Terri is a Design Researcher at HGA Architect and Engineers and has over 30 years experiencepresenting and over 12 years experience teaching in an academic setting. Terri started her career as a nurse which has driven her passion as a designer and design researcher, following in the footsteps of Florence Nightingale who understood that aspects of space, such as daylight, cleanliness and even variety of elements impacted the stress of her patients. She has been inspired as a design researcher to focus her research and research methods on discovering how aspects of the built environment impact people, specifically vulnerable populations. 

Following her years working as a nurse, for the last 25 plus years she has been actively engaged in practice-based research at architectural firms, conducting research that helps inform the design process and enlightens those who both design, but also make those design decisions from a return on investment perspective. She has conducted research with vulnerable populations such as behavioral populations and children with chronic medical issues. This is one of her greatest pleasures: giving a voice at the design table to the voiceless.