Alberto Benitez ’22 Named John G. Martin Scholar
Alberto Benitez ’22, an architecture major in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture, has been named John G. Martin Scholar.
This prestigious award supports two years of graduate study at any top university in the United Kingdom for a deserving UHart senior whose intellectual ability, personal character, and campus and community involvement are deemed particularly noteworthy.
Benitez will attend the University of Nottingham and continue his studies in its master’s degree program in architectural design.
Benitez’s first professional inclination was to go into mechanical engineering, but says that once he began studying in UHart’s architecture program, he fell in love with the discipline and decided to make that the nucleus of his academic career.
In addition to his campus studies, Benitez is a dedicated member of the American Institute of Architecture Students, a collaborate exchange between students nationwide that allows for interactions with professional architects to discuss career development. He served as secretary and as an active fundraising associate for the Institute.
While not studying or designing, Benitez enjoys such diverse leisure and social activities as competitive table tennis and martial arts. He is also a volunteer appraiser for regional and statewide high school STEM tournaments, after having participated as a Massachusetts high school student for six years, advancing at one point to the global finals.
Among Benitez’s most decisive skills are both physical and digital drawing and modeling. One of his most lauded projects as an architectural student was for a multi-family housing project.
“Alberto has a natural design intuition, a good sense of humor, a commitment to academic excellence, a tireless work ethic, and the overall quality of character that is indeed representative of this scholarship,” says Stephen Charles Smith, visiting assistant professor and director of UHart’s Master of Architecture program. “He has a passionate capacity to create and is exceedingly eager to learn.”