Sonia Chao writes and teaches in the areas of sustainable architecture and urbanism, resilient design, and historic preservation in the subtropics. Her scholarship explores the intersection between historic preservation, historic places, and resilient design. Some of her more recent accomplishments include grant awards from the National Science Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Barr Foundation, and the National Endowment of the Arts, as well as awards to fund regional community-engagement activities in collaboration with Assistant Provost Robin Bachin, including grants from the Miami-Dade County Housing Finance Authority, the J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation, and the Jesse Ball DuPont Fund. In 2016, she convened a university-wide ad-hoc faculty working group, the Resilient Miami Initiative, focused on resiliency issues. She previously practiced architecture in New York City with Robert A.M. Stern and Kohn Pederson Fox, and in Venice, Italy with Studio Mar, in collaboration with Architetti Vittorio Gregotti. She received a master of science in architecture from Columbia University and bachelor’s in architecture from the University of Miami.