I joined tvsdesign in 2018 as the Director of Technology and Operations. I have a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and Marketing from Mississippi State University, a Master’s in Architecture from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master’s in Urban Design from Tongji University. That in itself is interesting – from Mississippi to Georgia to China and then somehow back to Georgia…

Now, to tell you a bit more about myself. Where do I start? I grew up when computers in schools shifted from a rarity to a normal occurrence. Math and Art were my favorite subjects. This confused people who subscribed to the Right Brain/Left Brain debate. However, there was always the inclination towards STEM, but that is not how I started my career. It was started managing others who are very different from myself. After obtaining my Bachelor’s, I was able to develop my soft skills (leadership, problem-solving, communication, flexibility) and some very handy hard skills (driving a tandem-axle truck, forklift operation) with Fortune 500 companies. I learned how to connect with people and the importance of that connection. I learned to trust the skillsets of people. I learned to fail and how to recover from those failures. This was a personal skill set that I never really engaged in prior to this time. There were a lot of struggles and frustrations. I was young in my career and had to develop these skills rather quickly.

Merica May Jensen, a NYC-based architect and artist, integrates her background as a ballet dancer with the Atlanta Ballet and a decade with DS+R into her exploration of architecture as a social choreographer and catalyst for change. Notable projects include the award-winning US Olympic and Paralympic Museum, Park Union Bridge, and the Shed. Her studio, Gray_Matter(s), launched in 2021, focuses on multidisciplinary design, addressing gender equity, climate awareness, affordable housing, public space, big data, and race. A tribute to Georgia Tech's women, part of her vision, will be installed this Fall.

As a graduate of Georgia Tech’s SoA, Merica May will speak to projects including her Tech thesis; her research with Sabir Khan and Tristan Al-Haddad; her principal project (the Park Union Bridge) with DS+R, at which she practiced for a decade; and recent work from her current studio Gray_Matter(s), featuring Georgia Tech’s Women’s Tribute; a finalist competition entry for the Atlanta Legacy Makers; and Fearless Girl’s Broken Glass Ceiling sculpture in front of the New York Stock Exchange; NYC + AIA NY Small Lots winning competition entry; as well as Remote Bodies, a unique screened dance work performed during COVID. In her talk, Merica will explore the interplay of body, place, geometry, detail, and the search for what she calls an emotive architecture—in which embodied motion informs social, spatial, and emotional experience. What does it mean to design an architecture that is the invisible choreographer of our daily lives?

Architect and educator Merrill Elam was born in 1943. She received her BA I nArchitecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1971 and her MBA from Georgia State University in 1982. Notable projects include the Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (1998); Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Graduate Engineering Center, Clemson University, Clemson, SC (2004); and Health Services Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT (2006). Elam currently lives and works in Atlanta, GA.

An American architect.[2] She co-founded Stanley, Love-Stanley P.C., an Atlanta-based architecture and design firm.[3] She was the first African-American woman to graduate from Georgia Institute of Technology's College of Architecture, and in 1983 she became the first African-American woman licensed architect in the Southeast.[2] Love-Stanley's projects include the Aquatic Center for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, the Lyke House Catholic Student Center at the Atlanta University Center, the Southwest YMCA and St. Paul's Episcopal Church (which won awards from the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA)), the Auburn Market in Sweet Auburn and the National Black Arts Festival headquarters.
With her husband William J. "Bill" Stanley III, she co-founded Stanley, Love-Stanley, P.C. in 1978 which has become the second largest African-American architectural practice in the South.[2][6] Her work with the NOMA included the creation of formal connections with the American Institute of Architects. During the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, Love-Stanley designed and oversaw the design of the Olympic Aquatic Center in a joint venture,[7][8] and the installation of a "Celebrate Africa" exhibit and performance. Later she provided design services for Youth Art Connection, a gallery and art hub for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta.
Love-Stanley served on several historic preservation boards as well as on the City of Atlanta's Zoning Review Board. Love-Stanley served for eight years on the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Midtown Improvement District which oversees capital improvement projects in Midtown Atlanta. She also supported the effort to designate Atlanta's West End neighborhood as a national historic district, volunteering to review documents, prepare drawings and serving as a consultant.[5] While on the board of the Atlanta Preservation Center, she stopped the demolition of several landmark buildings and led the restoration of the Herndon Home Museum (once owned by Alonzo Herndon, one of the wealthiest African-Americans in the U.S.). Love-Stanley also contributed her services pro bono to the design and development of the Sweet Auburn Avenue project which worked to revitalize the area in Atlanta around the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park and APEX Museum, just east of Downtown Atlanta.
She has won many community and professional service citations for her work in redevelopment of the historic districts of Atlanta as well as her advocacy for minority inclusion in the architectural profession.

Liz York serves as Chief Sustainability Officer and Associate Director for Quality and Sustainability for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the CDC since 1999, she has served as a construction project manager, design architect, and design reviewer, working closely with laboratory, security and safety professionals on CDC’s high containment labs and protocols. She is a registered architect, and holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Architecture, both from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Liz provides thought leadership and architectural expertise within the Federal community of health experts and is a key liaison between the fields of design and health. Liz’s work has been recognized with two White House GreenGov Presidential Awards, the Green Innovation award for the CDC Freezer Challenge and the Ripple Effect award for CDC’s Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Initiative. In addition to her professional work, Liz has been a longtime volunteer at Georgia Tech.  Georgia Tech named Liz to the inaugural Greek Hall of Fame for her service and leadership in the Greek community in 2014.