An early-career design educator, the Judith Kinnard Early Career Design Fellow in Architecture holds a full-time teaching appointment and brings a commitment to design excellence that is holistic, value-driven, and grounded in engagement and impact.
The Judith Kinnard Early Career Design Fellow in Architecture — Cornell AAP’s first endowed faculty position named solely for a woman — was established in 2024 through the generosity of Judith Kinnard (B.Arch. ’77) and Kenneth Schwartz (B.Arch. ’79, M.Arch. ’83). With this gift, it is their hope to support emerging educators who advance design teaching and learning.
Fall 2025 Judith Kinnard Early Career Design Fellow
Emma Silverblatt is an architectural designer whose work explores design activism, public engagement, and participatory production. At Cornell, Silverblatt teaches theory and community-engaged courses and coedits the Cornell Journal of Architecture. Her multidisciplinary firm, post-, expands the boundaries of spatial practice to interactive media, events, writing, and installations. Her research focuses on alternative forms of housing, grounded in the belief that design has the agency to advance housing as a human right.
Silverblatt previously worked at a number of internationally recognized firms, most recently as an associate at SO – IL, where she led major projects including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in Cleveland, Ohio, and coordinated Urban Design Forum and Van Alen Institute’s Neighborhoods Now initiative in Jackson Heights, delivering pro-bono design/build services for three years. Prior to that, as a designer at REX, Silverblatt worked on the Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center, where she was responsible for developing the marble facade and theater interior scopes.
She holds a B.S. in Architecture from The Ohio State University and an M.Arch I with Commendation from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.