Professor Shelton explores the intersection of technology and culture across a variety of scales. This work takes many forms including materials and construction research, urban analysis, speculative and built architectural proposals, and housing reform advocacy. He has also researched the history of design thought surrounding the introduction of highways to American cities and the social, structural, and environmental impacts of highways have had on US cities over the last century. Professor Shelton is a licensed architect and is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). He is a Fellow of the Urban Design Forum, a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), an Affiliated Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, and was the inaugural James Johnson Dudley Faculty Scholar. Along with Professor Tricia Stuth, he is a recipient of the William Strickland Award for Achievement in Architecture, the highest individual award bestowed by AIA Tennessee; the only UT faculty members to ever be so honored. As a student at UT, he was a Torchbearer, the university’s highest distinction for undergraduates, one of five in the history of the School of Architecture. Through the work of curb, the firm he co-founded, he is the recipient of a Research for Practice Grant from the AIA along with multiple local, state, regional, and national AIA design awards. His teaching has been recognized with an Ecological Literacy Award from the AIA National Committee on the Environment (COTE), a Collaborative Practice Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), and, with Tricia Stuth, two AIA/ACSA Housing Design Education Awards. Together, he and Professor Stuth were recipients of one of UT’s first Ascent Grants in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences in support of the publication of a book on their joint architectural practice.

Education 

Bachelor of Architecture, University of Tennessee
Master of Architecture, University of Oklahoma
Master of Philosophy, Cambridge University
Doctor of Philosophy (practice-based research), Virginia Tech

Expertise & Interests 

• Technology and Culture 
• Green Design 
• Housing Design 
• Historic Preservation 
• Urban Design