Pinto Duarte Named Interim Head of Department of Architecture
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. 鈥斅, Stuckeman Chair in Design Innovation and director of the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing (SCDC) at Penn State, has been appointed interim head of the Department of Architecture in the Stuckeman School, College of Arts and Architecture, effective July 1.
He takes over for Frank Jacobus, who was recently named director of the Knowlton School at Ohio State University after spending three years as the architecture department head at the Stuckeman School.
鈥淲e are deeply grateful to Frank for his leadership as department head in architecture and for his many contributions to the school and college,鈥 said Chingwen Cheng, Stuckeman School director. 鈥淲e are also grateful to Jos茅 for his leadership in the SCDC and for the important role he plays across the architecture, graphic design and landscape architecture communities at the Stuckeman School. His experience, collegiality and demonstrated leadership make him exceptionally well-suited to serve as interim department head in architecture and to help guide the department through the 2026-27 academic year.鈥
A professor of architecture and landscape architecture at Penn State since 2016, Pinto Duarte is an affiliate professor of architectural engineering and engineering design. He co-founded the Penn State Additive Construction Laboratory and X-Hab 3D, leading initiatives in digital architecture and building information modeling.
鈥淛os茅 has been instrumental to the sustained success of the SCDC and has been an integral member of the architecture and landscape architecture faculty over the past 10 years,鈥 said Cheng. 鈥淲ith his extensive academic experience and deep commitment to the Stuckeman School, we are grateful for his willingness to step up and provide leadership during this transition.鈥
Pinto Duarte said he looks forward to working with colleagues to 鈥渟upport the department鈥檚 continuity, strengthen connections across the Stuckeman School, and maintain the conditions that allow our faculty, staff and students to thrive.鈥
鈥淚 see this interim role as an opportunity to serve the department with care and attentiveness 鈥 supporting stability, fostering open communication, and building on the strong culture of collaboration that defines architecture at Penn State,鈥 Pinto Duarte said.
Pinto Duarte co-led the Penn State team that experienced tremendous success in the NASA 3D-printed Mars Habitat Challenge, including a聽聽in the third phase of the competition in 2019. He has numerous honors and awards to his name and has presented his work at both national and international conferences.
Prior to his arrival at Penn State, Pinto Duarte served as dean of the School of Architecture at the Technical University of Lisbon (now University of Lisbon). He also taught in the Department of Architecture at the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he helped to establish the MIT鈥揚ortugal program.
Pinto Duarte is a past president of eCAADe – education and research in Computer-Aided Architectural Design in Europe.