Dattner Architects Information Session

Join Career Services for an information session featuring Dattner Architects. The session will include Ruth Ro ‘02 M.Arch and Principal, Emily Ruopp '21 MS.AAD and Project Architect, and Troy Lacombe '17 M.Arch and Project Designer. Nathaniel Rogers, Director of Human Resources, will also be present. The session will start with a brief presentation, followed by a Q&A session.

Ruth Ro, AIA ’02 M.ARCH., Principal at Dattner Architects, leads large-scale mixed-use projects and champions community-focused design. Her passion for multi-stakeholder developments began during her final year at Columbia GSAPP, following the 9/11 attacks. After graduating, she worked with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation on initiatives to revitalize the area.

Ruth, an openly queer person of color, advocates for social justice in architecture and civic spaces. She leads Dattner’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee and is active with the AIANY Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the LGBTQIA+ Alliance. Additionally, she serves on the board of Build Out Alliance, advocating for LGBTQIA+ professionals in the building industry.

Additionally, Ruth is a founding board member of AAPI New Jersey, where she successfully advocated for New Jersey to become the second state to pass the Asian-American curriculum bill. She facilitates discussions on race in local school communities and frequently speaks at rallies and testifies on behalf of marginalized voices. In 2021, Ruth was recognized as one of Crain’s Notable LGBTQ Leaders and Executives.

Emily Ruopp, AIA ’21 MS. AAD, has practiced architecture in New York City since 2014 and currently works at Dattner Architects in the Residential Housing Studio. She focuses on sustainable, affordable multi-family housing, advocating for community connection through thoughtful design.

Emily emphasizes sustainability and equitable design in her teaching and projects, having won the 2020 Buell Center Paris Prize for a project aligned with the 2015 Paris Agreement. She also completed a workshop at the New School Parsons on sustainable materials.

A graduate of Syracuse University and Columbia GSAPP, Emily teaches master’s studio courses and has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. She is actively involved in sustainable practice groups, women in architecture, LGBTQ+ rights, and local volunteer initiatives.

TROY LACOMBE ’17 MArch is a Senior Designer at Dattner focused on community-driven projects that center the conversation on the cross-pollination of social psychology and the urban built environment, with equity at its core. He has anchored his experience on large-scale redevelopments, both commercial and residential, higher education student centers, public libraries, public open space, and gender-neutral bathrooms. He believes that architecture and urban design is about placemaking, anthropologically speaking, and that the built environment is a stage for which people, live, commune, work, and create together.

Troy received a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from University of Washington, Seattle, and his Master of Architecture from Columbia University. He was the recipient of the Charles McKim Prize for Excellence in Design / Saul Kaplan Traveling Fellowship where he cross-examined social infrastructure across a variety of urban fabrics, globally.

Nathaniel Rogers is the Director of Human Resources at Dattner Architects. After receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Illustration at Brigham Young University, he found himself in New York City pursuing two different careers entirely. His human resources journey began in the Hospitality industry where he served as a Consultant, Recruiter, Generalist, and Director. He is proud to have made his home at a mission-driven firm that believes in engaged collaboration, civic spaces, and New York City itself. The firm shares his passion for continual learning and development and employee engagement. Both are essential to healthy businesses as a whole and the individual talents working within them. His experience with brand launches, talent acquisition, labor relations, policy development, coaching and counselling, and training have all reinforced this core belief. In addition to his human resources career Nathaniel is a writer, specializing in the film industry and is a member of two national critics organizations, Critics Choice Association and GALECA The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics.

Moderated by Syeda Shirin Kakakhel '25 MS.AAD

When: Nov 8th, 11:00 am - 12:30 pm Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Please register in advance for this meeting

This event is hosted by Karen Cover, Associate Director of GSAPP Career Services