Archives: Faculties

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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Shabboo Valipoor

Shabboo Valipoor

Department of Interior Design
Assistant Professor
352-294-1451
ARCH 350
sh.valipoor@ufl.edu

Ph.D., Environmental Design, Texas Tech University, TX, 2016
M.A., Art and Design, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia, 2012
B.A., Industrial Design, Art University of Tehran, Iran, 2002

Shabboo Valipoor, Ph.D., EDAC, is an assistant professor of Interior Design at the College of Design, Construction and Planning. The focus of her research is on the impact of the built environment on human health and safety, particularly in the context of healthcare facilities and environments for aging and disabilities. She is currently working on projects that aim to (1) improve the quality of care in acute care settings by providing supportive environments for healthcare professionals and (2) minimize environmental risks to independent living for older adults with age-associated impairments. She has collaborated with scholars across disciplines on projects supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Science Foundation, Academy of Architecture for Health, and the American Society of Interior Designers. Her current teaching focuses on inclusive design in the built environment, healthcare design, and computer applications.

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Michael Volk

Michael Volk

Department of Landscape Architecture, Center for Landscape Conservation Planning
Research Associate Professor
352-294-1444
ARCH 438
mikevolk@ufl.edu

• Master of Landscape Architecture, University of Florida, 2008
• Bachelor of Architecture, Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, 2005

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Areas of Focus: Sustainability (Built Environment Resilience) My work is focused on a variety of topics related to climate change and resilient design, including regional conservation planning as the Associate Director of the Center for Landscape Conservation Planning (http://conservation.dcp.ufl.edu/), community resiliency as a partner with Florida Resilient Cities (https://dcp.ufl.edu/frc/), and as a founding member of the Climate-wise Landscape Initiative (https://dcp.ufl.edu/landscapechange/) focused on providing actionable climate change information for landscape architects and educators. Bio: Michael Volk is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture, Associate Director of the University of Florida Center for Landscape Conservation Planning, and a Florida registered Landscape Architect (currently inactive). He has a Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Florida and a degree in Architecture from the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. Michael currently teaches courses in planting design, landscape management and ecology, environmental and ecological policy, and ecological issues and sustainability in collaboration with faculty in the Departments of Landscape Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning. Michael’s work with the Center for Landscape Conservation Planning (http://conservation.dcp.ufl.edu/) includes applied research with conservation partners throughout Florida on land use, regional conservation planning, and urban green infrastructure; the impacts of sea level rise on natural resources and coastal communities; and climate change adaptation strategies and information needs for landscape architecture students and professionals (https://dcp.ufl.edu/landscapechange/). Michael is also a partner with Florida Resilient Cities (https://dcp.ufl.edu/frc/), an initiative which works with communities across Florida to be more prepared for and resilient to increased risk and future changes.

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Jason von Meding

Jason von Meding

M.E Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management, Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (FIBER)
Associate Professor
352-294-3374
AYERS BUILDING Suite 105
jason.vonmeding@ufl.edu

Ph.D. Construction (Disaster) Management, BArch, BSc Architecture – All Queen’s University Belfast, UK

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Areas of Focus:
Sustainability (Built Environment Resilience)

Research:
My research focuses on the injustices and inequalities that are foundational to our social system, and how disasters unveil society and show us what needs to change. At its core, my intellectual pursuits are interrogating what a sustainable social/political/economic future would look like, and demonstrating that we are not on such a pathway.

Bio:
Dr. Jason von Meding is an Associate Professor in Rinker School and a founding faculty member of the Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (FIBER). He is a researcher, educator and communicator in disaster studies who joined the University of Florida in 2019. His research is primarily community-centered and highly participatory, focusing on how injustice and inequality are the fundamental drivers of risk in society, and therefore shape disaster impacts.

Before moving to the U.S. he spent 6 years at the University of Newcastle, Australia, where he established the Disaster and Development Research Group and was recognized as Researcher of the Year at the institution level in 2017. His PhD was conferred by the Queen’s University of Belfast in Northern Ireland, where he also spent 3 years on faculty from 2010-2013 and before that trained as an architect in the early 2000s.

Jason has taught students around the world about disasters for over a decade – from the societal root causes of risk to post-disaster professional practice. At the University of Florida, he delivers courses about the history of shelter, housing and sustainable construction. He is Coordinator of CIB Working Commission 120- Disasters and the Built Environment and is a popular speaker in the disaster studies field. As part of his focus on public facing science communication, he is co-host of the Disasters: Deconstructed Podcast and tweets @vonmeding.

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Bradley Walters

Bradley Walters

School of Architecture
Associate Director of Graduate Programs + Edward M. Fearney Endowed Associate Professor
352-294-1462
ARCH 236
bradley.walters@ufl.edu

Bachelor of Design in Architecture, Summa Cum Laude (University of Florida, 1995)
Master of Architecture (Princeton University, 1999)

Areas of Focus:
Sustainability (Building Energy, Building Materials, Built Environment Resilience, Renewable Energy, Smart Buildings/Cities, Sustainable Architecture and Design, Sustainable Construction, Sustainable Technology,)

Bio:
Mr. Walters teaches studio design, drawing, materials coursework, and architectural detailing. His current research is centered on high-performance zero-energy buildings, within a broader context of social, artistic, and cultural production. This work engages building science, thermal/energy modeling, climatic responses, and materiality. Secondary areas of research include teaching methods, pedagogy, and visual communications.

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Russell C. Walters

Russell C. Walters

M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management
William G. and Aneice R. Lassiter Instructional Assistant Professor
352-273-1173
RINKER 344
rwalters@ufl.edu

BS Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois, 1987;
MS Electrical Engineering, University of Florida, 1988;
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, University of Florida, 1993

SPECIAL FIELDS: Construction Information Technology, Alternative Energy Systems, Construction Constract Administration, Emerging Issues in Construction Management EMPLOYERS: Assistant Professor, Iowa State University; Project Manager, J.M. Walters & SonMEMBER: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Transportation Research Board (TRB)

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Albertus Wang

Albertus Wang

School of Architecture, CityLab-Orlando
Instructional Associate Professor
352-281-7610
CLO 514
aslwang@ufl.edu

Core Studios
Advanced Graduate Design Studios
Adaptive Reuse; History and Methodology
Sacred Space; Religions and Spirituality in Architecture Design

Albertus teaches graduate design studios and seminars. He has supervised students pursuing doctoral  and master’s degrees. Albertus has worked on a wide range of built projects in the US and abroad over the past twenty-two years. His designs have received international and AIA awards, and have been published in international  design magazines and publications, including a critique by Dr. Hui Zou on his article,  “Translation, Communication and Crossed-Cultural Poetic Architecture” (New Architecture, p 34, n 127, June 2009, China); an article in a book by Amir Sidharta, “t house” (p 202, 25 Tropical Houses, Periplus Publisher, 2008, Singapore); his public lectures and interviews in the US and abroad. His paper, “The Distribution of Powers in Post-Colonial Batavia/Jakarta”, on the topic of post-colonialism and orientalism, presented at the First International Symposium on Pacific  Architecture at the University of Manoa (1995), resonates into his later work, addressing some critical East-West dialogue in urban design and architecture. His latest paper on adaptive reuse, “(In) Between Old and New, Resurrect Revise Reuse of Old Buildings”, delivered as a keynote presenter at 2017 New Architecture Forum, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, was published in New Architecture No. 183, February 2019. Albertus received his Bachelor of Design in Architecture from UF (1990) and his Master of Architecture from Harvard (1995). He returned to UF in 2007 where he became involved in co-coordinating UF Hong Kong/China Program (2008-2009) and co-directing UF East Asia Program (2010-2015). Since 2015, Albertus has been participating in several summer design studio collaborations, lecture series, seminars and exhibitions in Venice (Italy), Athens (Greece) and Wuhan (China). Albertus is a guest editor for New Architecture Magazine (2020-2023) and a peer reviewer for the 2021 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture & European Association for Architectural Education Teachers Conference/Curriculum for Climate Agency, Design (in)Action.

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Yan Wang

Yan Wang

Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (FIBER)
Assistant Professor
(352) 294-3376
ARCH 456
yanw@ufl.edu
http://www.complexresilientcities.com/

Ph.D. Civil Engineering, Virginia Tech
Master of Accounting, Asset Valuation, Beijing Jiaotong University
Bachelor of Management, Construction Engineering and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University

Areas of Focus:  Sustainability (Built Environment Resilience, Smart Buildings/Cities) building sustainability through resilient built environment research and better infrastructure planning for emerging technologies to reduce GHG emission.

Bio: Dr. Wang’s research concerns resilient, smart, and safe cities. She studies the resilience of humans and the built environment to natural hazards and public health crises. She also develops data-driven intelligent system to enable agility in disaster and emergency response, and to detect small-scale crises for urban safety. Her research also engages evidence-based planning for urban resilience and data-informed infrastructure planning for future cities. Dr. Wang’s expertise includes multimodal data analytics (including natural language processing and computer vision), complex network analysis, spatiotemporal analyses, and real-time geo-visualization. Her interdisciplinary projects have been funded by the National Science Foundation (Awards #2028012, #1951816, #1760645), Natural Hazards Center, DCP Research Initiative SEED Grant and Global Fellow Program Seed Grant.

Research Topics

Urban Resilience

Urban Analytics

Climate Adaptation

Crisis Informatics

Human Dynamics

Smart Environment

Affiliations

Founding Faculty, Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (FIBER)

Founder, Urban Agility and Resilience Laboratory

Affiliate Faculty, UF Informatics Institute

Affiliate Faculty, UF Transportation Institute

Affiliate Faculty, Warren B. Nelms Institute for the Connected World

Awards

University of Florida Excellence Awards for Assistant Professors (2022)

ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering Honorable Mention Award (2021)

University of Florida Research Promotion Initiative Award (2021)

Excellence in Research Award, College of Design, Construction and Planning (2021)

Great Teaching Certificate, UF Center for Teaching Excellence (2021)

Weather Ready Research Fellowships, Natural Hazard Center (NSF &NOAA) (2021)

Mitigation Matters Award, Natural Hazard Center, 2020

Global Research Fellow, by University of Florida, November 8, 2018

Virginia Tech IGEP BioBuild Fellowship, by Virginia Tech, Aug. 2015 – May 2018

Publications

Google Scholar

ResearchGate

Selected Grants

2023-2026 Co-PI: Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Medium: Information Integrity: A User-centric Intervention
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (Award #2323794)
Program: CNS-Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace

2023-2026 PI: Spatial Explanation and Planning for Resilience of Community-Based Small Businesses to Environmental Shocks
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (Award #2316450)
Program: CMMI-HDBE-Humans, Disasters, and the Built Environment

2022-2023 Faculty: GulfSouth Studio
Sponsor: The National Academy of Sciences Engineering and Medicine

2021-2022 PI: SCC-PG: SmartCurb: Building Smart Urban Curb Environments
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (Award #2124858)
Program: Smart and Connected Communities – Planning Grants

2020-2021 PI: RAPID: Dynamic Interactions between Human and Information in Complex Online Environments Responding to SARS-COV-2.
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (Award #2028012)
Program: CMMI-Humans, Disasters and Built Environment

2020-2021 Co-PI: SCC-PG: Coordinated Safety Management Across Smart Communities
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (Award #1951816)
Program: Smart and Connected Communities – Planning Grants

2018-2019 PI (Sub award): RAPID: Discovering Crises within Crises – Real-Time Detection, Tracking and Visualization of Emergent Crises in Hurricanes.
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (Award #1760645)
Program: CISE-Information & Intelligent Systems

2021-2022 PI: Weather Ready Research Fellowship: Assessing the Impact of Geo-Targeted Warning Messages on Residents Evacuation Decisions Before a Hurricane
Sponsor: Natural Hazards Center (flow from NSF and NOAA)

2021-2021 Key Personnel: Upper Suwannee River Resilience Columbia County and The Town of White Springs
Sponsor: Florida Department of Economic Opportunity

2021 PI: Assessing Disaster Impact in Real Time (ADIR): A Data-Driven System Integrating Human, Hazards, and the Built Environment
Sponsor: UF Office of the Provost-Research Promotion Initiative Award

2020-2021 PI: Examining Digital Vulnerability to Flooding Among Subsidized Housing Residents in Florida.
Sponsor: Natural Hazards Center-Mitigation Matters Research Program.

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Andrew Wehle

Andrew Wehle

M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management
Instructional Assistant Professor
352-294-0527
wehleaj@ufl.edu

Ph.D. Construction Management, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Master’s of Cultural Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Bachelor’s of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

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Hui Zou

Hui Zou

School of Architecture
Professor
352-294-1470
ARCH 134
hzou@ufl.edu

PhD in Architectural History & Theory, McGill University, 2005
MS in Archi., University of Cincinnati, 1998
Dr Engi. in Architectural History & Theory, Tongji University, 1995
M Archi., Tongji University, 1991
B Archi., Chongqing Inst. of Architecture & Engineering, 1989

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Fellows

  • Fellow of the Garden and Landscape Studies, Dumbarton Oaks (Harvard University), 2001-2002
  • Kenneth and Nelly Fung Fellow, Asian Cultural Council (New York), 2012-13

Research Fields

  • Architectural history, garden history, architectural philosophy, comparative cultural studies in the built environment

Book Publications (single author):

  • A Jesuit Garden in Beijing and Early Modern Chinese Culture (2011)
  • Suipian yu bizhao (Fragments and Mirroring) (2012)
  • The Chinese translation Jianzhu zai ai zhishang (2018) of Alberto Perez-Gomez’s book Built Upon Love

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