About Bob the Architect
I've had the great pleasure of practicing in eleven countries on five continents, providing a variety of architectural design and consulting services to many different types of clients. These range from The Cultural Section of the US State Department, the US Department of Defense, and the Central European Linkages Project to major civic, public, and private projects participating on international project teams, to not for profit organizations and tiny houses for homeless veterans. All of my work is based on the tenets of sustainable design and development using integrated design. The opportunity to witness the human condition around the world and work with a diversity of colleagues has informed both my professional practice and academic.
My practice has been enriched by a career long involvement with several organizations, both as a consultant and volunteer. Chief among these are various AIA positions, including the National AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), and the US Green Building Council, which selected me as one of the original group of eleven LEED consultants. I chaired the LEED for Schools Committee for six years and was instrumental in launching the USGBC's Green School Initiative. I authored the LEED for Schools Buildings as a Teaching Tool and Mold Prevention credits as part of the original LEED for Schools Users and represented the USGBC on ASHRAE's committee to author their Fifty Percent Energy Reduction in Schools publication.
Between thirty-five years of professional practice and thirty years of teaching I have amassed an extensive resume. Please review each for my education, awards, publications, speaking engagements and projects beyond the small sampling offered here. Thank you in advance for contacting me.
Lac Berea, Rwanda
Czech Republic
Sustainable Community Development
Consulting – The Pentagon
About Bob the Educator
In addition to my professional practice as an architect and consultant I have had a parallel career as an educator, enjoying several notable firsts and lasting accomplishments. Chief among these is being a cofounder of the country's first Master of Science in Sustainable Systems (MS3) at Slippery Rock University and the first architect to hold the MS3 degree. My thesis is the design and construction of SRU's Robert A. Macoskey Center for Sustainability Education and Research. It included writing the Built Environment track of the curriculum which received the first Three Rivers Award for Environmental Education. I taught in the program for five years as an Associate Professor during which time I supervised a number of program related projects and support structures for the Center. Other higher education experience includes
- Seven years at the Carnegie Mellon University College of Architecture of Architecture where I taught fourth and fifth-year design studio and authored a campus-wide course  on International Viewpoints on Sustainability. I was at CMU for seven years as an adjunct Professor
- Penn State University Fayette Campus teaching a full load of design and technical foundation courses as an Associate Professor for four years.
- Four years at Kent State University College of Architecture and Environmental Design teaching third and fourth-year design studio and three technical electives as an Adjunct Professor. While at KSU I mentored a team of students who won the first Metal Building Manufacturers Association Design Competition and received a Campus-wide award for Teaching Excellence.
- I taught for two years as an Adjunct Professor at Allegheny County Community College during which I designed and supervised the construction of the first monitored passive solar  laboratory in the Commonwealth.
My education curriculum consulting includes partnering with the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) to author their first Continuing Education Units (CEU) on Allergy Free Nontoxic Design in 1990. I have delivered these courses and others around the US and Canada as part of my continued commitment to promote and educate various stakeholders about human ecology as a design determinant.
Over a three-year period, I served as a curriculum consultant and invited lecturer to the Tecnologico de Monterrey in Queretaro, Mexico. TEC is the largest university system in Mexico. My responsibilities included the design and facilitation of a number of Administration and Faculty workshops and lectures to introduce the tenets of integrated design and the USGBC's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) fundamentals to their architecture and engineering programs. My contract included designing and facilitating two week-long Sustainable Urban Design graduate seminars which I hosted in Miami, Florida, in conjunction with the University of Miami School of Architecture, and in Pittsburgh with the support of Carnegie Mellon University.
Lastly, I hold all necessary clearances to teach K12 classes in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and have in class contact time in all grades, Kindergarten through 12. I am also cleared by the Pennsylvania Midwest Intermediate Unit IV to assist those working with nonverbal children on the autistic spectrum. Together with my time as a college professor these experiences have given me great insight into the challenges of teaching a wide variety of students with different degrees of aptitude and ability from five-year-olds to graduate students.
Please download my Academic Career resume for additional Bob Kobet the educator information.