Welcome PDC Summer Fellows!

A very enthusiastic welcome to our PDC summer fellows, Juan Jimenez Giraldo and Christa May ! We’re thrilled to have them on our team this summer to help PDC pursue new ways to demystify the design review process.

Juan Jimenez Giraldo joined the Public Design Commission as an Undergraduate Fellow under the Mayor’s Office Internship Program this summer. He is shadowing PDC staff as they navigate monthly design review and assisting us in reviewing and reimagining our website to aid in PDC’s efforts to make our process more transparent to applicants and the general public.

He is in his fourth year of undergraduate education at the Spitzer School of Architecture, City College of New York. He was recently awarded the NY Center For Architecture Allwork Scholarship, a competitive scholarship granted to students with exceptional portfolios and commitment to design. Juan has demonstrated his passion for design and a commitment to creating architecture for all. As an immigrant, he understands the importance of helping bridge communities to generate a sense of ownership and love for NYC.

Christa May joined the Public Design Commission as a Graduate Fellow under the Mayor’s Office Internship Program this summer.? She is undertaking numerous measures to aid the PDC in easing the design review process for applicants and agency partners, including the creation of a comprehensive “guidebook” for applicants and a searchable database of successful and design award winning projects.

She holds undergraduate degrees from The University of Oklahoma in Visual Communications and Art History, a graduate degree from Pratt Institute in Arts and Cultural Management, and is currently attending the School of Visual Arts for a graduate degree in Design Research, Writing and Criticism. The fundamental principles that drive her two-decade-long design practice is the mission to put design into conversations earlier and make objects and information more accessible, in order to create more socially just and ecologically sound systems. Christa recently finished a 5-year tenure working on visual design and design education projects for Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and a concurrent 1.5 years on the founding team of the nascent Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. Fellowships include 'Design Justice as Practice' at the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) in 2022-2023, NPR’s ‘How I Built This’ Summit' fellowship in 2018, and the NYC Public Design Commission in 2024. She currently helps manage and write about design for the People’s Graphic Design Archive. Christa also paints and one of her paintings may be viewed at the Smithsonian Staff Show at the Ripley Center on the National Mall until March 21, 2025.