Aghaei Meibodi to receive U-M’s top early-career faculty honor

Mania Aghaei Meibodi, assistant professor of architecture at the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, will receive a 2027 Henry Russel Award, the University of Michigan’s highest honor for faculty members at the early to mid-career stages of their careers.

Aghaei Meibodi’s research integrates new robotic methods with novel computational design technologies — including machine learning and physics-based algorithms — to unlock the full potential of 3D printing for material, productivity, and environmental efficiencies in both the construction process and the building in service, while prototyping the next generation of building elements that reduce material use, waste, construction time, and energy consumption.

In 2025, she received an NSF CAREER Award, a notable distinction for architecture. Her scholarship on 3D concrete printing methods has appeared in Automation in Construction, Additive Manufacturing, and Virtual and Physical Prototyping.

Aghaei Meibodi was one of four winners announced at the June 25 Board of Regents Meeting. Read more at the University Record.