Meet the 20 architecture students from NOMA's 2022 Summer Foundation Fellowship

After its first inaugural cohort was announced in 2020, NOMA Foundation Fellowship (NFF) welcomes its fourth class of architecture students chosen as this year's 2022 Summer NFF cohort. A special initiative that provides mentorship and design research experience for young emerging professionals, the NFF has become an impactful program offered to underrepresented architecture students. 

During the two-month summer fellowship, each student is hosted at a leading architecture firm across the nation. During the summer, student fellows "engage in design research and benefit from firm mentorship." NOMA shares, "NFF provides professional experience to underrepresented students to connect them to the profession and provide a pipeline to eventual employment, supporting the 2030 Diversity Challenge, which aims to increase the number of licensed Black architects."  

Jason Pugh, NOMA President and Gensler Principal Architect and Certified Urban Planner shared the value and impact programs like NFF create for young designers of color. "The NOMA Foundation Fellowship is one of our most impactful programs to build and develop the next generation of Black and minority architects and designers, which highlights the importance of mentorship. To date, more than 80 students have been awarded fellowships since the program began in 2020, and many of those enter into full-time design and architect positions, demonstrating the value of making professional connections. As a practicing architect and urban planner myself, I support the opportunity to bring in new talent to learn from professionals while also making connections to break down industry barriers.”

View the 2022 summer cohort below, the schools they reside from and the firms they were placed with during their fellowship.

• Uyiosa Aimufua of Morgan State University at Moody Nolan
• Tyron Alford of North Carolina State University, at Cunningham - San Diego
• Nese Gulay Altintas of Illinois Institute of Technology, at Quinn Evans - Washington, D.C.
• Jadesola Ayodeji of Pratt Institute, at LEO A DALY
• Shakori Carpenter of University of Tennessee - Knoxville, at LS3P
• James Chidiac of Southern California Institute of Architecture, at HDR - Los Angeles
• Lika Corson of Illinois Institute of Technology, HKS - Los Angeles
• Aaron Gamez of California Baptist University, at CannonDesign - Irvine, CA
• Pablo Guzman of California Baptist University, at Populous
• Samuel Harrison of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, at Perkins & Will - Boston
• Sydney King of Pratt Institute Brooklyn Campus, EYP
• Auriel Lewis of Thomas Jefferson University, at Hord Coplan Macht
• Jeyda Muhammad of University of Maryland, at BWBR
• Veronica Paulon of Cornell University, at Perkins & Will - Dallas
• Thaddaus Perkins of University of Louisiana at Lafayette, at Gould Evans  
• Lindsey Rasberry of Ohio State University, at Gresham Smith
• Hina Sardar of The City College of New York, at HLW- New York
• Amalia Sosa of California Baptist University, at HDR - Seattle
• Anishwar Tirupathur of Carnegie Mellon University, at HED - Detroit
• Anusha Varudandi of Lawrence Technological University, at SOM - New York

Students who participated in this year's eight-week NOMA Foundation Fellowship received "a salary of $7,040, a $1,000 travel assistance or relocation stipend, and $1,000 licensure stipend if fellows become a licensed architect within five years of completing the fellowship." According to NOMA, the application process to join this year's summer cohort was open to any National Organization of Minority Architecture Students NOMAS members in good standing. 

*The program and application process is managed by Melanie Ray, AIA, LEED Green Assoc., NOMA, NCARB, NOMA Northeast University Liaison and an Associate at Hord Coplan Macht. 

For more information visit www.noma.net/nff