Carrie Perrone has rejoined design firm SmithGroup as higher education studio leader in Phoenix. She had been director of higher education at RSP Architects in Tempe. Perrone had previously served as a principal and education strategist at SmithGroup, with a focus on planning and designing learning environments. The firm has 1,300 employees in 19 offices in the U.S. and China, ranking at No. 62 on ENR’s current Top 500 Design Firms list.

Larson Design Group, a Williamsport, Pa., architecture and engineering consultant, has hired Bruce Preston as senior vice president and operations manager of its federal group based in Phoenix. He joins the firm from TSK Architects in Tempe, where he was vice president and manager of its Arizona operations and federal division. LDG’s federal group was started in 2019. Preston also is Southwest regional vice president of the Society of Military Engineers.

Switch Inc., the Las Vegas data center and technology developer, has elevated Joshua Ewing to chief construction officer. Joining the firm in 2015, he was executive vice president of construction. He previously worked for electrical construction and engineering firm GSL Electric Inc.

Sundt Construction Inc., the Tempe, Ariz.-based general contractor, announced recent staff hires and promotions. Dan Howard recently joined the company as director of information technology, managing the IT department and overseeing the corporate strategic technology plan. He had been vice president of information technology at Arrivia Inc., an international travel and lifestyle organization, according to a LinkedIn profile. Sundt also has named Kelsey Weimerskirch as a senior talent acquisition specialist to support workforce development in its Eastern and Midwest regions. She is based in Nashville, Tenn. Sundt’s building group also recently promoted Mike Hill and Courtney Hoyt in Tucson. Hill, a 20-year Sundt veteran, was elevated to project director, focused on aviation projects in the West and Southwest U.S. Hoyt was promoted to assistant project manager.

Parametrix, an engineering, planning and environmental sciences firm, has elevated Nathan Johnson to senior vice president and head of its Southwest region, which includes offices in New Mexico, Utah and Nevada. He joined the firm last year as vice president and previously had been a vice president and West region structures manager at WSP USA. Terry Doyle also joined Parametrix as vice president, leading its Albuquerque-based operations. He had been director of the Rio Metro Regional Transit District, overseeing commuter rail and bus operations, and previously was transportation director for the Mid-Region Council of Governments.

Shuya Wei, an assistant professor in the department of chemical and biological engineering at the University of New Mexico, has been awarded a $110,000 grant by the American Chemical Society to research ways to transform methane gas emissions into usable methanol fuel, the university announced in February. The two-year funding will end in 2025. “It is crucial to find more sustainable solutions for the use and conversion of methane to fulfill the growing energy demand,” she said. Wei, who joined the university faculty in 2019, also is starting research under a separate grant to boost the capacity and longevity of rechargeable lithium-sulfur batteries used for energy storage.