Marilys R. Nepomechie, M.Arch., is Distinguished University Professor of Architecture and associate dean of faculty and program development in the College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts at Florida International University.
Marilys R. Nepomechie is a registered architect. Her writing, research, urban design, and building projects focus on the cultural, social, and environmental contexts of design. Included in the archives of the U.S. National Building Museum, the work of her practice has been honored with numerous professional and academic awards, national and international exhibition, and wide publication. Her design work, in collaboration with FIU professor Marta Canavés, ASLA, has earned a National Honor Award in Urban and Regional Design—the highest distinction bestowed by the national chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
As principal investigator, Professor Nepomechie has received research grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies or the Fine Arts, the Cintas Foundation, the American Institute of Architects, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation | Wolfsonian-FIU, the Cuban Research Institute, the Cejas Family Foundation, and International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, where she was an invited curator, exhibitor, and presenter on the subject of coastal urban development in Miami, Florida, and Havana, Cuba. Professor Nepomechie was co-curator of the exhibition La Habana moderna, 1902-1959 at the Phillip and Patricia Frost Art Museum.
Professor Nepomechie is author of the AIA Guide to MIAMI | Building Paradise: An Architectural Guide to the Magic City (2010), and editor of the bilingual Bienal Miami + Beach 2001-2005: A Retrospective (2007). Her work has appeared in numerous journals, including JAE, Thresholds, Places, Perspecta, Modulus, Aula, Punto, Metropolis, Ottagono, Abitare, Architecture, Architecture Boston, Architecture Ireland, and Progressive Architecture.
Inaugural director of the accredited professional program in architecture at FIU, Nepomechie was lead faculty advisor for the award-winning FIU 2011 Solar Decathlon project and currently serves as the faculty advisor in architecture to the joint THU-FIU Solar Decathlon China 2013 effort. She has served on the editorial review board of Architectural Record and on the National Board of the AIA 2030 Commitment. She served as 2016 President of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture [ACSA]. In 2018 she was elected as a director of the National Architectural Accreditation Board [NAAB].
Professor Nepomechie holds a Master of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has been inducted to the AIA College of Fellows. She also holds a B.A. in English literature (with highest honors) from the University of Florida.