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!
Gibbs College is pleased to present the exhibition Vollendorf in Oklahoma: The Architecture of Dean Bryant Vollendorf during the Spring 2025 semester. It will be on display in Gould Hall, on the OU-Norman Campus, from February 16, 2026 - March 13, 2026.
On November 21, 2025, the Mainsite Contemporary Art gallery was transformed into a showcase of innovation and craftsmanship for the University of Oklahoma’s furniture design build studio exhibition, “Purpose in Form.”
Associate Professors Lee Fithian, Ph.D., and Elizabeth Pober have published a chapter in the recently released New Perspectives in Indoor Air Quality, published by Elsevier. Their contribution, titled “Chapter 16 – Architecture and the Challenges of Indoor Air Quality,” examines the relationship between architecture and indoor air quality.
