Areas of Interest: Architecture, architectural history, and urban studies and planning in developing nations.
A visiting scholar at the Watson Institute from September 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005, Professor Hermann is professor of architecture and landscape architecture and architectural history at Rhode Island School of Design. She holds a B.S. from the University of Vermont in botany and biology, a MLA from Cornell University in landscape architecture and urban design, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University in the history of Islamic architecture and urbanism.
She is the author of Education, Gender Parity and the Potential of Design: The Asian University for Women (Providence: Rhode Island School of Design, 2004), as well as articles and research papers. She is also working on a film in progress, "Endless Waters Have No Shore," which depicts the flooding of Dhaka, Bangladesh during the summer of 2003.
While at the Institute, she will work with Steven Hamburg in the Institute's Gobal Environment Program. During that time, she will focus on an ongoing study of the challenges of engineering, design, and ecological issues as a single interrelated thought in the design of a university campus in Bangladesh, while also reestablishing Bangladesh's native ecology and developing the land and university in a way that demonstrates to the Bangladeshis sustainable building and living practices.