Meet the 2026 Newforma AECO Scholarship Recipients 

The Newforma Women’s Leadership Council (NWLC) runs the Newforma AECO Scholarship to support people building careers in architecture, engineering, construction, and owner organizations. This year, two recipients will each receive $3,750 toward their AEC education.

Applications came in from North America, EMEA, Africa, and Asia. Amina Seghilani and John Teixeira come from very different backgrounds. They’re both focused on the same problem: helping project teams make better decisions with better information.

Amina is studying BIM digital model coordination (AEC en coordination de maquette numérique BIM) at Cégep du Vieux Montréal.

She already knows the field well. Amina studied architecture in Algiers, earned a master’s in construction engineering at ÉTS, and worked on BIM governance at Groupe BIM Québec. She’s also the Regional Lead of Women in BIM for Greater Montreal.

Her reason for going back to school is practical. She wants more time working hands-on with real models.

 Je pense que le moment est venu de me mettre à l’opérationnel, et c’est exactement ce que l’AEC m’offre : du temps dans les outils, à coordonner de vraies maquettes.

In English: “I think the time has come for me to get hands-on, and that’s exactly what the AEC program gives me: time in the tools, coordinating real models.”

Amina wants everyone on a project working from the same information. She also wants to close the BIM adoption gap, so large and small firms don’t end up moving at two different speeds. And she’s working to bring more women into coordination rooms, where a lot of key project decisions get made.

John is studying for an MSc in Sustainable Urban Development at the University of Oxford.

His career started in central government, moved into consulting, and then into strategic asset management in the public sector. That path showed him how much decisions about buildings, land, and infrastructure matter. They carry financial, environmental, and community effects long after a project closes out.

John’s focus is on connecting information that usually sits apart. Property, sustainability, financial, and community data rarely live in one place. When they’re connected, owners and their teams can make evidence-based decisions across an asset’s whole life.

He also encourages people coming into AECO from non-traditional backgrounds to connect the dots across disciplines. His own career is a good example of why that matters.

Amina is working inside the model. John is working across the full life of an asset. Both are pushing for the same thing: teams that share information and make better calls because of it.

Congratulations to Amina and John from everyone at Newforma and the NWLC. We’ll check back in with both of them as their programs move forward.