Tom S. Chung is a principal at Leers Weinzapfel Associates, recipient of the AIA Firm Award. Tom creates a nourishing public realm by pioneering sustainable Mass Timber Architecture, celebrating material and craft, and sharing his knowledge with current and future generation of architects. Tom’s architecture is welcoming, transparent, and sustainable, reflecting our values of diversity, democracy, and care for our environment.

Tom is a national leader in the practice and education of Mass Timber Design. His projects at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Arkansas are pioneering works of Mass Timber architecture and sustainability in the US, making accessible to the public, aesthetic and experiential beauty of this new/old material. Tom has been invited to speak on this emerging subject at conferences, seminars and workshops world-wide including Canada, Central and South America, South Korea, and throughout the United States. As Professor of Practice at Auburn University, Tom focuses on Mass Timber research and education, and serves on the Board of WoodWorks.

More information about Tom can be found in his BSA Profile interview here

Dr. Brian Via is the Director of the Forest Products Development Center and Regions Bank Professor at Auburn University. Before joining Auburn in 2008, he held roles at Louisiana Pacific Corporation, including Research Engineer and Manager of the corporate quality metrics program, overseeing 14 mills and 50 employees. Dr. Via also served as the Wood Quality Project Leader of Research and Development at International Paper Corporation, contributing to their forest genetics and fiber improvement program. At Auburn University, he played a key role in securing over $52 million in grants and contracts, with over $5 million as the principal investigator. Notably, he contributed to attracting manufacturers such as SmartLam and Louisiana Pacific to Alabama. Dr. Via holds five patents (2 pending) in sustainable adhesives, CO2 drying of wood, and formaldehyde sensors.

Dr. David Roueche is an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at Auburn University, and an Associate Director of the Structural Extreme Events Reconnaissance (StEER) network, funded by the National Science Foundation. His research focuses on improving the performance of low-rise buildings under extreme wind loads, including hurricanes and tornadoes and the advancement of timber as a resilient and sustainable construction material. David has research experience in large-scale experimental testing, numerical simulations, in-situ monitoring of low-rise buildings, and extensive post-disaster field investigations. His experimental research includes recent projects focused on advancing the design of steel-timber composite floor systems and advancing fundamental knowledge related to the use of mass timber in protective design applications. David serves as a member of the ASCE/SEI Wood Education Committee and Design of Wood Structures Committee, and is balloteer for the ASCE/SEI/AMS Wind Speed Estimation in Tornadoes and Other Windstorms Standards Committee.
David received his doctorate in Structural Engineering from the University of Florida in 2016, and Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the same in 2011. He received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics from Jacksonville University.

Jake Elbrecht is a Visiting Assistant Research Professor of Building Construction in the Auburn University McWhorter School of Building Science. His background includes mass timber design-build experience at Auburn University’s Rural Studio, developing a parametric tool to size mass timber elements during a Research Fellowship with EskewDumezRipple, and performing life cycle assessments on conceptual steel-timber hybrid buildings with the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). He was a named author on the 300+ page CTBUH Technical Guide, “Tall Timber: Mass Timber for High-Rise Buildings.” His work at Auburn University consists of ongoing research into resilient mass timber residential construction, overclad panel retrofits for affordable housing, and designing buildings for disassembly.

Su Theng Poon is an architect with Leers Weinzapfel Associates and a vital member of the firm.

She has worked on a range of higher education and community projects, including the Roslindale Branch of the Boston Public Library. She is currently the project architect for KPNC Environmental Education Building (EEB) at Auburn University which she has been involved in since its inception.

For KPNC EEB, Su spearheaded the transformation of design documents into built reality, leading the collaboration and coordination efforts with the mass timber supplier and the general contractor and has presented on mass timber architecture to Boston’s AEC community.

Su received her Master of Architecture from Tulane University and is involved in the firm‘s mentoring outreach.

Nathaniel Hardy began his career in KPFF’s Portland, OR office before launching KPFF’s Birmingham, AL office in 2021. He has broad experience working on a wide array of building types, including U.S. Embassies, airport facilities, hospitality, and higher-education buildings. Nathaniel has also contributed to or led the design of 10 mass timber buildings across the United States. His passion for mass timber stems from the positive impact this construction material has on each of its stakeholders in the supply chain; from the land owners, timber suppliers, manufacturers, designers, contractors, and rural communities positively impacted by the positive effects of the robust timber industry.