The American Society of Interior Designers has announced it is awarding five design scholarships totaling $23,000. The winners, including three undergraduate and graduate students, a recent Ph.D. graduate, and a university lecturer, are from Harvard Graduate School of Design; Center for Health Systems & Design at Texas A&M University; University of Wisconsin, Madison; California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; University of California, Los Angeles, Extension; and the University of Kentucky.

“The trustees are pleased to honor the recipients of these scholarships for their innovative research and study,” said ASID Foundation chair Lisa Henry. “These studies add to the body of knowledge of the interior design profession and further the goals of the ASID Foundation to value and acknowledge academic excellence. These studies will also add momentum to the core purpose of ASID: to advance the profession and communicate the impact of interior design to enhance the human experience. We are grateful to our many donors and for our endowments, which enable us to award these scholarships.”

Harvard’s Nastaran Arfaei earned the Irene Winifred Eno Grant, in recognition of her interdisciplinary approach and focus on human-centered environments, which judge Lisa Fitzpatrick said took “an approach that allows our innate senses the ability to bridge gaps in workplace, education, healthcare, aviation, etc., without stopping forward momentum.”

Adeleh Nejati, a recent Ph.D. grad of the Center for Health Systems & Design, earned the Joel Polsky Prize for her doctoral dissertation on “Restorative Design Features for Hospital Staff Break Areas.” As judge Corey Allen Davey said of Nejati’s work, “This is very practical information that designers should use as well as hospitals and other health care facilities when planning interior environments.”

Other winners included Sara Bayramzadeh, Ph.D., a lecturer at the University of Kentucky, who earned the Joel Polsky Academic Achievement Award; and Sarah Treutel of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Paola Oliveras of Cal Poly Pomona and UCLA Extension, who were honored with the Legacy Scholarship undergraduate and graduate student prizes, respectively. Learn more about the winners.