P. Pyla holds a Professional Degree in Architecture (B. Arch) and a Bachelor in Building Science (B.Sc.) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she was awarded the First Prize for her Design Thesis, along with the American Institute of Architects School Medal and Certificate of Merit, in 1991. She received her Masters of Science in Architectural Studies (S.M.Arch.S) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she was awarded the Outstanding Graduating Student Award in 1994. She received her Ph.D. in the History and Theory of Architecture, also from MIT, in 2002. Before assuming her current position, she has been Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she taught courses in architectural design and in the history-theory of modern architecture since 2002. Previous teaching experiences included being a Teaching Instructor at MIT (1998) and a Visiting Instructor at Rensselaer (1991-92). Her research has an interdisciplinary scope and it focuses on two areas: a) the history and theory of modern architecture and urbanism, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean; and b) the intertwined discourses of modern architecture, development, and environmentalism. She has performed archival and field research in Egypt, Greece, Syria, Turkey and Switzerland. As a Fellow at Harvard (2003-04), she organized an international symposium titled "Landscapes of Development: Modernization and Environment in the Eastern Mediterranean." Apart from Harvard, she received research funding from the Samuel Kress Foundation (USA), the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (Geneva), and the Environmental Council of the University of Illinois (USA). She presented her research in numerous international conferences, contributed chapters in edited volumes, and published articles in scholarly journals, including the Journal of Architectural Education and DOCOMOMO.
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