The SOM Foundation has announced the winners of the 2020 SOM Foundation Research Prize. Two teams—one from the University of Texas at Arlington and one from Tulane University—will each receive grants of $40,000 to conduct original research. The Research Prize was created by the SOM Foundation in 2018 to cultivate new ideas and meaningful research with the goal of addressing critical issues of our time.
This year’s topic, “Examining Social Justice in Urban Contexts,” encouraged applicants to explore and identify long-term policies, immediate actions, and comprehensive plans have the potential to shape a more equitable and sustainable future. Twenty-one proposals were submitted from faculty and universities across the U.S., focusing on antiracism, advocacy, climate change, environmental justice, governance, inclusiveness, mobility, participatory processes, public space, resilience, urban ecology, and youth.
The first winning team, whose proposal is titled “Reclaiming Black Settlements: A Design Playbook for Historic Communities in the Shadow of Sprawl” is led by Diane Jones Allen, Austin Allen, and Kathryn Holliday of the University of Texas at Arlington. The second winning team, led by Tiffany Lin, Lisa Molix, and Emilie Taylor Welty of the Tulane School of Architecture, proposed “Public Space and Scrutiny: Examining Urban Monuments through Social Psychology.”