Through a new seed funding opportunity supported by the OU Norman Office of the Vice President for Research and Partnerships, the OU Health Sciences Center Vice President for Research and the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture, two teams will each receive up to $30,000 to support interdisciplinary research at the intersection of health, well-being, and the built environment. This seed funding is intended to foster the creation and development of multidisciplinary research teams to tackle grand challenges at the intersection of these subjects and to increase the competitiveness of OU multidisciplinary research teams in gaining external funding.
Improving Nursing Home Dementia Care Outcomes Through Evidence-Based Building Design: Capturing Missed Opportunities is co-led by team leader and OU-HSC principal investigator Julie Gordon, DRPH, CPHQ, in the Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing, with OU Norman principal investigator Xiaobo Quan, Ph.D., in the Gibbs College of Architecture. Team members include Hongwan Li, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Hudson College of Public Health; Diana Sturdevant, Ph.D., APRN, assistant professor of research in the Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing; Kim Cassie, Ph.D., MSSW, assistant professor in the Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work at OU-Tulsa; Javeed Kittur, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Gallogly College of Engineering; and Shakil Shimul, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Gibbs College of Architecture.
The Therapeutic Impacts of Virtual Reality Multi-Sensory Environments on Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Central Oklahoma is co-led by OU Norman principal investigator Negar Matin, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Gibbs College of Architecture, with OU-HSC principal investigator Anna Nguyen, Ph.D., RN, CPN, assistant professor in the Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing, and co-PI Yeji Yi, Ph.D., lecturer in the Gibbs College of Architecture. Team members include Steve Couch, M.D., neurodevelopmental pediatrician, and Kissy Heiskell, occupational therapist.
Congratulations to our Gibbs faculty members who received this grant!
Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to recognize Petya Stefanoff, who is pursuing her doctorate in the Planning, Design & Construction (PDC) program, has been appointed the new role of Director of Community Development for the City of Shawnee, Oklahoma. She joined the city in 2024.
Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., associate professor in the Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Design and director of the Institute for Quality Communities, has received national recognition for her book Model Schools in the Model City. The book has been named a finalist for the 2026 the PROSE Awards.
Gibbs College of Architecture Regional + City Planning Professor of Practice Vanessa Morrison and Associate Professor of Architecture Deborah Richards’ Open Design Collective received top honors at the inaugural BlackSpace Urbanist Collective Studio KIN Pitch Night Competition, held last month in Brooklyn, New York City.
