A researcher focused on Afro-Indigenous communities in the southern United States and Caribbean has joined Illinois Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture as a Jeanne and John Rowe Fellow. Sydney Rose Maubert will explore the Great Migration's impact on Chicago public housing.

Maubert, through her Miami-based practice Sydney R. Maubert LLC, examines how marginalized cultures have influenced broader architectural landscapes. Her research includes studies on the Black Seminoles of Florida, the Gullah and Geechee people in South Carolina and Georgia, and the Tainos of the Caribbean.

As part of her fellowship, Maubert is teaching a seminar that investigates how the Great Migration affected Chicago public housing architecture, culture, and policy. The migration involved many Black individuals moving from the South to northern cities like Chicago for better opportunities.

Her fellowship will expand on previous work such as her 2023 exhibition “Queen of the Swamp,” which highlighted “how Miami’s Black and Indigenous communities instigated Miami’s original architecture, infrastructure, and present culture,” according to Maurbert.

“With this ongoing design and research, I will continue developing a body of work that draws upon my existing practice in Miami," says Maubert. She aims to show "how public policy has changed the American landscape."

Maubert developed her skills at the University of Miami and Yale University. She hopes to mentor students at Illinois Tech’s College of Architecture because “mentorship was key to my growth.”

Previously, Maubert served as Cornell Strauch Fellow from 2022–24. She has also taught at Yale, Morgan State University, City College of New York, and Miami.

“I hope I can use the education and opportunities I have received to open doors for other students," she says.

The Jeanne and John Rowe Fellowship supports early-career faculty with two years of teaching while they pursue funded research projects related to architecture, urbanism, landscape architecture, structures, building systems, professional practice among others.