Edward Becker
Edward is Director and Co-founder of the Finnish-American architecture and investment firm VÖR and is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture + Design. He is a registered architect, a member of the Finnish Association of Architects, and a recipient of design/research awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects, Finnish Fund, American Scandinavian Foundation, and Fulbright Foundation. Prior to teaching at Virginia Tech, Edward held research and teaching positions at Aalto University and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Professionally and academically, he has worked extensively with massive timber systems. He has partnered with faculty from Virginia Tech’s Sustainable Biomaterials to examine hardwood CLT, applying this knowledge to the award-winning New River Train Observatory, a student design-build project.
Christopher Meyer
Christopher earned his Master of Architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University and his professional degree from the Fay Jones School of Architecture + Design at the University of Arkansas. Professionally licensed in Minnesota and Wisconsin, he has practiced on award-winning projects. In parallel to professional practice, Christopher and his partner Shawna established a building studio called Atelier Mey, aimed at questioning processes of making and material explorations. He is presently an Assistant Professor at the University of Miami School of Architecture and the Director of LU_lab, a research center focusing on the evolving dialogue of urbanism and environment, with a concentrated emphasis on mass timber design and construction. Christopher and Shawna were recently named “Sustainable Architects of the Year” by the Miami chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
Shawna Meyer
Shawna earned her Master of Architecture from the University of Minnesota College of Design and a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies at the Fay Jones School of Architecture + Design, University of Arkansas. Professionally licensed in Minnesota and Florida, Shawna has worked at international, award-winning practices in Minneapolis and Boston. In 2018, she was named a Grist 50 Fixer for her sustainability work as a Senior Associate at Kennedy & Violich Architects and her authorship on the climate-focused pamphlet Architecture. Shawna has co-authored essays exploring the relationship between infrastructure and architecture. She is currently is a design studio lecturer at the University of Miami School of Architecture, where she also serves as Project Coordinator and Research Development Lead with the LU_lab, a research center focused on the evolving dialogue of urbanism and environment.
Dustin Albright
Dustin is an associate professor in the School of Architecture at Clemson University, where he also serves as the School’s Assistant Director. In both teaching and research he draws on his dual expertise in architecture and structural engineering. He is a former board member of the Building Technology Educators’ Society (BTES). His research revolves around prefabricated timber building systems at varying scales, from innovative light framing systems to massive timber design and construction. This research has been funded by the US DOE, the USDA, NSF, and the National Endowment for Forests and Communities, among other supporters. Dustin is also a licensed and practicing architect, acting as a mass timber design specialist with a regional firm of approximately 90 staff.
Dan Harding
Dan is an associate professor in the School of Architecture at Clemson University, where he also serves as Director of Architecture Graduate Studies and Director of the Community Research and Design Center.He draws on his extensive experience in design and in construction seeking to establish a sound connection between community, sinuous public space, and more sustainable interface between the built environment, natural environment, and the human experience. Professionally, Harding was founding partner and principal design director of Intrinsik Architecture from 1998-2013, a full-service architecture, planning, and design+build practice based in Bozeman, MO. Prior to joining the faculty at Clemson University in 2009, Harding was a practicing design studio adjunct at Montana State University from 1996-2006.
Pat Layton
Pat is the Director of the Wood Utilization + Design Institute and former Director of the School of Agricultural, Forest, and Environmental Sciences (2010-2014) at Clemson University. She came to Clemson in late 1999 as the Chair of the Department of Forest Resources. Before joining Clemson, she was a Senior Director with the American Forest & Paper Association where she represented the industry in recycling, life cycle analysis, sustainability, and energy. Prior to that, Pat was a Manager at Scott Paper Company, where she developed new forestry and marketing initiatives, including playing a vital role in the development of the American Forest & Paper Association’s Sustainable Forestry Initiative Program. Before joining Scott Paper, she was a Research Associate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the Short Rotation Wood Crops Program.
Weichiang Pang
Pang is a Professor of Civil Engineering at Clemson University. He is the current chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Technical Committee on Wood and a member of the advisory board to the South Carolina Department of Insurance. His research focusses on structural performance of wood structures and risk assessment of structures under natural hazards. He has experience in conducting full-scale testing of both light-frame and mass timber structures. Dr. Pang served as an associate editor for the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering, handling technical papers relevant to wood structures. Dr. Pang has authored and co-authored more than 150 journal and conference papers. He also teaches wood structural design to both undergraduate and graduate engineering students on a yearly basis.
Michael Stoner
Michael Stoner is a Lecturer in the Glenn Department of Civil Engineering and teaches structural design courses, specifically the culminating Keystone design course for structural engineers. Michael graduated with his Ph.D. from Clemson in 2020 studying the performance of mass timber structures in high-wind events and continues to be involved in mass timber research. He also consults for Timberlab, a mass timber design and construction company, which is currently involved in some of the most prominent mass timber buildings in the United States.
