From left: Diana Eidenshink, president of the ACE Mentor Program of America, joins honoree and DIGroup Architecture Senior Project Manager LoriAnne Jones and Scott Seltz of BNP Media, the program’s leading supporter. — Courtesy: DIG
By Joshua Burd
A senior project manager with DIGroup Architecture has garnered national recognition and a key distinction for her work as a mentor to high school students in New Jersey.
According to the New Brunswick-based firm, LoriAnne Jones is one of just five recipients this year of the ACE Mentor Program of America’s ACE Outstanding Mentor Award. The honor stems from her involvement in the ACE Mentor Program of New Jersey, a 25-year-old affiliate through which she has guided hundreds of high school students interested in the architecture, engineering and construction field.
DIG also noted that the ACE-NJ Middlesex team was named a finalist in the Shoreline Category of the Annual Construction Industry Roundtable National Design & Construction Competition, according to a news release. Known as the Hawkitects Team, the group produced Duo, a project that explores best practices and innovative strategies for planning, design and construction of resilient and sustainable developments in waterfront areas, including rivers, lakes and seashores.
“I’m extremely proud of my students whose hard work resulted in a unique prototype — it is a true reflection of what it takes to be successful in today’s ACE careers — creativity, collaboration and perseverance,” said Jones, who joined DIG in 2017. “Their final product was the culmination of intense research, analysis, long-term planning and the development of strategies for densely populated shoreline communities. In the end, the students achieved a ‘personal best’ for our local team and our ACE affiliate, with a third-place finish among 64 entries nationally.”
As a mentor, Jones has coordinated high school externship opportunities through DIG for the ACE Summer Experience, the news release said. She has also forged enduring relationships with former students in college, those who are established industry professionals or those who are mentoring for ACE, while supporting mentors by sharing her successes and helping them advance to team leader positions.
Jones, meantime, is an ACE NJ board member and team leader, allowing her to cast a wider net on behalf of the program locally, regionally and nationally. DIG added that she is one of only 500 licensed African-American female architects nationwide, accounting for just 0.4 percent of all licensed professionals in that field.
“Being nominated by ACE NJ, where I’ve been involved at the state and local level for 16 years, was an honor,” Jones said. “The national recognition gives me an opportunity to shine an even brighter spotlight on the endless possibilities for young women and people of color in the ACE professions. It was wonderful sharing this special moment with my students, who were taking in and feeding off the energy of all the great design and construction minds who gathered for the national presentations in D.C.”
The 2024 ACE Outstanding Mentor Award also includes $2,500 in scholarship dollars to be awarded to a student in Jones’s name.
“ACE scholarships can be empowering and validating for student recipients. I am grateful for our scholarship donors, whose dollars fuel the continued advancement of ACE students as they move beyond high school into their studies and ultimately into a professional career,” said Jones, who helps students pursue scholarships that will help them realize an ACE-related college education.
An experienced project manager, Jones is skilled in design, planning and feasibility studies as well as documentation in Revit and AutoCAD, the news release said. She holds a LEED AP credential, which distinguishes those with advanced knowledge in green building and expertise in a particular rating system under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design scale, with an MBA focused on business strategy and leadership and entrepreneurship.
