Balázs Bognár, AB ’00
Distinguished Alumni in Architecture  

Balázs Bognár is an American architect, partner and executive vice president at Kengo Kuma & Associates, and the 2025 president of the Japan chapter of American Institute of Architects. He earned his undergraduate architecture degree at WashU and a Master of Architecture at Harvard University. Bognár is a native of Urbana, Illinois, living in Tokyo, where he has been working alongside Kengo Kuma since 2007 to lead teams for projects in North America and elsewhere. His role spans design direction and mentorship in and outside the office, with interests embracing the varied relationships between places, cultures, and nature. Key completed work includes Alberni in Vancouver, Canada; Amanpuri Retail Pavilion in Phuket, Thailand; Rolex in Dallas, Texas; Portland Japanese Garden Cultural Village in Oregon; and Red Bull Music Academy in Tokyo, Japan. Bognár also lectures broadly and writes selectively about his work with Kengo Kuma & Associates, reflecting on the meaning of the office’s efforts within broader cultural contexts.

Stacy Bourne, FAIA, NOMA, MAUD ’98
Distinguished Alumni in Architecture

Stacy Bourne, FAIA, NOMA, is the founding principal of The Bourne Group, a practice that uses hurricane resilient design to catalyze social change through community-engaged work. She directly managed more than $50 million in post-disaster recovery — spanning assessments, architecture, and engineering — after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and is advancing resilient systems, materials, and policies across the U.S. Originally from St. Louis, Bourne has spent three decades navigating a dozen major storms in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Along with numerous service roles in the Virgin Islands, Bourne was the first Black woman to serve on the AIA board of directors and helped shape the organization’s Women’s Leadership summit. She mentors high schoolers to emerging professionals, sponsors Crit Scholars, and participates in College of Fellows/Young Architect Forum mentorship. Bourne earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture at Tulane University and a Master of Architecture and Urban Design at WashU.

Alexandra Mei, BDes ’15
Recent Alumni Award in Architecture

Alexandra Mei, PLA, ASLA is a landscape architect, educator, and researcher. She is the founding principal of Ground Collaborative, a landscape architecture practice that partners with communities to bring their public spaces to life and sustain them over time. Previously, Mei designed and managed projects throughout the Midwest, including the future Hirsch Center at WashU with Christner Architects and the 16 Tech District Plan in Indianapolis with Merritt Chase. Her work has been recognized by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Landscape Architecture Foundation, and Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where she earned her graduate degree. She is also a lecturer in WashU’s Master of Landscape Architecture program. Throughout her career, Mei has worked to bring more diverse representation to the design fields through her work with the ASLA St. Louis Chapter, Harvard GSD’s Womxn in Design, and WxLA.

Lavar Munroe, Jr., MFA ’13
Distinguished Alumni in Art

Bahamian-born artist Lavar Munroe’s work has been described as a hybrid medium between painting and relief sculpture. He often incorporates sentimental objects collected and gifted from his family along with objects found during his travel, focusing on themes such as journey, utopia, magic, love, and the celebration of escape through fantastical and dreamlike imagery. He is co-representing the Bahamas at the 2026 Venice Biennale and is a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow. Munroe has exhibited work in the Bahamas, Belgium, France, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, and more. Following his time at WashU, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has had residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Headlands Center for the Arts, Joan Mitchell Center, among others. Munroe lives and works between Baltimore, Maryland, and Nassau, Bahamas. He earned his BFA at Savannah College of Art and Design and his MFA at WashU, which awarded him a Stone & DeGuire Contemporary Art Award in 2024.

Molly Needelman, BFA ’08  Distinguished Alumni in Art

Molly Needelman is a people-centered designer whose work sits at the intersection of human needs, emerging technology, and product strategy. She helps organizations navigate ambiguity and shape what’s next. A 2008 graduate of WashU’s Sam Fox School, she holds an MBA from Johns Hopkins University and an MA in design leadership from the Maryland Institute College of Art. She has spent more than a decade at Google as a founding member of YouTube’s Visioning team and as co-founder and research lead of YouTube’s GenAI Lab. She is an alumni advisor to WashU for the Sam Fox School’s new Master of Design for Human-Computer Interaction and Emerging Technology program, contributing to long-term strategy and curriculum development, as well as mentoring current students. 

Rachel Youn, BFA ’17
Recent Alumni Award in Art  

Rachel Youn is an artist working across sculpture and installation. Their kinetic works often pair artificial plants with salvaged electric massagers — objects sourced through secondhand shopping that carry traces of aspiration and failure. These sculptures animate with a clumsy, erotic, and sometimes absurd vitality, evoking the strange intimacy of machines that simulate care. They earned their BFA at WashU and MFA at Yale University. Youn has exhibited work in China, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, The Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, and more. They are a past recipient of the Stone & DeGuire Contemporary Art Award and the Great Rivers Biennial Award. They have attended residencies at Bemis Center, Lighthouse Works, and Vermont Studio Center, and their work has been reviewed in Art in America, Artsy, ARTnews, Vogue, LA Review of Books, Artillery Magazine, and Elephant, among others.