Scholarship Winner
Aliya Kristine Fomeloza
2024 FASAE SoCal Education Foundation Alimento-Niere Scholarship recipient.
Aliya Formeloza is a fourth-year architecture student at the University of Southern California, where she is also pursuing a minor in Cinematic Arts. She brings a broad global perspective to her work, having lived in the Philippines, India, Japan, Indonesia, and New York during her childhood. Spending summers watching her grandmother lead community outreach programs in Laguna, Philippines, further shaped her appreciation for how design impacts daily life. Aliya's academic success and community focus have been recognized through the Asian American Architects & Engineers (AAa/e) Undergraduate Scholarship and her selection as a USC Research Symposium Honoree.
She utilizes a wide range of digital tools, including Rhino3D, Revit, AutoCAD, and the Adobe Creative Suite, to develop her design projects. During her internship at Populous, she collaborated with design teams on schematic renovations for a major stadium ahead of the FIFA 2026 World Cup. She also gained professional experience at Gruen Associates, where she created detailed architectural drawings and presentation packages for local city council reviews. Additionally, she supports her fellow students on campus as a digital fabrication assistant in the university's laser-cutting lab.
Leadership and civic engagement are central to Aliya's undergraduate career. She is the co-founder and branding director for Architecture and Advocacy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that teaches design fundamentals to youth in South Los Angeles. Aliya also serves as the co-president of the Undergraduate Architecture Student Council and works as a student ambassador to guide first- and second-year students, helping prospective high schoolers discover opportunities within the architectural field.
To expand her understanding of community development, Aliya sought out the university's study abroad program in Rome, Marseille, and Barcelona to analyze historical and modern urban spaces. She intends to apply these international insights directly to her fifth-year thesis project focused on the Los Angeles area. Believing that architecture should be a physical reflection of shared human experiences, Aliya hopes to use her career to uplift the Southern California Filipino American community and create sustainable, creative environments for the next generation.