BIO (long)

BIO

Posted: August 12, 2008

Michael A. Berk is a tenured (full) professor and senior faculty member in the School of Architecture @ Mississippi State University. He was recently awarded the F.L. Crane Endowed Professorship by the provost for his continued excellence in research, teaching, and outreach. He is a registered architect (California & Florida) with an extensive practice as a design partner and project architect prior to his return to the academy. Professor Berk teaches and researches in the areas of: digital media + information design; factory-built housing, and ‘sustainable’ architecture and planning. He is considered by many to be a leading expert in the area of ecological design - - and is often invited nationally to lecture on this topic. Recent invitations include: the U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory @ Oak Ridge, TN; the Spring 2008 Hearst Lecture Series @ Cal Poly San Luis Obispo; and Auburn's University's Spring 2008 Rural Studio Lecture Series. Upcoming invited lectures include: the Forest Products Society Green Materials 2008 Conference @ UMASS, Amherst and the MDA (Mississippi Development Authority) Energy Workshop, Jackson MS in November.

His current research (with USDA, HUD, and FEMA funding) involves the design and manufacture of an ecologically-minded, low-cost GreenMobile® home unit for the Southeast and the Delta regions. In December 2006, the GreenMobile® was awarded $5.8 million dollars by FEMA in the nationally juried Alternative Housing Pilot Program (AHHP) for disaster-relief housing on the Mississippi Gulf Coast; the project was ranked number one by national jurors from the AIA, FEMA, HUD, and other nationally recognized experts. He is working closely with the Mississippi Governor’s Office of Renewal and Recovery and MEMA to execute this award. This project was also awarded FIRST PLACE in the 2007 US EPA + AIA sponsored Life Cycle Building Challenge Competition in the Professional: Unbuilt category.

Berk has received numerous awards for his teaching and research at MSU. In 2006 he received both of the school’s faculty awards for his teaching and research. The first and most prestigious honor was the Allen & Hoshall Award; a $500 annual award to the faculty member “. . . who has demonstrated excellence in teaching” was made by the 5th year graduating class. The second honor, the Faculty Book Award, came from the student architectural honor society, Tau Sigma Delta, for excellence in teaching and research. This was the second time he has received the Book Award, and the third time receiving the Allen & Hoshall award. In addition, he has been twice nominated by colleagues and students for the prestigious MSU Grisham Master Teacher Award; he also received the MSU College of Architecture Researcher of the Year award in 2002. In January 2008, Berk is being inducted into the MSU Shackouls Honor College Faculty (one of the highest honors awarded to MSU faculty). At the national level, Berk’s Passive Systems course on ecological design received special recognition in the American Institute of Architects Eco-literacy in Education Program in 2006.

Professor Berk had been a member of the Association for Computer Aided Design In Architecture (ACADIA) Board of Directors for 10 years 1994-2004). Berk is also responsible for pioneering and influencing the early movement of integrating 'student- owned' laptop computers into the design studio environment. His writings and presentations (Notepad in Every Backpack,1991) helped to advance a nationwide adoption of 'student- owned laptop computers’ within many architecture programs in the mid to late 90's and was noted in the Carnegie Mellon Boyer Report on Architectural Education. Back in the 90’s, this hybridized (digital-analog) pedagogy began to open the way for design faculty (and students) to incorporate the machine into their design process without abandoning or replacing traditional media.

EXCERPT link: Notepad in Every Backpack
http://www.caad.msstate.edu/sarc/69/Digital-Technology/

LINK: Breaking New Ground (More INFO about the 'innovative' computerization program - 1994)
http://msuinfo.ur.msstate.edu/alumnus/fall.94/28break.htm

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