“Taubman College provided me with both the technical skills to excel at my job, as well as helping me develop critical thinking abilities.”
Why did you choose Taubman College?
For the holistic M.U.D. program. I wanted to go to a school that helped me think beyond the traditional boundaries, but do it with quantifiable research to be grounded in reality. A lot of programs I looked at were very hypothetical and abstract, and Taubman College stood out for its research-heavy program offering.
Describe the work that you do.
I work as a Healthcare Architect designing hospitals and healthcare campuses across the U.S. Most of my current projects are in Houston, TX. Along with traditional architecture, I use my urban design training to assist in improving healthcare campuses, downtown redevelopment schemes, etc., for various healthcare organizations.
What are some of the projects that you have worked on recently?
One of my biggest projects is a new replacement hospital for McLaren in Lansing, MI. We developed a larger campus development plan for them, along with a new 517,000-square-foot hospital.
I also worked on a project for Northwestern in Winfield, IL for redeveloping their town center to improve the Metra connectivity to their hospital and several other proposals.
I am currently working on a major campus improvement plan for Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.
How did Taubman College prepare you for your career?
Taubman College provided me with both the technical skills to excel at my job, as well as helping me develop critical thinking abilities. Thanks to my rigorous training, I have developed skills always to identify issues and provide solutions — without being prompted to do so. My result/solution-oriented approach has always helped me at work.
What is an important lesson that has stayed with you from your time at Taubman College?
The University of Michigan was my dream school from the minute I started planning to apply for graduate studies. When I got in, I was beyond thrilled and over-the-moon happy. But Taubman College wasn’t easy — my program was way more rigorous than I could have imagined. That is when I learned, that dreaming may be easy, but working on and making your dreams come true is one of the most difficult endeavors we can undertake. Thanks to Taubman, more than my degree, I feel I have developed tremendous grit and focus to not only dream big, but know that I can make them come true. I doubt I could have had such a complete education elsewhere.
What did you like best about attending Taubman College?
I loved meeting all the colleagues from various fields and backgrounds while at Taubman, because they all offered intellectually stimulating conversations. Almost every idea or project we discussed provided me with multifaceted thinking and forced me to reevaluate several preconceived notions I had. My classmates, faculty, and friends all helped challenge me to be very intentional about my thought process — question everything, do your own research, discuss your research to identify any points you may have overlooked or missed and then come to a solid understanding of a concept.