-273-1154
RINKER 307
sullj@ufl.edu

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Florida, 2007
Master of Building Construction, 2001
Master of the Arts in Mass Communications, 1990
Bachelor of Science in Advertising, 1988

Areas of Focus:
Sustainability (Building Energy, Built Environment Resilience, Smart Buildings/Cities, Sustainable Construction)
Focus on LEED and GBCI accreditation training and building certification. Emphasis on whole building design and cost alternatives.

Bio:
Dr. James Sullivan is the Charles R. Perry Sr. Lecturer and Program Director at the M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Building Construction at the University of Florida.  Dr. Sullivan’s research interests includes sustainable high-performance design and construction of the built environment, labor productivity, schedule adherence best practices, Lean processes and professional development. Dr. Sullivan has received the several teaching and service honors including the Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) National Excellence Teaching Award (2011), ASC Regional Excellence Teaching Award, the College of Design, Construction and Planning Teacher of the Year Award, and the College of Design, Construction and Planning Outstanding Service Award. He also serves as the ASC Region 2 Director and on several advisory boards relating to worker training and education. Dr. Sullivan has also facilitated the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) Build Your Future Florida web portal that provides access to careers in construction.

Dr. Sullivan received a Bachelors of Science Degree, a Master of Arts in Mass Communication, a Masters in Building Construction, and a Doctor of Philosophy all from the University of Florida.  His professional experience includes being an Operations Director for CPPI with a focus on Healthcare projects, a Project Manager for Clark Construction, and an Owner’s Representative for Hines Real Estate Development.

Dr. Sullivan’s teaching focus is focused on field and management career readiness.  He has taught a variety of courses with most current focus on field communication and techniques as well as pre-professional project management courses.  He also provides leadership with regard to student groups and competition teams.  He has worked with teams with focuses on sustainability, concrete, risk, and commercial projects.

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Emre Tepe

Emre Tepe

Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Assistant Professor
352-294-1487
ARCH 444
emretepe@ufl.edu
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Emre Tepe, Ph.D. has joined the University of Florida School of Landscape Architecture and Planning for the Fall 2019 semester as an Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning. Dr. Tepe works on modeling spatio-temporal dynamics of land development. He also builds statistical software and applications for large-scale data processing. His primary academic interests include Spatial Econometrics, Urban Simulation, Spatial Statistics & Analysis, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Optimization, Urban Economics, and Software Development.

After graduated from Istanbul Technical University with a bachelor’s degree in urban and regional planning and a master’s degree in urban planning. He was awarded a Fulbright Doctoral Scholarship to study at the Ohio State University and he earned his PhD in City and Regional Planning from the Ohio State University. He was also received Patricia Burgess Award for the Best Dissertation upon completion of his doctoral study.

Prior to beginning his position at the University of Florida, he worked as Assistant Professor at Gebze Technical University for almost 2 years, and as Adjunct Faculty in Kadir Has and Cankaya Universities for about a year in Turkey. He has taught courses on statistics, quantitative methods, urban economy, housing and planning practices. Currently, he teaches Quantitative Data Analysis for Planners, Urban Spatial Analysis, Urban Economy and Urban Planning Project courses in the Urban and Regional Planning graduate programs at UF.

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Kevin Thompson

Kevin Thompson

Department of Landscape Architecture
Associate Professor
352-294-1447
ARCH 452
gday@ufl.edu

• Master of Landscape Architecture, The Pennsylvania State University, 2005
• Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture, The Pennsylvania State University, 1990

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Areas of Focus: Design Learning Design Learning, Cultural Landscapes, Community Engagement, Cross-Cultural Experiences, Community Service and Applied Learning

Bio: Kevin is a design instructor, placemaker and educator who has served on the faculty in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Florida since 2007.  He teaches across a broad range of subjects including urban design, site planning, design research, cultural landscapes, implementation and community engagement.  He has also taught at Penn State, Washington State University and on the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Planning at the Institut Teknologi Sepuleh Nopember Surabaya, Jawa Timor Indonesia.  He served the department as Graduate and PhD Coordinator from 2009 to 2017.

His teaching and research draws from a decade and a half of experience in international private practice completed in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and SE Asia.  From 2006 – 2015, he directed international field schools focused on cultural landscapes and community engagement for students in architecture, planning and landscape architecture in Viet Nam, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Bali and Timor Jawa, Indonesia.  He was awarded an AMINEF Fulbright Senior Scholar award for his work on cultural landscapes and community engagement in the subak landscapes of Bali and an Australian-American Fulbright Commission award for his work on urban park connectors in Singapore. He continues his Fulbright involvement as an active member of UF’s Fulbright Committee and as President of the Fulbright Association North Florida Chapter.

Kevin’s teaching and research centers on culturally-attuned placemaking and design with projects including neighborhood revitalization for rural communities and urban redevelopment plans for cities throughout Florida.  He has worked with students on projects mapping the heritage significance of cultural landscapes in Bali while serving as External Advisor on UNESCO’s Governing Assembly, Indonesia. His current work focuses on community placemaking in Florida communities. Kevin hold a Bachelor’s of Science (BSLA) and a Masters in Landscape Architecture (MLA) from the Pennsylvania State University and is licensed by the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA).

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