Past Scholarship Recipients
News relating to past Scholarship recipients
Miles Patterson – 2016 Scholarship Recipient
Miles spent 2 weeks in Mexico City attending a course on urban design with the Architectural Association Visting School of London. Learn more about his experience by viewing his presentation here.
Pillars Scholarship Presentations 2016

We had a wonderful evening hearing about the experiences Miles and Matthew had in Mexico over the summer.
Matthew West gained experience in natural building methods and the effects of biophilic design on human health in Baja California, Mexico.
Miles Patterson went to Mexico City to attend a two-week course in urban design with the Architectural Association Visiting School of London and to explore the cultural, social, and historic conditions of the city.
Ryan Stangl – 2015 Scholarship Recipient
Ryan’s paper has been submitted for ACADIA 2016. Learn more about Ryan’s summer research by viewing his presentation here.
You can also take a look at a visualization of his model for exploring methods of new software selection here.
Grace C Lee – 2015 Scholarship Recipient
Learn more about Grace’s summer research by viewing her presentation here.
Becoming one of the three recipients for the 2015 Steve Altman Pillars Scholarship was one of the most positive and challenging events of my graduate school career. Here I was, a first-year, third quarter graduate student interested in applying neuroscience-based data to architecture, knowing very well that I would be spending much of my summer time immersed in scientific articles. The two main reasons being (1) it was crucial to be more knowledgeable and, at least, sound intellectual around scientists of all fields, (2) it’s vital to know what research exists in order to eventually develop my thesis. Thus, why not catalogue my findings into a useful database for the school to access?
So I applied to this unique scholarship, and was gratefully awarded this opportunity to explore.
While many hurdles, including legal ones, hindered a database from procuring, the experience was incredibly advantageous. Many Board members of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA) acknowledged my project and offered their support with my endeavor. On a personal level, I gained the confidence to read and speak in a basic, but respectable, scientific manner. The hundreds of articles that crossed my path became a resource for strengthening my architectural designs, successfully adding a unique poetry in what could have been an ordinary building.
Most importantly, the scholarship brings the rare opportunity to explore an area of architecture that’s not necessarily taught, but is fully supported by the NewSchool Foundation and NewSchool’s faculty.
I am indebted for this opportunity and highly encourage students to apply as it’s more beneficial than one can imagine.
2015 Pillars Scholarship Presentations
We are pleased to invite you to honor the 2015 Dr. Steve Altman Pillars Scholarship Recipients. Grace Lee, Ryan Stangl and John Knibbs will share with us the experiences that were made possible thanks to the scholarship awards, and inspire students to participate in 2016. At the event, this year’s Dr. Steve Altman Pillars Scholarship Award will be announced.
We encourage all to attend and to share this incredible opportunity for our students!
WHAT: Dr. Steve Altman Pillars Scholarship 2016 – Student Recipients’ Presentations
WHEN: Thursday, February 4th, 2016 at 6 PM
WHERE: The Students’ Lounge in the Main Building, NSAD
ABOUT :
Grace Lee will speak about her proposal aimed to bridge the gap between Neuroscience and Architecture through research and the development of a database.
John Knibbs completed the Rome Study Abroad program offered by NSAD in Summer 2015 with the goal of bridging the gap between Architecture and Costruction Management.
Ryan Stangl applied his award toward research for the publication of his first Academic paper, to be presented at the 2016 ACADIA Conference.
2015 Pillars Scholarship Recipients Announced
Congratulations to our three 2015 Dr. Steve Altman Pillars Scholarship Recipients!
NSAD undergrad Construction Management student John Knibbs is heading to Italy for a summer of architectural and built environment education.
NSAD Graduate Architecture student Ryan Stangl will be spending his summer researching and developing a fully customizable weighting system for determining the appropriateness of various tools to computer-aided design. His research will be submitted for publication at the 2016 ACADIA conference the Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture).
NSAD Graduate Architecture student Grace Lee is spending her summer working with the Academy of Neuroscience For Architecture (ANFA) on building a database of research for both neuroscientists and architects.
Justin Freeman – 2014 Scholarship Recipient
NSAD Undergraduate Architecture student Justin Freeman traveled to Italy to study Rome’s rich architectural history and visit the Venice Biennale. You can learn more about his experiences by viewing his scholarship presentation here.