Scholar since
2022

Scholarship received
2022 Sho-Ping Chin Women's Leadership Summit Grant

Current occupation
Practicing Education Space Designer at Hord Coplan Macht

Hometown
Alexandria, VA

Passionate about designing higher education, K-12, and lifelong learning spaces and experiences that enable humans to thrive, Valerie explores how access to restorative environments impacts the mental, physical health, wellbeing, and success of learners.  Valerie brings unique insights as a practicing education space designer at Hord Coplan Macht and brings expertise in design thinking, lean methods, ethnography, and creative approaches to user engagement.

Valerie is co-author of AIA Upjohn-funded primary research, The Impact of Biophilic Learning Spaces on Student Success.  A champion of radical collaboration, her research partners from various initiatives come from diverse fields, including neuroscience, environmental psychology, behavioral science, and developmental psychology.  As author of Creating Common Ground: Architecture for Tactical Learning and Creative Convergence, Valerie’s research explores infrastructures for learning, considering spatial strategies which stimulate a range of human experiences that cultivate creativity.  Valerie’s goal is to help translate evidence-based design strategies and findings into architectural practice, thereby promoting research and wellbeing literacy in school systems.

As a University Innovation Fellow (Stanford d.School), and Design Thinking Facilitator (University of Maryland AIE), Valerie has collaborated with students, faculty, researchers, administrators, and industry professionals to facilitate positive local impact in higher education learning environments across the globe.