Salma Akter Surma, a Ph.D. student in Gibbs College’s Planning, Design and Construction program, recently won second place in the Graduate & Postdoc Research and Scholarly Activity Day Poster Competition. Each year, the OU Graduate College sponsors this event to offer graduate students and postdocs from all disciplines the opportunity to exhibit their research.
The competition provides OU graduate students and postdocs with a professional development opportunity to present research and engage with peers and mentors. This year’s competition was highly competitive, with over 32 graduate students and 8 postdocs participating.
Surma (center) with Liz Karr (right), associate dean of the Graduate College, and Jaime Hough (left), director of graduate student and postdoc retention and support.
The competition took place on March 1 in the Gould Hall Buskuhl Gallery. Surma’s poster, titled “Sheltering Hope and Protection: Examining Child-Friendly Spaces in Refugee Camps for Children’s Well-Being,” was awarded second place.
Surma and her poster, “Sheltering Hope and Protection: Examining Child-Friendly Spaces in Refugee Camps for Children’s Well-Being.”
Her poster explored how UNICEF-recommended Child-Friendly Spaces contribute to the psycho-social, physical and educational aspects of refugee camps, as well as the well-being of refugee children globally. The purpose of a Child-Friendly Space is to allow refugee children who are caught in a crisis to gather in a safe environment and get back to a protective and healthy living space in the emergency context.
Congratulations to Salma Akter Surma for this achievement!
A project designed by Gibbs College of Architecture faculty member Austin Lightle has been selected for BuildFest 2026, a national art and architecture festival held at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in New York, on the historic grounds of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival.
Two Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture alumni are helping shape recommendations that could influence affordable housing design and construction across Oklahoma.
The University of Oklahoma Libraries recently welcomed Carl Siegel as an Architecture Librarian and Archivist and Assistant Professor. In his role, Siegel supports students, faculty and staff across the Gibbs College of Architecture while also serving as archivist for the American School of Architecture Archives.
