Niloufar Emami
Assistant Professor
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
I am a researcher, educator, and designer in the area of computational design, performance-based design, integrated design, digital fabrication, and structural efficiency. I am currently teaching at the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. I have completed my Ph.D. studies at the University of Michigan in Architecture with a specialization in Building Technology. I have previously held an Assistant Professor position at Louisiana State University (LSU).
I am passionate about integrating multiple disciplines at the early stages of design using computational design and digital fabrication tools to improve design processes and workflows combined with creative design thinking. Thus, I look for gaps, intersections, and overlaps between architecture and multiple engineering disciplines using computational tools to provide creative yet performative solutions. I am a designer at various scales: I design research, computational workflows, curriculum plans, products, and buildings. Followed by several years of practice as an architect, I have conducted research in both academia and industry: the University of Michigan, Louisiana State University, and Autodesk Company. I am also an experienced teacher, having held multiple teaching positions including an Assistant Professor, Lecturer, Graduate Student Instructor, Teacher Fellow, and Adjunct Faculty, at multiple institutions.
I am the recipient of numerous awards, namely the Tiger Athletic Foundation Undergraduate Teaching Award at LSU in 2020, Barbour Scholarship, and the Helen Wu Award at the University of Michigan, and the first runner-up award in DIVA Day competition in 2014 among other honors.
SELECTED PRESS & AWARDS
2021 Quad:"Did you know" interview with Niloufar Emami
2020 LSU Tiger Athletic Foundation Undergraduate Teaching Award
2020 ARCC Research Incentive Award
2018-20 A Hays Town Professorship, LSU Foundation
2014 DIVA Day Competition, First Runner Up Award