Michael Halflants, FAIA, is an Associate Professor at the University of South Florida's School of Architecture and the design principal at Halflants + Pichette Architects with offices in Tampa and Sarasota. After studying architecture in Brussels, he earned his masters at the University of Florida, where he was awarded the Henry Adams Gold Medal, the architecture school's highest design honor. Upon graduation, Halflants practiced as a project designer with the Polshek Partnership in New York City. In that capacity, he drew designs for theaters and offices in Manhattan and for the Spencer Museum in Kansas. Working in a joint venture with Arata Isozaki's Tokyo office, he was on the design team for the Brooklyn Museum addition. In 2006, he cofounded Halflants + Pichette Architects, a design-build practice. The firm is the recipient of over fifty American Institute of Architects awards. The practice also garnered five national medals from the Association of Licensed Architects. On three occasions, Halflants' designs graced the cover of Florida / Caribbean Architect, the quarterly regional publication of the AIA. The work has also been illustrated nationally in Dwell, AIArchitect, and ArchDaily. In recognition of his lifetime achievements, Halflants was recognized with the AIA Florida Medal of Honor for Design, the highest award for design that AIA Florida can bestow on an architect. Michael Halflants presented the work at AIA state conventions across the country. He has lectured on the topic of tropical design and housing in Bogota, Singapore, Jakarta, and Bangkok. At the University of South Florida, Professor Halflants teaches graduate design studios as well as seminars on tropical architecture and modern housing. He has led students abroad including to Brazil, Japan, and Spain. In 2021, he was inducted to the AIA College of Fellows. In all of his endeavors, Halflants strives to build and maintain deliberately parallel and mutually reinforcing creative professional activities and educational responsibilities.