The AIA is honoring four young architects (defined as professionals who have been practicing 10 years or less, regardless of their age) with its 2001 Young Architects Award.

Randy G. Brown, AIA, of Omaha, is an architect who has never "forgotten his roots," says his former high school mechanical drawing and architecture teacher. Now the owner of award-winning Randy Brown Architects, IIc, his practice challenges traditional architecture conventions and aims to incorporate innovative, community-oriented, sustainable design techniques into the typically staid Midwestern landscape. Over the past decade, he has been recognized with an AIA national Honor Award for Interior Architecture for his own studio/residence, a Business Week/Architectural Record Award for his work on the Greater Omaha Packing Co., 9 AIA Central States Honor Awards, 13 AIA Nebraska Honor awards, and more than a dozen other prizes from media organizations worldwide. He finds gratification through pro bono work, such as designing a renovation for an existing Boys Club in Sioux City, Iowa.

Despite his flourishing practice, Brown finds time to promote architecture education at the local, state, and national level. In 1998 he created a design/build summer internship program that draws students from the entire Midwest, taught at the University of Nebraska, lectured at other universities across the country, and founded the AIA Nebraska Young Architects competition, which identifies outstanding design achievements by intern architects. Brown also works with local high schools, offering tours of his studio, mentoring opportunities, career guidance, and lectures. He is an AIA Omaha Board member, organizes AIA educational seminars, and speaks at AIA state and regional conventions. He was a 2001 National AIA Honor Award for Interior Architecture juror, a 2000 AIA Kansas young architects juror, and a 1999 ACSA juror.

Barbara Campagna, AIA, of New York City, has distinguished herself in the field of historic preservation, working for more than a decade in New York as a preservation architect, planner, and historian. At present, she is the principal of her own eponymous firm and is working on several high-profile projects including restorations of buildings at the Cloisters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; the Guggenheim Library at Monmouth University, West Long Branch, N.J.; and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York City.

Campagna's longtime service to the historic preservation community underscores her commitment and dedication to her field. She is the director of the Association for Preservation Technology International and cochairs the publication committee and serves as the Web site editor. She is also a member of the Historic Buildings Committee of AIA New York and has held leadership posts with many other landmark preservation associations. She is a guest lecturer at the Pratt Institute and Hunter College in New York City and has been the recipient of public and private grants that have helped advance preservation work statewide.

Mohammed Lawal, AIA, of Minneapolis, is committed to Minnesota's youth. His involvement and dedication manifest themselves through his work as a principal at KKE Architecture, Minneapolis, where he oversees the design efforts of its 36-member Educational Team, and as a teacher with the city's Architectural Youth Program (AYP), which aims to mentor minorities and women and expose them to careers in the design arts. Lawal, who studied in Nigeria and the U.S., is revered by his students and coworkers for his ongoing efforts to expand opportunities for young people and to make connections at work and school.

Colleagues and clients note Lawal's ability to collaborate and build consensus. Two projects, Minneapolis Downtown K-12 and Mille Lacs Ceremonial Building, won him Honor Awards from AIA Minnesota. He also placed first in the Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame Design Competition, second place in the Spancrete Prestressed Concrete Design and Minnegasco Design Competitions, won an Honors Thesis Award from the University of Minnesota, and was named a "40 under 40" award recipient by CityBusiness. The Council of Education Facility Planners International honored him for the K–12 project, and the Interfaith and Forum on Religion, Art, and Architecture presented him with an Honor Award for the Mille Lacs Building. He is also a member of the board of AIA Minneapolis. Perhaps, though, the most touching accolades come from former students in his AYP class. "[Mohammed] was always there with energy and enthusiasm for what the lessons were, what my ideas were, and was constantly finding ways to challenge and excite me in the field of architecture. . . . There have been many teachers and leaders in my life who have taken personal interest in me, yet none have had such a deep interest in such a broad group of students as Mohammed showed for the AYP students."

Joe "Scott" Sandlin, AIA, of Anchorage, has garnered accolades for his service to his profession and for his architectural projects. Sandlin is an associate of Livingston Slone, Inc., Anchorage, and has been with the firm since 1992. He recently completed and received honor awards from the state component for the Alaska Public Health Laboratory and Medical Examiner Facility, Anchorage, and the Alaska SeaLife Center, Seward, Alaska. His current responsibilities include serving as project manager for the design of a new 20,000-square-foot Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Seafood and Food Safety Laboratory in Anchorage, and the health-care design portion of a new 32,000-square-foot regional health center in Metlakatla, Alaska.

Sandlin has also received leadership awards for his service to regional components of the AIA and the Construction Specification Institute, where he served as CSI Cook Inlet Chapter certification chair and chapter education chair. As chair of the AIA Central Alaska, he helped facilitate discussions on contentious issues relating to state and NCARB licensing. After serving as the continuing education coordinator, secretary/treasurer, and president-elect of AIA Alaska, Sandlin became president in 2002.

Copyright 2002 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.