People

Wortham Fellows

The Rice University School of Architecture biannually awards two Wortham Fellowships to outstanding and highly motivated architects who have completed their graduate degrees and are beginning or advancing a career of practice and teaching.

Established in 1995, the fellowship position encourages emerging educators and practitioners to develop their individual lines of research and teaching in the academic setting of Rice University. With a teaching load of three courses per year, fellows are able to hone their teaching skills and develop their individual lines of research in the context of the school’s small, tightly knit academic community.

Current Fellows: 
20232025
Tania Tovar
 
Zhicheng Xu

 

Past Fellows: 
2021-2023
 

2019-2021
Viola Ago
Amelyn Ng
 

 

2015 - 2017
Michelle Chang
Lluis Liñán

2013 - 2015
Tei Carpenter (Wortham Visiting Lecturer)
Sam Stewart-Halevy

2012 - 2013
Jesús Vassallo (Wortham Visiting Lecturer)

2011 - 2013
Bryony Roberts

2010 - 2012
Neeraj Bhatia

2010 - 2011
Martin Haettasch

2008 - 2010
Troy Schaum
Eva Franch i Gilabert

2006 - 2008
Michael Robinson

2002 - 2004
Sean Lally

2001 - 2002
Alex O’Briant

2000 - 2001
Brian Wesley Heiss

1999 - 2000
Dawn Finley

1998 - 1999
Donna Kacmar

1997 - 1999
Kerry Whitehead

1996 - 1997
Keith Krumwiede

1994 - 1996
Eric Ragni

Neeraj Bhatia
The Wortham Fellowship provided the foundational framework for a disciplinary project that drives my research and design practice—all within a collegial, supportive, and open environment.

Eva Franch i Gilabert
The incredible student body and the freedom offered by the Rice School of Architecture, allowed me to develop new pedagogical forms and to focus on the power of architecture in affecting societal change.

Sean Lally
The Wortham Fellowship offered an opportunity to experiment and develop opinions within a research trajectory that would go on to define the core focus of my work for years to come.

Ajay Manthripragada
The Fellowship marked a pivot in my career from a practice-centered model to one in which practice and pedagogy are interdependent. The community of the school helped hone my project in ways that continue to influence my design work and teaching.

Amelyn Ng
The Fellowship was formative in providing the time, space, and resources to enrich my pedagogy and research-led practice. It was also a great platform for collaborating beyond disciplinary walls, across the university, and the city of Houston itself.

Bryony Roberts
The Fellowship gave me freedom to shape my own studio and seminar courses, as well as the chance to grow my design practice. It was incredible to have that much institutional support for both research and practice.

Maggie Tsang
The Wortham Fellowship is a remarkable opportunity to engage a dedicated community of students and scholars and to cultivate design research and practice, all within a very complex and idiosyncratic urban and environmental context.

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