Jingshi Zhang completing her comprehensive exam
We are thrilled to announce that Jingshi Zhang of RE2 Lab successfully completed her comprehensive exam in August 2023. Ph.D. Candidate Zhang’s doctoral research aims to develop building skin solutions integrated with electrochemical energy harvesting and storage. The doctoral committee include Dr. Azari (co-advisor, chair), Dr. Poerschke (co-advisor), Dr. Wang (member, Architectural Engineering), and Dr. Hall (member, Mechanical Engineering).
Azari awarded with 2022 CTBUH Research Grant
Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) announced Dr. Azari as the winner of its 2022 International Research Funding, sponsored by AECOM. Dr. Azari’s project, ‘CEMUH: Carbon Emission Models for Urban Habitats’, aims to quantify the carbon emissions associated with buildings in urban environments and understand the interrelations between urban density and carbon emissions in the context of New York City as case-study. Photo Credit: CTBUH
$25 million DOE-funded Grant on Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative
RE2 Lab is excited to be part of an interdisciplinary team of researchers from multiple universities led by Johns Hopkins that were recently awarded a $25 million grant by the US Department of Energy to investigate the effects of climate change on urban communities in Baltimore for the next five years. Dr. Azari is a co-PI in this project and co-leads the ‘Buildings and Energy’ theme and the ‘Urban Greenhouse Gas Emissions’ cross-cut theme. The lead PI in this project is Dr. Ben Zaitchik of Johns Hopkins. The institutions involved include Johns Hopkins, Morgan State University, Oak Ridge National Lab, NREL, Penn State, University of Maryland Baltimore County, University of Virginia, and Cary Institute of Ecosystems Studies. More information about the project can be found here. Photo Credit: Bruce Emmerling
2022 Embodied Carbon Symposium
The 2022 Embodied Carbon Symposium gathered 26 speakers from 18 global institutions to share their latest research regarding embodied carbon in built environments. Co-organized by Dr. Azari of RE2 Lab, Dr. Alice Moncaster, and Dr. Freja Rasmussen, the symposium was held online at Penn State in November 2022. More information can be found at https://embodied-carbon.org/ .
The book co-edited by RE2 Lab staff published.
The book “Research Methods in Building Science and Technology” co-edited by Dr. Rahman Azari and Dr. Hazem Rashed-Ali was released by Springer Nature in 2021. In 8 chapters, the book provides an overview of research methods in various fields of building science and technology such as indoor and outdoor thermal comfort, energy performance, LCA and building environmental impacts, and daylighting. The book targets doctoral students and early career researchers in the fields of architecture and engineering who seek to develop insight into the observational and simulation-based research methods in building science.
Contributors to this edited volume include scholars from Penn State, Texas Tech, Virginia Tech, University of Washington, the University of Florida, and the University of Southern California.
HPB Design Studio is offered as a Directed Research Studio.
The High-Performance Building Studio is offered as a Directed Research Studio at the Penn State Department of Architecture. The studio will explore the environmental sustainability dimensions of educational space design. Emphasis will be placed on energy, daylighting, and life cycle environmental aspects of building performance. The goal is to design buildings with superior environmental performance. The student design proposals are expected to offer sustainable dynamic spaces that are environmentally friendly, and contribute to the health and well-being of the occupants. The studio relies on the AIA Framework for Design Excellence as a resource to develop solutions for high-performance buildings. Architecture 2030 targets and Living Building Challenge will serve as additional guides.
2019 AIA Upjohn Grant Award
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced the recipients of the 2019 AIA Upjohn Research Grant. Following their first award in 2019, the interdisciplinary team of Dr. Azari (PI, Penn State) and Dr. Mohammad Asadi (PI, IIT) receive $25,000 AIA funds (with 50% matching fund by Penn State) to evaluate the thermal and energy generation performance of ‘Artificial Leaf-based Cladding (ALFC) Systems’. The ALFC systems combine CO2, solar energy, and water in an artificial photosynthesis process to generate methane and oxygen; both of which could be used in buildings’ mechanical systems.
This research project builds upon the PIs’ previous research and aims to evaluate and analyze the energy and thermal performance of the ALFC systems. The technology developed by this research has the potential to convert urban envelopes into large-scale sponge systems with massive carbon removal and sustainable energy production capabilities.
RE2 Lab Initiated at Penn State Department of Architecture.
The Resource and Energy Efficiency (RE2) Lab officially begins as a research unit at the Pennsylvania State University Department of Architecture. Founded by Professor Rahman Azari, the lab is housed in the Hamer Center for Community Design and engages in research on energy performance and environmental impacts of built environments.