A multidisciplinary team of OU researchers from the Gibbs College of Architecture and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the Gallogly College of Engineering has been selected by the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) to create the Oklahoma State Housing Needs Assessment.
The $925,000 grant will fund the development of a searchable, geodatabase and web portal. This portal will be used by policymakers to allocate funds in the most efficient and equitable way possible to promote affordable housing in the communities with the greatest need. It will also be used by housing developers, lenders, and real estate professionals to identify housing locations and develop market analyses for affordable housing projects.
The research and development team will be led by the following skilled professionals: Shawn Michael Schaefer, a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), and Director of the Urban Design Studio; Shane Hampton, a member of the AICP and Director of the Institute for Quality Communities; Dr. Francesco Cianfarani, an Assistant Professor of Architecture; and Dr. Joe Havlicek and Dr. Ron Barnes, Co-Directors of the Center for Intelligent Transportation Systems. The team hopes to launch the web portal in early 2024.
For more information contact Shawn Schaefer at: sschaefer@ou.edu.
The University of Oklahoma College of Architecture is proud to announce that Model Schools in the Model City, authored by Director of the Institute for Quality Communities, Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., has been named one of ten finalists for the 2026 ASALH Book Prize for Best New Book in African American History and Culture.
This semester, students in the LA 5535 Studio: Ecological Planning and Design, led by Prof. Afsana Sharmin, took on an ambitious hypothetical project to redesign key parts of the OU campus. Their mission: to tackle the critical real-world challenge of stormwater management through innovative green design.
Petya Stefanoff, Chair of the Educational Committee with the American Planning Association, Oklahoma Chapter (APA-OK) and Gibbs College PhD candidate, has developed a new training program for local government officials. The program, focused on land use, zoning principles, and land development, recently certified its first graduates with Certified Citizen Planner status.
