Gail Peter Borden attended Rice University, simultaneously receiving Bachelor of Arts degrees (all cum laude) in fine arts, art history, and architecture. Upon graduation, he won the prestigious William Ward Watkins Traveling Fellowship, the AIA Certificate for Excellence, the Chillman Prize, and the John Swift Medal in Fine Arts. After receiving a Texas Architectural Foundation Scholarship, Professor Borden returned to Rice for his B.Arch., also cum laude. He went on to Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design to complete a post-professional Masters of Architecture with distinction. In addition to holding a tenured position as associate professor at the University of Southern California, Borden is the Associate Dean, Architecture Discipline Head and Director of the Graduate Architecture Programs. As principal of Borden Partnership, his design work has won numerous recognitions including: the Architectural League Prize; the AIA Young Architect Award; Building Design and Construction magazine’s “40 Under 40” award; and numerous AIA, ACSA, and RADA awards. Borden received artist-in-residence awards from the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas; the Atlantic Center for the Arts; the Borchard Fellowship; and the MacDowell Colony. His teaching has been recognized with an ACSA New Faculty Teaching Award as one of the top emerging architecture faculty. His books: Material Precedent: The Typology of Modern Tectonics, 2010 (Wiley Press); Matter: Material Processes in Architectural Production, 2011 (Routledge); Principia: Architectural Principles of Material Form, 2013 (Pearson); and Process: Material and Representation in Architecture (Routledge) all focus on materiality. As an artist, educator, and practitioner, Professor Borden’s research and practice focuses on the role of materiality and architecture in contemporary culture.