George W. Anderson, Jr. Award

Carnegie Mellon Architecture will announce the call for applications for the next award cycle in the fall of 2025.

The George W. Anderson, Jr. Award recognizes Carnegie Mellon Architecture graduate students (Master’s and PhD) who demonstrate through their work "an exceptional level of attention to detail or dedication to beneficially impacting the community."

To be considered for the George W. Anderson, Jr. Award, applicants must submit a complete application that includes the following information:

• A 250-word narrative about how their project demonstrates an exceptional level of attention to detail or dedication to beneficially impacting the community
• A Pecha Kucha presentation about how their project demonstrates an exceptional level of attention to detail or dedication to beneficially impacting the community. Applicants must upload a single PDF document with 20 image slides, 3:4 landscape format (max 20MB). If selected as a finalist, these slides will be presented at the Pecha Kucha event.
  • Pecha Kucha is a presentation style in which 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each (6 minutes and 40 seconds in total) with the images advancing automatically.

View previous years' Pecha Kucha presentations

Note: Applicants may include collaborative projects, but must state which projects were done in collaboration with others. Applicants should only show work examples that they directly contributed to. For each collaborative project, the applicant must indicate the number of all authors and which aspect(s) of the project they worked on.

The jury will review the submitted applications and select a shortlist of candidates. These finalists will present their Pecha Kucha presentations to their fellow graduate students and the jury during a live event, the Anderson Award Finalists Pecha Kucha Presentations. Candidates must be present to participate in this presentation. The jury will make the final determination of the award recipient(s) following the presentations.

Spring 2025 Jury: Jonathan Kline (Chair), Kristen Kurland, Yiqun Pan, Azadeh Sawyer

Spring 2025 Award Amount: $3,000 (first place) and $2,000 (runner-up) each (multiple awards available up to $12,000 per year)

This George W. Anderson, Jr. Award is open to all Carnegie Mellon Architecture graduate students (Master’s and PhD).

Carnegie Mellon Architecture will announce the call for applications for the next award cycle in the fall of 2025.

• 2025: First Place: Clara Martucci, M.Arch ’25; Project: “FLORAL RITUALS: weaving local village stories through craftmaking & performance”
  Runner-up: Sakshi Aparajit, MUD ’25 & Nakshatra Menon, MUD ’25; Project: “Braddock Reimagined: Designing a Sustainable and Inclusive Community”
  Runner-up: Ifrah Asif, PhD-Arch; Project: “Cultural Ecologies: Community-Based Strategies for Climate Resilience in Cultural Heritage Preservation”
  Runner-up: Valeria Duque-Villegas, MUD ’25; Project: “Community Infrastructures of Resilience: from mutual care to sustainable cities”
  Runner-up: Lora Marks, M.Arch ’26; Nicholas Thies, M.Arch ’26; Tai Le, M.Arch ’26 & Sharvi Shah, M.Arch ’26; Title: “PLAY PLANT: Praxis I – Design for Just Transitions”
• 2024: First Place: Jil Berenblum (MSSD ’24), Nandan Bhusury (MSSD ’24) & Rovina George (M.Arch ’24); Project: "MYCOFLAME: In care of forest biomes and wild fire resiliency"
  Runner-up: Valeria Duque Villegas (MUD ’25); Project: "Enhancing the Social Impact of Natural Rehabilitation: Harnessing Natural Recomposition as a Catalyst for Social Transformation"
  Runner-up: Trevor Orgill (M.Arch ’24); Project: "HomeCraft Workshop: The Expandable House – Studies in Recycling, Repurposing Building Materials In Urban Villages of Chiang Mai"
  Runner-up: Koushik Srinath (MUD ’24); Project: "Reclaiming Platform Futures: Towards Alternative Models of Cities and Data"
• 2023: First Place: Suzy Li (PhD-BPD candidate); Project: "Adopting Smart Community Surfaces is Critical to Climate Change, Human Health, and Social Equity"
  Runner-up: Ariba Asad (MUD ’23); Project: "Choreographing an Informed Return: From Rehabilitation to Recovery"
  Runners-up: Rachel Ruscigno (M.Arch ’24) & Autumn Dsouza (M.Arch ‘24); Project: "Regenerative Assemblages: A Soil Remediation Network"
  Runners-up: Aditi Shreedhar (MUD ’24) & Aniket Surve (MUD ’24); Project: "FOOD for THOUGHT: A Community Service Hub for South Oakland"
• 2022: First Place: Jamie Ho (MSBPD ’22); Project: "Biophilic Design Strategies in Dialysis Clinics to Improve Patient Health Outcomes"
  First Place: Kashmala Imtiaz (M.Arch ’22); Project: "Material Transition and its Socio-Cultural Impact – The Case of Azad Kashmir"
  Runner-up: Tabeer Tariq (M.Arch ’23); Project: "Architecture of Empathy: A Cancer Care Home"
  Runner-up: Chengzhi Zhang (MSCD ’23); Project: "Biophilia Informed Internet of Things Design"
• 2021: First Place: Sameedha Mahajan (MUD ’21); Project: "The Communal Veil: Carving Spaces for Women in the Rohingya Refugee Camps"
  First Place: Xiaoran Zhang (MUD ’21); Project: "Re-cultivation: Gaoli Village Rural Community Commons Design, Nanjing, China + Re-cultivation Thesis Research"
  Runner-up: Sharleen Devjani (M.Arch ’21); Project: "Climate Change Gentrification: Little Haiti, Miami"
  Runner-up: Kashmala Imtiaz (M.Arch ’22); Project: "Sharpsburg Ecotone"
  Runner-up: Pedro Veloso (PhD-CD ’21); Project: "Generative Systems for Design"
• 2020: Abhinavv Singh (MUD ’20); Project: "Architecture of Associations: Persistence of Memory"
  Emek Erdolu (PhD-CD ’23); Project: "D+G_D: A CAD Modeling Interface for Urban Design and Evaluation in Singapore"
  Amulya Surapaneni (MSSD ’21); Project: "Housing for All"
  Srinjoy Hazra (M.Arch ’20); Project: "The Hugli River of Cultures Project"
• 2019: First Place: Shailaja Patel
  Runner-up: Pragya Gupta
• 2018: First Place: Roshni Krishnan
  Runner-up: Manuel Rodríguez Ladrón de Guevara
  Runner-up: Shalini Priyadarshini
• 2017: First Place: Paul Moscoso Riofrio
  First Place: Chun Zheng
  Runner-up: Lu Zhu
  Runner-up: Ernest Bellamy
• 2016: not awarded
• 2015: First Place: Jeffrey Concepcion
  Runner-up: Bruce Chan
• 2014: not awarded
• 2013: not awarded
• 2012: Maitri Shah
  Eleni Katrini
• 2011: First Place: Omar Clennon
  Runner-up: Samira Ahmadi
• 2010: First Place: Deepika Khowal
  Runner-up: Raghav Kaushik
• 2009: First Place: Erica Cochran
  Runner-up: Rui Zhang
• 2008: First Place: Michael Dong
  Runner-up: Megan Snyder