Erica Cochran

Erica Cochran Hameen, Ph.D., NOMA, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP is an architectural designer and Assistant Professor at the Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture. In 2021, she was named the school’s first Director for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). She also serves as the Co-Director of the Center for Building Performance & Diagnostics (CBPD) and as Track Chair of the Doctor of Design (DDes) program.

Erica serves as an instructor for multiple graduate and undergraduate courses and recently developed a new course focused on energy efficient and healthy retrofits. Formerly, she was Program Director for the UDream program at CMU, which from 2009-2016 worked to increase diversity in the urban design profession nationally, and in the Pittsburgh region specifically, by offering opportunities for permanent employment in Pittsburgh to recent college graduates.

Erica has served as a studio critic at multiple universities. Her architectural experience includes over 50 educational, media and broadcast, residential, community, and transportation facilities. She is also an active member of several community service and non-profit organizations.

Erica has received numerous honors for her research and architectural design project participation including awards from the AIA, NY Landmarks Conservancy, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Faculty and Graduate Student Awards, and most recently Best Proposal in a Department of Energy (DOE) Competition presented at the White House Conference Room.

Erica holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech, and a Master of Science in Sustainable Design and a Ph.D. in Building Performance & Diagnostics from CMU. Erica’s 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 DOE as an Energy-Regional Innovation Cluster.