Awards

Mehdi Mortazavi has earned first place in a national rehabilitation design competition for a thesis project addressing mobility challenges for people living with multiple sclerosis. ProxiStep, a soft, passive lower-body exosuit, improves gait balance and reduces walking effort through a human-centered design approach grounded in extensive patient and clinical collaboration.

Award-winning projects from Hines College students Mehdi Mortazavi and Dillon Narcisse show how wearable technology can become more intuitive, accessible, and responsive to human needs. Recognized in the FIT Sport Design Awards, their work explores how design can translate emerging technologies into tools that support performance, usability, and everyday experience.

Donna Kacmar, FAIA, has been awarded the title of Professor Emeritus following her retirement at the close of the Spring 2026 semester. For twenty-six years at the Hines College, Kacmar shaped generations of architects through design studios, research, and mentorship while advancing scholarship in architecture, materiality, and the built environment.