Kathlyn Kao is a doctoral fellow at RIOT, EPFL ENAC-IA, where she was previously a scientific assistant for three years. Her work focuses on questions of immeasurability and intangibility within regimes of land ownership and environmental law, specifically pertaining to migrant communities.
 
As a researcher, she has worked for the Harvard Bloomberg City Leadership Initiative, Frances Loeb Library Building for Tomorrow Project, the Harvard First Generation Initiative, and the World Bank & IFC Building Index Pilot Program. Her thesis, "In the Capital of Absence, I am Longing for___," supported by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, focuses on the spatial remittance economy of overseas Filipina domestic workers. Her work has been featured in Harvard Urban Review, Room One Thousand, and Pairs. She has given talks at institutions including Bauhaus-Universität Weimar University, ABK Stuttgart, and ARQ Technológico de Monterrey.

As a practitioner, she has helped design, manage, coordinate, and execute projects in New York City and Boston, specializing in academic institutions, historic renovations, and installation work with firms like DiMella Shaffer Associates (MIT Vassar Street Residence Hall), Christoff:Finio Architecture (Bennington Commons Renovation), and Do Ho Suh (Rubbing/Loving). Recent installation works include: Scales of Extraction (Seoul Biennale, 2021) and Stop Building! (Armenia Biennale, 2025) with Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, CCCC & Afterimages I-III with Dream the Combine (Exhibit Columbus, 2021; Venice & Chicago Architecture Biennale, 2023).

As an advocate, she has helped steward the First-Generation Initiative Committee (Harvard GSD), establish the Racial Equity Working Group (DiMella Shaffer Associates) and served as Vice President for the Cal Poly, SLO National Service Fraternity chapter (Alpha Phi Omega). She recently partnered with Association for Preservation Technology, New England (APTNE) to create, deliver, and implement the first design in the built environment program as part of a pilot STEAM curriculum for Girls, Inc. The program, named the "Dream Home Project," is catered to young female-identifying students of color in Massachusetts, USA. She is currently a co-organizer of South X Initiative at EPFL ENAC-IA with Akshar Gajjar (THEMA). 

Kathlyn is a registered architect in New York, USA. She began her undergraduate studies in Architectural Engineering with a Visual Arts minor before completing her degree in Architecture. She holds an M.Arch from Harvard and a B.Arch from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. 

Kathlyn Kao is running for the CoPe to represent the intermediate body to strengthen dialogue between the EPFL community and the VPH. As a current Doctoral fellow and former scientific assistant (RIOT, ENAC-IA), she is familiar with the diverse realities of the intermediary staff. Her advocacy roles across diverse institutions such as Harvard University, Cal Poly SLO, & professional practices, demonstrates her commitment to inclusive representation. She aims to collaborate with ELSA, PolyDoc, EPDA and other representative bodies and community members to ensure the working conditions of the intermediary staff meaningfully shape EPFL policy.