Michael A. Nieminen is a principal of Perkins Eastman in New York City. He has more than 40 years of experience working with such higher education clients as the University of Chicago, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, The Rockefeller University, and Yale University. Nieminen is a nationally recognized leader in a process-driven approach to design for the transformation of historic academic buildings and sites and frequently shares his techniques and strategies with a wide audience, including talks at International and North Atlantic regional SCUP conferences and American Institute of Architects (AIA) National and New York State conferences. He holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design from the University of Florida and a Master of Architecture from North Carolina State University School of Design. Nieminen is an AIA Fellow. Michael was one of five appointed members of the National AIA’s Committee on Architecture for Education’s (CAE) Leadership Group from 2018-2022 and served as the Chair in 2021. He is the 2023-2026 Chair of North Atlantic Region of the Society for College and University Planning.