Mark Mistur is an Architect, Associate Professor and the Associate Dean at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's School of Architecture. His leadership in educational initiatives dedicated to the integration of architecture and engineering practices from the earliest design phase as a marker of best practice and progenitor of the most progressive 21st century architecture was awarded an NCARB prize for Creative Integration of the Academy and Practice in 2005. In pursuit of exemplary architecture driven by the complimentary marriage of design and performance based criteria, he began the project of tracking the design and construction of EMPAC from its inception, interviewing the designers, Sir Nicholas Grimshaw and his team, acoustician Larry Kirkegaard and his collaborators, engineers Craig Schwitter and Denzil Gallagher at Buro Happold and theater designer Joshua Dachs. His interviews also included owner's representative and EMPAC Director Johannes Goebel and various constructors at key project stages. As a faculty member under the presidency of Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, Mistur made himself aware of the project's bold motivations and monitored the progress of the project by spending time on site weekly over the seven year period of its making. Mark Mistur resides in Troy, New York.