The ULI Kenneth M. Good Graduate Student Fellowship is funded from an endowment by the Good Texas Foundation and administered through the ULI Foundation. The Urban Land Institute is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its member. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide.

Stewart joins a very select group of individuals across the nation in receiving such a prestigious award. He will receive a $5,000 scholarship along with a free one year student membership to the Urban Land Institute and free registration at ULI's fall meeting. Only one student per program is selected by each university to be an applicant. Candidates were nominated based on their academic history and current standing, related work experience, career plans and goals and financial need.

For more information about the real estate development graduate program at Clemson University, visit http://www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/MRED.

Luxor, also known in the past as the ancient city of Thebes, is situated on the east bank of the Nile River. It is home to both the Luxor and Karnak temples and a ceremonial avenue of sphinxes. In ancient times, this avenue joined the two temples into one grand religious center that commonly held processions and other religious events. The city looks much different today, as Dr. Nassar explains, "Today, with the pressures of urban growth [in] Luxor and of inhabitants' preference to live as close as possible to the temples (the source of their livelihood), the urban fabric has infringed on the sites of the Karnak and Luxor temples as well as the avenue of the sphinxes." The avenue is covered by residential neighborhoods, and it is the goal of this project to relocate these residents and restore the temples and avenue areas.

During the spring 2007 semester, the first steps of this project were taken by Clemson students as those enrolled in the landscape architecture urban design studio began work with students at Ain Shams in parallel studio courses. The Clemson students visited Egypt in February to see Luxor first-hand and engaged in an urban analysis of the city. They also met their collaborators at Ain Shams University. Upon their return, students in the studio course worked to provide a variety of urban design solutions for key areas of the city. In particular, these students worked on landscape designs that complement the architectural plans of the Ain Shams studio; their work primarily addressed the temple and avenue areas but also included landscape development plans for the west bank of the Nile, including the Valley of the Dead.

This project is not only a terrific international, interdisciplinary and cross-cultural educational opportunity for students in the department of planning and landscape architecture, but future collaboration, presentations and scholarly publications will help to increase the national recognition of the department and Clemson University as well.

If you would like additional information about this project, contact Dr. Nassar at hnassar@clemson.edu.