AIA Potomac Valley - Class of 2024 Emerging Professional Awards Program Winners

Class of 2024 Emerging Professional Awards Program Winners

AIAPV is excited to welcome the members of the Emerging Professional Awards Program (EPAP) Class of 2024. EPAP is AIAPV’s annual competition recognizing outstanding EP leaders and providing them with a yearlong opportunity to hone their leadership skills and professional development through mentorship with AIAPV’s Group of Fellows, our most accomplished members.

Our EPAP winners were honored on October 19, 2023 at AIAPV's Design + Leadership Awards at Celebrate Design 2023. They each received a $500 cash award, stipend for professional development activities, and yearlong mentorship program with AIAPV’s Fellows. This year’s class includes five outstanding EPs, introduced below, who were selected from a field of 19 impressive nominees. They were chosen by a jury of AIAPV Fellows, based on an evaluation of their leadership potential.

The EPAP Class of 2024, along with AIAPV Fellow Carl Elefante, FAIA (far left), as well as sponsors Katie Irwin of Willdan – Implementer for Potomac Edison’s CNC Program (far right) and Justin Yotter of Precision Property Measurements (2nd in on left).

Photo l to r: AIA Fellow Carl Elefante, FAIA; Emerging Leaders Sponsor Justin Yotter (Precision Property Measurements), EPAP Winners: Nathanael White, Stephen Rosenfelder, Christie Melgar, Duong Le and Nicholas DiBella; and Emerging Leaders Sponsor Katie Irwin (Willdan / Potomac Edison).

Scroll down for photo gallery of the Class of 2024 Winners at Celebrate Design 2023.

Congratulations to our EPAP Class of 2024 members:

	Nicholas DiBella, Associate AIA Nicholas is on the architectural staff of Miner Feinstein Architects, where he focuses on affordable housing projects. He designs them not just to be affordable, but also to support residents’ and the communities’ health through thoughtful, sustainable design. He earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Architecture from the University of Maryland, where he also served as a teaching assistant for academic studios.

	Duong Le, Associate AIA Duong is an Architecture Designer at Hord Coplan Macht where he utilizes sustainable strategies and carbon modeling in his design work. He received his B.S. in Architecture from the University of Maryland, where he also served as Vice President of AIAS and Treasurer of Women in Architecture UMD, was active in NOMAS UMD, and was an undergraduate Student Senator.

	Christie Melgar, Associate AIA An Architectural Project Designer and Project Manager for Leuterio Thomas, Christie has worked on numerous school and other infrastructure projects throughout the greater Potomac Valley region, including the Potomac Yards Metrorail Station and, currently, Concourse 2 at Dulles Airport. She earned a B.S. in Architecture and Bachelor of Civil Engineering from Catholic University and a Master of Architecture from Tulane.

	Stephen Rosenfelder, AIA, RA, LEED AP BD+C Stephen is an Associate at Grimm + Parker, where he manages projects and teams, verifies compliance with energy codes, develops conceptual designs and feasibility studies, manages Revit models for multiple projects, and completes tax credit packages for affordable housing projects. He received a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech.

	Nathanael White, RA A Project Architect at GTM Architects, Nate handles a diverse workload including single-family residences, new homes and renovations/additions, and light-commercial architectural work, taking these projects through all phases of design and construction. He earned a B.S. in Business from East Carolina University College and a Master of Architecture from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.