Alumni & Friends May 15, 2025

Class of 2025

Serena Langdon-Dimidjian, 2025 outstanding graduate

Connections through design

For Serena Langdon-Dimidjian, design is about building community, asking deeper questions, and making space for connection. As this year’s outstanding graduate in environmental design, she has spent the past four years discovering how architecture can bridge design and social impact.

Rachel Martino, 2025 distinguished graduate in LAND

Connect, protect, restore

Blending her design education with influences from ecology and evolutionary biology, Rachel Martino is on her way to design landscapes that connect, protect and restore.

Nick Lankau, 2025 distinguished graduate in EPOD

Designing with purpose

From global UX hackathons to instructing a tech series to underclassmen, Nick Lankau leaves ENVD with a toolkit shaped by creativity and empathy, with a drive to make things that matter.

Jillian Draheim, 2025 distinguished graduate

Finding community

For Jillian Draheim, graduating from environmental design isn’t just a milestone–it’s a launching pad. She spent the past four years building a rich academic foundation, forged deep friendships, and discovered a design philosophy rooted in community engagement, creativity and sustainability.

2025 Latin honors recipients

Each spring, a small group of environmental design students defend their theses to a dedicated thesis committee. This year 13 students were awarded Latin honors at the levels of cum laude, magna cum laude or summa cum laude.

Faculty News & Research

In brief

Associate Teaching Professor Caitlin Charlet was awarded a Small Grant from the Center for the Humanities and Arts.

Postdoctoral Fellow Sophie Weston Chien was selected for the Art Omi: Architecture 2025 residency program. The Boulder Public Library will host Weston Chien’s exhibition Making Homelands: Tufting San Lazaro Lifeways from Aug. 5 to Oct. 29.

In April, Assistant Teaching Professor John Hersey attended and spoke on a panel at The Road Ahead, an annual symposium about transportation matters in Metro Denver.

Associate Teaching Professor Azza Kamal sat down with the Coloradan Alumni Magazine to share how her work tackles some of the toughest challenges in urban planning. This Old House also interviewed Kamal.

In a CUBT Q&A, Professor Kevin J Krizek shared details about his research on street-focused emergency response measures, also known as “open streets,” “slow streets” or “shared streets” that allowed restaurants to expand their outdoor dining spaces and provide safe spaces for walking or biking during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The International Archive of Women in Architecture Center named Associate Teaching Professor Caitlin Charlet as one of two residency candidates for the 2025 Milka Bliznakov Research prize for her work Drawing the Unseen: Architectural Narratives of Women Who Shaped Space.

Today, many cities have codes and regulations in place that accommodate cars but make it difficult to design for walkability. Associate Professor Jota Samper was quoted in Yellow Scene Magazine.

Incarcerated people in Colorado are exposed to climate-related extreme heat and cold, plus flooding and wildfires. In The Conversation, Associate Professor Shawhin Roudbari details stories from formerly incarcerated people.

The Materials Library enhanced its sustainable design and material innovation inventory this spring with a $10,000 Seed Grant from the University Libraries. Associate Teaching Professor Caitlin Charlet, Assistant Teaching Professor Sara Tabatabaie and Art & Architecture Librarian Alex Watkins led the project.

Associate Teaching Professor Martín Paddack was nominated for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) At-Large Director on the ACSA Board

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Alumni & Friends May 15, 2025

Class of 2025

News & Updates

Faculty News & Research

In brief

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Update alumni profile

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Support ENVD students and faculty