Mohamed Ismail

Education

BS in Civil Engineering, Duke University; Master of Architecture, University of Virginia
Master of Science in Architecture Studies in Building Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
PhD Candidate in Building Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Biography

Mohamed Ismail is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Virginia School of Architecture and the Director of the Open Structures Research group. Open Structures advances structural design and contextual fabrication methods that may enable global sustainable development.  Ismail received his PhD in Building Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and his dissertation, entitled “Reshaping concrete: Empowering development through low-carbon structures,” engaged nonprofit organizations, industry partners, and a global network of academics to design and develop low-cost, low-carbon structural components for housing in developing regions like Kenya, India, and Mexico.  His research has resulted in authored and co-authored articles for peer-reviewed journals and conferences such as Construction and Building Materials (2024); the International Congress on Construction History (2024); Technology|Architecture + Design (2024); Enquiry (Architectural Research Centers Consortium, 2023); the International Conference on Structures and Architecture (2022, 2021); Engineering Structures (2021); Architecture, Structures and Construction (2021); among others.

Ismail has taught classes in construction systems, visual representation, parametric workflows, and structural design at UVA, Northeastern University and MIT. In addition to his doctorate, Ismail holds an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from Duke University, a Master of Architecture degree from the UVA School of Architecture, and a Master of Science in Architecture Studies in Building Technology from MIT.  His award-winning graduate thesis explored an urban vernacular building language for residential architecture in Khartoum, Sudan, that utilized form-finding optimization technologies while carefully integrating local resources, empowering local labor, and advancing local skillsets.

In 2017 and 2019, Ismail was named a Fellow of the MIT Tata Center for Technology and Design and a MIT Presidential Fellow, respectively, and was awarded a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans in 2020. In 2022, with his PhD advisor Professor Caitlin Mueller, he received an ACSA Diversity Achievement Award. Throughout his academic studies, he has held leadership roles especially in service to advancing justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.