A team of Gibbs College of Architecture faculty, led by professor Somik Ghosh of the Haskell and Irene Lemon Construction Science Division, was recently awarded a $95,600 Homebuilding Education Leadership Program (HELP) grant. HELP grants are sponsored by the National Housing Endowment of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
Ghosh commented, “This grant from NAHB will help us build upon our efforts to educate students across the OU campus about the homebuilding industry and its opportunities.”
According to the National Housing Endowment (NHE), the purposes of the HELP grant program are two-fold:
The OU team, which also includes director of Construction Science and professor Ben Bigelow, professor Suchi Bhattacharjee (Interior Design), and instructor Bryan Bloom (Construction Science), will focus on a number of milestones over the four year period of the HELP grant.
For example, the team will work to create an undergraduate certificate program in entrepreneurship and housing, as well as provide additional education and experience in homebuilding for three faculty members.
The team will also engage OU students, public school students and Home Builders Association members through an annual Open House event related to homebuilding. Graduate student research projects that look at National Association of Homebuilders economics will also be funded, in part, through this grant.
Director Bigelow commented, “This grant is a great opportunity for OU to elevate what it does with housing, and particularly in educating the next small business owners in homebuilding, development, real estate, and design.”
For more information, please contact Somik Ghosh (somik.ghosh-1@ou.edu).
A project designed by Gibbs College of Architecture faculty member Austin Lightle has been selected for BuildFest 2026, a national art and architecture festival held at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in New York, on the historic grounds of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival.
Two Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture alumni are helping shape recommendations that could influence affordable housing design and construction across Oklahoma.
The University of Oklahoma Libraries recently welcomed Carl Siegel as an Architecture Librarian and Archivist and Assistant Professor. In his role, Siegel supports students, faculty and staff across the Gibbs College of Architecture while also serving as archivist for the American School of Architecture Archives.
