J.C. Calderón, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP, is the founding principal of calderón architecture & design studio p.c. (CADS) based in the City of Beacon in New York’s Hudson Valley. A practicing architect for over 25 years, he is currently registered in both New York and New Jersey. His diverse portfolio includes commercial, retail, institutional, hospitality, religious and residential projects always guided by the goals of design excellence and sustainability. In addition to private sector work, the firm has worked in the public sector on projects funded by NYS. Our research proposals include a new Beacon Film Center and a new public entrance to the City of Beacon NY with a public stair that will reconnect a section of Main Street disconnected by Urban Renewal in the 1970s. Mr. Calderón has served on the Planning Board & Main Street Access Committee in Beacon and currently serves as a Member of the Yale Board of Governors, the alumni body that oversees the Yale Alumni Association. He is a member of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) and is a LEED Accredited Professional. In 1991, as a student at the Yale School of Architecture, Mr. Calderón organized the symposium “People of Color in Architecture” which garnered national press. In 2022, as President of the American Institute of Architects Westchester + Hudson Valley Chapter (AIAWHV), he led a follow up symposium: “Equity & the Environment: The Challenges for AIA & NOMA in 2023 & Beyond” with national leaders of the AIA & NOMA. Mr. Calderón holds a B.A. from Williams College and an M.Arch from Yale.

Jennifer Walkowski serves as Historic Preservation Program Analyst in the Survey and National Register Unit at the NY State Historic Preservation Office, serving Western NY. She holds a BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology and a Master of Architectural History from the University of Virginia where she studied under Dell Upton and Richard Guy Wilson. Ms. Walkowski worked as a preservation consultant in Buffalo for several years, where she founded and served as President of the Louise Bethune Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians. 

K. Kennedy Whiters, AIA, with professional licenses to practice architecture in the states of Washington and New York, is a member of the “less than 1%” for less than 1% of all architects in the United States that are Black women. Pre-med when she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a bachelor’s degree in Spanish, a year of AmeriCorps service on Chicago's Westside at a community wellness center after graduation inspired her to be of service to predominantly Black and Latinx communities through architecture and historic preservation instead of medicine.

Dr. Daniel Williamson holds a PhD in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University and a Masters in architectural history from the University of Virginia. He currently teaches art and architectural history at the Savannah College of Art and Design. His research and writing, which has been supported by a Panofsky Fellowship and SCAD Sabbatical Award, spans on 19th and 20th century architecture in both India and the United States with a primary focus on postcolonial architectures in India after independence.