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The Daily Hub

A roundup of ideas and projects from around the Institute

  • Fashion design alumnus Emilio Sosa, who is nominated for two 2023 Tony awards, was featured in the New York Times for the five different Broadway productions he has created costumes for this season: “Listening to actors is 95 percent of my design. You need to have your actors actively involved in the costume they’re going to wear.”

  • Salman Toor, MFA Fine Arts (Painting) ’09, is profiled in an immersive, multimedia feature in The New York Times that explores his studio space, his art practice, and his background and influences. “When he graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 2009, Toor was painting as if he was an apprentice of the Italian Renaissance artist Giovanni Bellini. He had started making classical portraits of friends that included a strange scribble of paint above their heads. That is when Catherine Redmond, his painting professor at Pratt, knew something was about to change. His brushstrokes were becoming less about the Renaissance and more about him.”

  • Young Jun Kim, BFA Fine Arts (Jewelry) ’24, was featured in The Good Men Project about his jewelry practice. “In a world where jewelry often begins and ends with surface beauty, Young Jun Kim dares to dig deeper, transforming metal into memory, ornament into narrative,” writes Noen Noah. “As both a designer and metalsmith, Young Jun Kim is redefining what it means to adorn the body, crafting pieces that not only captivate the eye but also question the nature of beauty, imperfection, and time itself.

  • Graphis awarded Satchel McLaughlin, AOS Graphic Design ’25, Silver for typography and design in their New Talent 2025 competition. She also received an Honorable Mention for her poster design.

  • Fadila Prastawa, Qinni (Nino) Xiang, Xueer Han, and Liliya Treyger, all MPS Design Management ’25, presented their project “Beacon of Light” to the American Institute of Architects, New York. The proposal addresses urban resilience during citywide blackouts. A pilot program is slated for Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, with plans for citywide expansion and partnerships with agencies like NYC Emergency Management and FEMA. Emphasizing community preparedness over infrastructure alone, Beacon of Light provides a scalable, human-centered model for blackout resilience that aligns with global sustainability objectives.

  • Visiting Assistant Professor in the School of Information Claudia Berger, MSLIS ’21, and Gabby Evergreen, MSLIS ’24, led a workshop, “Exploring Environmental Data Through Data Physicalization,” at the 2025 METRO STEM Information Professionals Mini Conference. At that same conference, alumna Diedre Brown, MS Data Analytics and Visualization ’21, gave a talk, “Empathy for the Faceless: Using Coloring Books to Exploring the Urban Aerobiome Microclimate,” and alumna and METRO staff Mary Bakija, MSLIS ’20, helped organize the conference.

More Pratt Institute News

A man stands in front of a building. He wears a suit and tie and glasses. There is greenery behind him.

Dr. Peter West Appointed Dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences 

The accomplished writer, scholar, and academic leader joins Pratt Institute from Mercy University. He will assume the role on July 7, 2025.
A man in a yellow shirt holds up a drawing of an infinity symbol while leading a classroom activity with students seated around a table, working on maps and drawings. A photographer on the right captures the moment as the students concentrate on their projects.

Rafael de Balanzo Joue Receives Fulbright Specialist Program Award

From School of Architecture News

School of Architecture faculty member Dr. Rafael De Balanzo Joue has been awarded a Fulbright Specialist Program grant by the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Barbie, Houseboats, Book Arts, and Beyond

From Pratt Institute News

Class trips invite students to experience art, conduct research, and meet with industry experts in New York City and around the world.