Umut Toker is a Professor of Architecture in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Umut received his PhD from North Carolina State University School of Architecture, College of Design. He holds Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Urban Design degrees from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. Umut's research and scholarship has been published in journals such as the Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, Research Policy, and METU Journal of the Faculty of Architecture. In 2012, his book on community design methods, Making Community Design Work, was published.