Interior Design faculty members Natalie Ellis and Mia Kile, along with colleagues at OU-Tulsa, the OU Health Sciences Center, and Johns Hopkins University, were recently awarded $8,500 to pursue research related to “Infant-toddler teachers’ physical and psychological well-being.” The project is funded by the Early Childhood Education Institute at OU-Tulsa.
Ellis commented, “Mia [Kile] and I are very proud of this developing work and the opportunity to engage with this multidisciplinary, multi-college, and multi-university research team.”
According to Ellis, the proposal has three primary goals:
The principal investigator is Kyong-Ah Kwon, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum, Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education.
Co-Principal Investigators are Lieny Jeon, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Education; Mia Kile, ASID, IIDA, IDEC, LEED Green Associate, Associate Professor, Interior Design Division, College of Architecture, University of Oklahoma; Natalie Ellis, Ph.D., IIDA, LEED BD+C, Assistant Professor, Division of Interior Design, The University of Oklahoma; Ken Randall, PT, Ph.D., MHR, Associate Professor, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Allied Health, OU-HSC, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Community Engagement, Co-Director of Office of Community Engagement at OU-Tulsa.
For more information, please reach out to Natalie Ellis (natalie.d.ellis-1@ou.edu) or Mia Kile (mkile@ou.edu).
Featured photo: The Early Childhood Education Institute, OU-Tulsa.
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture congratulates Thinh "Henry" Duong, a master's student in the Division of Interior Design, for earning first place in the 2026 Robert Bruce Thompson Annual Student Light Fixture Design Competition.
Gibbs College of Architecture Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) Director and Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design (PLAD) faculty member Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., recently published a new book, Collective Yearning: Black Women Artists from the Zimmerli Art Museum.
In May, students from the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture's Architecture, Environmental Design, and Interior Design programs participated in an intensive five-day Studio in Residence at Taliesin West, the iconic winter home and desert laboratory of Frank Lloyd Wright.
