Rob Whitehead

Rob Whitehead, FAIA, is the Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Student Success and a tenured Associate Professor of Architecture at Iowa State University where he teaches structural design, integrated design studios, and design-build. As a licensed architect and scholar his design work, research, and writing is centered on the conjunction of architecture, structural design, and construction in pedagogy and practice.

Whitehead has been recognized by all the major pillars of architectural education and practice for his contributions to architectural and structural design education. His impact as an international leader in architectural education is evidenced by the widespread influence and adoption of his textbooks: Design-Tech: Building Science for Architects 3rd edition (co-authored with Profs. Leslie and Alread in 2025) and the award-winning Structures by Design: Thinking, Making, Breaking (2019), based on the innovative structural design course sequence Whitehead at ISU which received an ACSA Creative Achievement Award (2013). His instructional contributions are bolstered by construction history scholarship including chapters in Frei Otto: 1925-2015: Building with Nature (2025), Constructing Building Enclosures (2020), and an article in the TAD Journal (2022).

He is a co-PI on various competitive research projects including an NSF grant for an adaptable façade system using multi-stable dynamic properties. In 2023, he was elevated to the National AIA College of Fellows (the highest membership honor) for his contributions to architectural education.