NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER WOMEN OF EXCELLENCE 2016
JANUARY 4-10, 2017
EDUCATION ERICA COCHRAN HAMEEN, PhD Assistant Professor/ Director of UDREAM Carnegie Mellon University With architectural experience that includes more than 50 educational, media and broadcast, residential, community, and transportation facilities, Erica Cochran Hameen, PhD, Assoc. AIA, NOMA, LEED AP, serves as an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Architecture and the director of their UDREAM Program, which provides recent graduates a deeper understanding of urban design through research projects and internships. In her role, Hameen is instrumental in coordinating research projects that focus on developing solutions to create sustainable, health and energy efficient schools, office buildings, cities and public spaces. As a professor, Hameen instructs multiple graduate and undergraduate courses, which includes a new one she recently developed that focuses on energy efficient and healthy retrofits. Prior to joining CMU, Hameen worked as an architectural designer, manager and leader for companies, such as WASA/Studio A in New York, Cannon Design, Kostow Greenwood Architects LLP and TAMS Consultants in Standford, Conn. Hameen holds a Bach-
LAW Nicola Henry-Taylor Counsel Myers Law Group, LLC.
Nicola Henry-Taylor, counsel with the Myers Law Group, LLC., focuses her practice on criminal and family law, and is heavily involved in many facets of the Allegheny County Bar Association (ACBA), where she is a founding member and past chair of the Diversity Collaborative Committee, has served as a governor on the ACBA Board of Governors and is a former chair of the Women in the Law Division (WLD). As a member of WLD, Henry-Taylor, a 1996 graduate of the Duquesne University School of Law and who holds an undergraduate degree from Slippery Rock University, has chaired three subcommittees–-diversity collaborative, program development and professional development–– where she has coordinated numerous successful ACBA programs, including the WLD Roundtable Series; served as chair and vice chair of the ACBA Judiciary Committee; and is a member of the Women in the Law Division, Homer S. Brown Division, Sole and Small Firm Practitioners Section, Family Law Section, By-Laws Committee, Diversity Collaborative Committee and Judicial Excellence Committee. She has also been appointed to serve on the ACBA Nominating Committee and the ACBA Board of Governors ad-hoc Diversity Directory Committee;
and is active in the Allegheny County Bar Foundation, serving as an ACBF Fellow. Outside of the ACBA, Henry-Taylor is also involved in a number of other legal and community organizations. She has been an active participant of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Minority Bar Committee, and has participated in other community and professional activities such as Genesis of Pittsburgh, Neighborhood Legal Services Association Pro Bono PFA Project, Auberle Mentoring Program and the Homeless Children’s Education Fund. She has been named to a second three-year term as a Hearing Committee Member serving the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and is a board member of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts. She also serves as a commissioner on the Allegheny County Human Relations Commission. Henry-Taylor has been a recipient of many awards, including the 2010 Slippery Rock University Outstanding Young Alumni Award, the Duquesne University Women’s Law Association Woman of the Year Award for 2014, the Women’s Bar Association of Western Pennsylvania’s Susan B. Anthony Award, and was recognized as a Rising Star for the PBA Minority Bar Committee.
elors of Architecture from Virginia Tech, a Masters of Science in sustainable design from CMU, and a doctorate in building performance & diagnostics. Her doctoral research investigated the impact of school building and neighborhood, physical and environmental, characteristics on student and teacher health and performance. She is also a contributing researcher for a sustainable engineering textbook and served as one of the principal investigators for the Consortium for Building Energy Innovation (CBEI), formally the EEB Hub, established by the U.S. Department of Energy as an Energy-Regional Innovation Cluster. In addition to being an active member of several community service and non-profit organizations, Hameen has received numerous honors for her research and architectural design project participation, including awards from the AIA, NY Landmarks Conservancy and Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce; several faculty and graduate student awards; and, most recently, Best Proposal in a DOE Competition presented at the White House Conference Room.
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