Aaron F. Cayer

Aaron Cayer, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Architecture. Prior to Cal Poly Pomona, he was an Assistant Professor of Architecture History (2018 to 2023) at the University of New Mexico, and before that, a Senior Research Associate at cityLAB-UCLA (2012-2017) where he led multi-year research projects about the history and future of office work.
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Cayer is trained as both a historian and architect: he received his PhD in Architecture History from UCLA as well as undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture from Norwich University in Vermont.
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His research has been recognized and supported by international awards and fellowships, including a 2025 Carnegie Fellowship from the Carnegie Corporation, a 2024 Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, and a 2021 Thom Fellowship from the Huntington Library. He was awarded the inaugural Kristine Fallon Prize by the International Archive of Women in Architecture in 2022, and he was named to the Architecture League of New York’s “American Roundtable” in 2020 for research about rural economies and communities.
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His first book, Incorporating Architects: How American Architecture Became a Practice of Empire (June 2025) is forthcoming with UC Press. In it, he traces the rise of US-based architecture and engineering corporations, such as AECOM, as well as their impact on professions and politics after World War II.
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Outside of the academy, he currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Architecture Lobby as well as on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Architectural Education.
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For more on his research and writing, see here.

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