Michael is a practicing architect and an advocate for sustainable public policy. He was 2013 President of the Boston Society of Architects and 2015-2016 Chair of the Board of Trustees of the BSA Foundation. For the American Institute of Architects, Mike currently serves as Advocacy ambassador for the National AIA Committee on the Environment and as a newly appointed member of the AIA Board Government Advocacy Committee. He participated on a national AIA Materials Knowledge and Transparency working group and was a contributing author for an April 2016 AIA sustainability white paper, "Materials Transparency and Risk for Architects”. Mike has participated on or led AIA Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) and Sustainable Design for Resilience Team (DART) charrettes in Ithaca, NY, DeKalb County, GA, Augusta, GA, Tremonton, UT, St. Helens, OR, Louisville, KY, and Bath, ME, as well as the AIA’s first International R/UDAT charrette in Dublin, Ireland. Mike’s recent professional projects include a modular student residence hall at Endicott College, a LEED Certified facility for Hosteling International Boston in an adaptively-reused historic building, and a deep-energy retrofit of public housing units for the Boston Housing Authority at the Cathedral Family Development, which achieved LEED Platinum certification. He blogs about his firm’s work as signatory to the AIA 2030 Commitment. Mr. Davis advised the Boston Planning and Development Agency as a Member and Chair of the Boston Civic Design Commission from 1996 to 2018 and served on Boston Mayor Thomas Menino's Green Building Task Force and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s Net Zero Energy Building Taskforce. He holds a bachelor's degree in Architecture from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Architecture from Yale University

Taryn Sabia’s career in architecture and urban design is anchored by a passion to involve citizens in actively shaping the built environment. Her diverse background in architecture, urban design, education, and community engagement has provided a deep understanding of the importance of context-based design, mobility, resiliency, and culture of place, and how these elements inform the design of an urban framework. Professor Sabia is the Assistant Dean for Research in the College of Design, Art & Performance at the University of South Florida’s School of Architecture and Community Design and the Director of the Florida Center for Community Design and Research (FCCDR).

As a Research Associate Professor, she teaches graduate courses and studios on urban design policy, climate change and sustainability, urban form, urban transportation systems, and citizen involvement in urbanism. Her research is committed to the merging of design and civics, with focus on climate change adaptation, transit modes and public space. She has extensive experience building partnerships between community members, organizations, and government leaders, Professor Sabia has served as a Principal Investigator on more than 30 projects and advised numerous elected officials and local governments. 

Professor Sabia is a co-founder of the Tampa based non-profit, urban design collaborative, Urban Charrette, Inc. The organization is dedicated to educating community leaders and young professionals about sustainable urban design and empowering citizens to make their neighborhoods and cities better places to live. Professor Sabia has worked professionally in the field of architecture on projects related to mixed-use development, historic preservation, and downtown façade redevelopment programs. She has planned and facilitated over 150 public charrettes and workshops and has authored several articles about community engagement and urban design including a publication in the National Civic Review.

Professor Sabia led the Southeast Regional Mayor's Institute for City Design program in 2014 and 2017. She has presented numerous times at national and regional conferences and serves with professional organizations, such as the American Institute of Architects' Regional and Urban Design Leadership Group leading initiatives for the Active City Conference in 2017 and the Future of Urban Design Education Symposia.

Professor Sabia earned a Master of Urban and Community Design from the University of South Florida and a Master of Architecture from Rhode Island School of Design, where she was a Graduate Fellow for City-State: RISD's Urban Design Lab and served as a Senate Fellow to the Senior Policy Advisor for the Rhode Island Senate. She holds a Master's of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Bachelor's Degree in Visual Art from Eckerd College.