Featured Alumni/Alumnae

Salvatore Raffone, BS Degree, 1995

Sal was born and raised in New Haven, CT and moved to Boston, MA in 1990. He currently resides in NYC and works for one of the top architecture firms, Skidmore Owings and Merrill.

In regards to his education, Sal says “I entered Northeastern without much ambition, I was quickly motivated by the competitive spirit of the Northeastern University Architecture Department. “ Upon graduation Sal developed drawings for George Thrush's (Director of the School of Architecture) Urban Ring research project that ultimately informed the development of Boston's "Silver Line" transit route.

At the urging and encouragement of his professors (including Monica Ponce de Leon of Office dA) Sal pursued very satisfying internships at the Boston firms of Chan Krieger and Machado Silvetti while attending Harvard's Graduate School of Design.

Sal has been in New York at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill for 7 years now, where he is currently an Associate. Sal has worked on several large projects and enjoys the scale and complexity of the work very much. The project that Sal is currently involved in, Lotte Super Tower - a 550 meter tall mixed-use tower south of the Han River in Seoul - has taken him to Korea several times in the last eight months for client and contractor meetings.

Sal enthusiastically comments “The encouragement I received at Northeastern has led me to a career of particular satisfaction. The choices that have been afforded me by my experience and the contacts that I've developed over the years all have their roots at this school”.

Lauren Coles, BS Degree, 2005

Lauren Coles graduated magna cum laude with honors from the School of Architecture in 2005. She held the highest GPA during her time in the program and served as Vice President of the AIAS group. While in school Lauren worked for William Rawn and Associates as a model maker during her co-op assignments.

Lauren talks about her co-op experiences, "I can't even begin to explain how much this experience has helped me develop as an aspiring architect as well as jump starting my career. In fact I was told by a former employer that my time in co-op made me wiser beyond my years. You really can't beat being thrown into your field to begin your career and understanding of the profession. It was one of the most valuable experiences at Northeastern for me."

Currently, Lauren is working at the Yazdani Studio of Cannon Design in Los Angeles California. She has been there for a year developing a master plan of a car manufacturing plant for TATA Motors near Calcutta, India. She is excited to be designing four buildings on site, the gatehouse, administration building, training center, and recreation center.

Previously, Lauren spent a year at Robert Olson & Associates in Boston as an intern where she worked on a private residence in New Hampshire. She also spent a summer doing Habitat for Humanity in Tennesse re-building a residence torn down by a tornado.

Jill Kaehler, BS Degree, 2006

Jill Kaehler of Boston has been selected to participate in the 2007-2008 Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals, a year-long, government-sponsored program for study and work in Germany. Jill Kaehler graduated from Northeastern University in 2006 with a degree in architecture. CDS International, the administering organization, selected Jill among a record-number of applicants for this unique scholarship program. Since 1984, approximately 9,000 Americans have been given this unique opportunity to gain cultural, theoretical, and practical work experience in Germany.

Through this exchange program, Jill Kaehler will be part of a group of seventy-five Americans who will participate in two months of intensive German language training, four months of study at a German university or professional school, and a five month internship (Jill’s internship will be with Behnisch Architekten in Stuttgart). Placed throughout all of Germany, participants have the opportunity to live with a host and learn about daily life in another culture. Jill will be abroad from July 2007 through July 2008.

Rachael Sansom, M. Arch Degree, 2007

Rachael was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico and served as Valedictorian of her high school class in 2001.

Rachael decided to apply to Northeastern University mainly due to the co-op program. She is quoted as saying “It seemed like it would help to set me ahead of other graduates.” She received the Ell Presidential Scholarship (full tuition, room and board) for her undergraduate studies, and graduated in 2006 with a BS Degree and a 3.85 GPA. She went on to complete the NU graduate program and received her M. ARCH in May of 2007 with a 3.9 GPA.

During Rachael’s undergraduate career she completed four co-ops through Northeastern, the last of which has become her current, full-time job. Every single one of Rachael’s co-ops was invaluable.

She comments, “I learned more about the profession and about myself than I ever would have dreamed. I felt that my co-ops really taught me the skills, technology, marketing, graphics, client-relations, written and verbal skills, drawing and sketching, and project management, that one needs to truly succeed - and be prepared for - in the architectural profession. Co-op has allowed me to explore the profession and discover those areas of architecture that I particularly enjoy, and those I do not. This has helped to give me direction and confidence in my career choices and goals that I don't believe I would have gained without the co-op experience.“

Rachael has entered the full-time workforce and is aware that she has more experience under her belt than graduates from other universities. She has been able to network and use her previous contacts to land a current job that she loves.

Rachael says, “At 24 I am already a project manager and am currently responsible for the design and management of over $4 million in projects. How else could I have possibly landed and been prepared for such a position if not for the real-world, in-the-field education I received from my co-op positions?“

Currently Rachael works at a Hickox Williams Architects, a small Boston-based residential firm, which she had worked at in a previous co-op assignment. The majority of her work is renovation. Rachael is currently working on the renovation of two Victorian homes in Cambridge, the gut renovation of a condo on the Boston Common, a full-story addition to a Beacon Hill Condo, and several smaller projects in the greater Boston area.