Susan has been a board member of the Chicago Chapter Society of Architectural Historians since 2011, working on newsletters and bulletins. Born in Stockholm of American parents (Chicago architect John H. van der Meulen and wife Norma), she attended Bret Harte School and Kenwood High School; she graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio (English Literature, Studio Art, 1974). She received a master’s degree in architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1978.

As a licensed architect in Chicago, she worked from 1983 to 1986 for Grunsfeld & Associates and from 1986 to 2009 for Marvin Herman & Associates, architects (residential practices). A project highlight was her design of 60 liturgical elements within Madonna Della Strada Chapel, Loyola University (2007). Susan taught design at Harrington College of Interior Design from 2008 to the end of 2010. She has been doing interior remodeling projects locally under the name of Aries Design as a sole practitioner. She is interested in art, needlework, and architectural history, and especially in the history of Chicago.