Some notable SOM Foundation award recipients include Marion Weiss (1982),[2] Werner Sobek (1983),[3] Douglas Garofalo (1987),[4] Santiago Calatrava (1988),[5] Joshua Ramus (1995),[6] Ole Scheeren (2000),[7] Catie Newell (2006),[8] Brandon Clifford (2011),[9] Biayna Bogosian and Kristine Mun (2018),[10] [10] and Clare Lyster (2019).

Each year, two $40,000 prizes are awarded to faculty-led interdisciplinary teams based in the United States to conduct original research that contributes to the SOM Foundation’s current topic.

Each year, one €20,000 prize is awarded to a faculty-led interdisciplinary team based in Europe to conduct original research that contributes to the SOM Foundation’s current topic.

The $20,000 fellowship is awarded annually to a graduating student based in the United States who specializes in structural engineering to conduct independent travel and research that contributes to the SOM Foundation’s current topic.

Mentors include Paola Aguirre, Germane Barnes, Danei Cesario, Leo Chow, Chris Cornelius, Iker Gil, Roberto Gonzalez, Jia Yi Gu, Joyce Hwang, Ojay Obinani, Quilian Riano, Maria Villalobos Hernandez, Robert L. Wesley, and Amanda Williams.

The historic building, located on the north side of Chicago’s Gold Coast, was designed by Louis Sullivan with assistance from his junior draftsman, Frank Lloyd Wright.

Fellows included Ann Bergren, Jennifer Bloomer, Alan Colquhoun, Elizabeth Diller, Mario Gandelsonas, Benjamin Gianni, K. Michael Hays, John Hejduk, Catherine Ingraham, Jeffrey Kipnis, Ben Nicholson, Mark Rakatansky, Saskia Sassen, and Richard Sennett.

Speakers during that time included Eva Jiricna, Mike Davis, Jean-Louis Cohen, Wes Jones, John Hejduk, Andrea Kahn, and Keller Easterling.