Lexuan Zhong
Associate Professor, The University of Alberta, Canada
lexuan1@ualberta.ca
Indoor air quality and Ventilation
- Cutting-edge techniques for indoor air quality evaluation and assessment
- Innovative HVAC solutions to enhance indoor air quality
- Optimal strategies for controlling and mitigating indoor air pollutants
- Climate change adaptation and its impact on indoor air quality
Dr. Zhong is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta and the director and founder of the Built Environment Technology Lab. She possesses extensive research and industrial experience in the field of healthy indoor environments, with a comprehensive understanding of heat and mass transfer in buildings, physicochemical purification technologies, catalysis, UV germicidal technology, and renewable energy. A dynamic researcher, Dr. Zhong is highly proficient in applying experimental, computational, and field approaches to her research. With over 100 published articles and conference papers, her work has significantly impacted public health and environmental sustainability.
Adrian Chong
Assistant Professor, National University of Singapore, Singapore
adrian.chong@nus.edu.sg
Building technology and performance
- Advances in building envelope design and construction
- Innovative HVAC systems for enhanced energy efficiency
- Integration of renewable energy sources in building systems
- Advances in building automation and control technologies
- AI and machine learning in building automation and control systems
- Best practices for maintaining building automation and control systems
Dr. Adrian Chong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of the Built Environment at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and a Fellow of the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA). His research interest is is rooted in addressing the multi-faceted challenges of optimizing building energy efficiency and performance.At the core of this endeavor are his interest in model calibration, uncertainty quantification, and occupant-centric building controls. At NUS, he leads the Integrated Data, Energy Analysis + Simulation (IDEAS) lab, a multidisciplinary group researching the interaction between building performance simulation, measured data, and machine learning. Adrian also serves as a subject editor for the journal Building Simulation and holds the role of Early Career Board Member for the journal Building and Environment.
Sasan Sadrizadeh
Docent, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
ssad@kth.se
Thermal comfort
- Advances in thermal comfort modeling and simulation
- Innovative building design strategies for enhanced thermal comfort
- Human factors in thermal comfort assessment and management
Dr. Sasan is a Professor, Docent, Research scientist, and teacher with a background in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), aerosol science, Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), Energy, and infection control engineering. He led research into IAQ and health-related aspects, thermal comfort, ventilation, HVAC, infection control, cross-contamination, visualization of indoor airflow, virtual surgery, as well as energy system modeling for buildings. Over the years, Sasan has participated in and managed a wide range of academic collaborative programs and projects, including in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the European Union, and the USA.
Rahman Azari
Associate Professor, Penn State University USA
razari@psu.edu
Energy efficiency, conservation, renewable energy, and embodied carbon
- Interrelations between energy efficiency and embodied carbon
- Life cycle environmental impacts of built environments
- Building energy modeling and optimization
- Energy efficiency retrofits
- Advancements in renewable energies
Dr. Rahman Azari is an Associate Professor of Architecture, Director of Professional Graduate Programs in Architecture, and Affiliate Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering at Pennsylvania State University. Supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE), American Institute of Architects (AIA), Center for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), AECOM, and other funding agencies, Azari’s research focuses on understanding the scope and significance of the operational and embodied carbon emissions of the built environments and pathways to mitigate them.
Urlike Passe
Professor, Iowa State University, USA
upasse@iastate.edu
Health, Wellbeing, and Human Behaviors in the Built Environment
- Evidence-based design strategies for promoting health and well-being in buildings
- Innovative building design strategies for mental and physical health enhancement
- Human factors in health and well-being assessment in the built environment
- Advances in occupant behavior modeling and simulation
Ulrike Passe Professor of Architecture at Iowa State University, an architect by training with a professional German architecture degree and license. She is an internationally recognized scholar of building science with specific emphasis on natural ventilation and on integrative sustainable design strategies. Her book Designing Spaces for Natural Ventilation (2015), co-authored with Francine Battaglia is used across the world. Her projects include the Interlock House built for the 2009 US DOE Solar Decathlon, and the Sustainable Cities Research Group, founded 2015 at ISU to expand her research towards urban environmental modeling is currently funded by the US National Science Foundation.
Mathew Schwartz
Assistant Professor, New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA
mathew.schwartz@njit.edu
Generative AI in the Sustainability Built Environments
- Generative AI-Driven Approaches for Sustainable Building Design, Energy Efficiency, and Carbon Footprint Reduction
- Artificial Intelligence Applications for Real-Time Optimization of Building Performance, Environmental Adaptation, and Occupant Comfort
- Best Practices for Implementing and Managing AI-Driven Systems to Enhance Sustainability, Reliability, and Lifecycle Performance in the Built Environment
Dr. Mathew Schwartz is an Associate Professor in Architecture and Design at NJIT, where he leads the SiBORG lab. His research focuses on design workflows, accessibility, human factors, and automation. Schwartz has published in robotics, biomechanics, computer graphics, and architecture. He has worked as a visiting researcher at NTU and a research scientist at SNU. He has a BFA in Art & Design and a MS in Architecture degree, both from the University of Michigan.
Elham Fini
Associate Professor, Arizona State University, USA
efini@asu.edu
Sustainable Building Materials and Circular Economy
- Smart and sustainable materials for building construction
- Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of materials
- Innovative use of recycled and repurposed materials in sustainable design
- Managing environmental impacts of synthetic materials, including PFAS
- The role of building materials in pollution mitigation and promoting healthier environments
Dr. Ellie Fini is an Associate Professor at Arizona State University, an Invention Ambassador at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fulbright Scholar of Aalborg University of Denmark, a Senior Sustainability Scientist at the Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation and Director of the Innovation Network for Materials, Methods and Management. Her research focuses on the design, synthesis, characterization, and atomistic modeling of novel materials to promote the sustainability and health of civil infrastructure. In addition to more than 200 scholarly publications and numerous invited talks, her research has been featured by BBC Women in STEM, Science Nation, Wired Magazine, and CNBC. She is editor of the ASCE Journal of Materials and Journal of Resources, Conservation & Recycling.
Julian Wang
Associate Professor, Pennsylvania State University, USA
jqw5965@psu.edu
Visual (lighting and daylighting) quality/Acoustic quality
- Lighting design strategies for energy efficiency and visual comfort
- Integration of natural daylighting to enhance visual quality and reduce energy use
- Advances in lighting and daylighting controls for smart buildings
- Managing and mitigating visual discomfort in built environments
- Advances in acoustic modeling and simulation for building design
- Innovative strategies for acoustic quality enhancement
- Managing and mitigating noise pollution in the built environment
Dr. Julian Wang research focuses on sustainable envelope materials, lighting and daylighting, and human thermal and visual interactions. From the fundamental research perspective, supported by U.S. NSF and NIH, his group delves into the intersection of photometry and radiometry, developing methods and pathways to integrate innovative functional materials at the nanoscale to the macroscale. From an application standpoint, Dr. Wang’s team is focusing on new building envelope systems, with a particular emphasis on glazing systems designed for energy efficiency, solar energy integration, and the enhancement of both indoor and outdoor human health and well-being, which are supported by the USDA, the EPA, and the DOE. Dr. Wang’s contributions to the field have been acknowledged with a few national/international recognitions, including the NSF CAREER, the IES Richard Kelly Award, and NAE’s selection of Grainger Frontiers of Engineering. Furthermore, he plays a significant role in the professional community/society as a Board Director of the US National Fenestration Research Council, Chairperson of the Solar Buildings Division at the American Solar Energy Society, and as a member of a few journals’ editorial boards in his field.
JuneYoung Park
Assistant Professor, The University of Texas at Arlington, USA
june.park@uta.edu
Smart cities and green infrastructures
- Data analytics and machine learning for smart city management
- Internet of Things (IoT) technologies for smart cities
- Best practices for smart city maintenance and management
- Green infrastructure innovations to enhance urban ecosystem services
- Life cycle assessment of green infrastructure systems
- Best practices for green infrastructure maintenance
Dr. Park is interested in smart buildings and cities: occupant centric building controls, big-data analytics for smart meter data, and human interactions in the built environments. He was a research assistant at (UT-Austin) and (CMU). During his graduate school years, he worked at National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Consortium for Building Energy Innovation. He also served his military service at United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon as a construction engineer.
Zahra Jandaghian
Research Officer, National Research Council Canada, Canada
Zahra.Jandaghian@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Climate Change Adaptation, Resilience, and Environmental Policy
- Best practices for building design and management in a changing climate
- Innovative strategies for enhancing resilience to climate change impacts
- Integration of green infrastructure and ecosystem services in climate adaptation planning
- Best practices for building energy codes and standards implementation
- Innovative financing models for green building design and construction
- Integration of environmental policy and governance in urban planning
Dr. Zahra Jandaghian is a Research Officer at the Construction Research Center, National Research Council Canada, leading Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) projects. She holds a doctorate in Building Engineering from Concordia University and is an adjunct professor at Toronto Metropolitan University. Zahra co-chairs an international Task Group on Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Resilient Buildings and Communities. Her research focuses on mitigating urban heat islands and urban flooding impacts through NBS. She collaborates with various Canadian government bodies, Health Canada, INFC, SCC, CSA, stakeholders, academia, manufacturers, and associations to maximize the impact of her research.
