Education Background

Katy received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Denver in 2013, where she also played for the university’s D1 women’s soccer program. At DU, she graduated Summa Cum Laude with departmental distinction, was elected into the Phi Beta Kappa society for excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, and was named First Team COSIDA Academic All-American for Women’s Soccer in the 2011-12 season. In 2015, she received her M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. Her master’s research focused on the environmental impact analysis and co-design of culturally-centered homes with a California Native American tribe, the Pinoleville Pomo Nation. Before starting her doctoral studies, Katy worked at the Boulder Engineering Company for three years where she designed electrical and mechanical systems for multi-family residential and commercial buildings across the United States. Katy received her Ph.D. in Architectural Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University in 2023. Her doctoral research focused on modeling and simulation of community-scale energy systems using the Modelica language, including traditional district heating and cooling systems and innovative biomimetic (nature imitating) designs for future sustainable and resilient communities. 

Ph.D. Dissertation

• K. Hinkelman 2023 “Modelica Modeling and Ecosystem Biomimicry of District Energy Systems” Department of Architectural Engineering, Penn State University, United States

Research Interests

• Sustainable energy systems (cities, districts, buildings)
• Thermal-fluid science
• Model-based systems engineering
• Equation-based modeling (Modelica)
• Ecosystem biomimicry
• Human centered design/design thinking
• Life cycle assessment
• Building controls

Research Projects

• 08/2021 – 07/2023: DOE IBUILD Graduate Research Fellowship – Biomimetic Integrated Community Energy and Power System (BICEPS)
• 07/2020 – 06/2023: NSF/DOS – Modernizing Cities via Smart Garden Alleys with Application in Makassar City (with Virginia Tech, Universitas Gadjah Mada, & Institut Teknologi Bandung)
• 10/2020- 09/2024: DOE – Optimal Co-Design of Integrated Thermal-Electrical Networks and Control Systems for Grid-interactive Efficient District (GED) Energy Systems (with RPI, UT Austin,LBNL, NREL & Amzur technologies)
• 03/2019 – 06/2022: DOE – Support for District Energy Simulation with Modelica (with NREL & LBNL)
• 10/2019 – 08/2022: NSF – BIGDATA: Collaborative Research: IA: Big Data Analytics for Optimized Planning of Smart, Sustainable, and Connected Communities (with Virginia Tech)
• 08/2022- Present: Smart, Sustainable and Resilient (SSR) Home Test Facility

Synergistic Activities

• Major open-source library contributor: Modelica Buildings and IBPSA libraries
• International Collaborator, IBPSA Project 1, building “the basis of next generation computing tools for the design and operation of building and district energy and control systems”
• Member, Phi Beta Kappa, “The Nation’s Most Prestigious Academic Honor Society”
• Student Member, American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
• Member, International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA)

Major Awards

• Glenn E. Singley Memorial Graduate Fellowship in Engineering, 2023
• Graduate Research Award. Architectural Engineering Institute (AEI) 2023 Conference, Denver, CO, 2023
• The 2022/2023 Lester L. Boyer Graduate Research Scholarship, 2023.
• IBUILD Graduate Research Fellowship, U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building Technologies Office, 2022
• Borda Graduate Scholarship, 2022
• Gordon D. Kissinger Graduate Research Fellowship, 2022 
• Harvey and Geraldine Brush Graduate Fellowship in Engineering, 2022
• Marlene & Joseph Borda Architectural Engineering Graduates Fellowship, 2022
• IBUILD Graduate Research Fellowship, U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building Technologies Office, 2021
• P.E.O. Scholar Award, 2021
• Colorado Engineering Council Silver Medal & Certificate of Merit, 2013
• Pioneer Award (“the highest honor given to undergraduate students” at the University of Denver), 2013
• Mechanical Engineering Departmental Distinction, 2013
• Academic All-American First Team, Division I Women’s Soccer, 2011

Journal Papers

• K. Hinkelman, Y. Yang, W. Zuo. 2023. “Design Methodologies and Engineering Applications for Ecosystem Biomimicry: An Interdisciplinary Review Spanning Cyber, Physical, and Cyber-Physical Systems.” Bioinspiration & Biomimetics. 18 (2). pp. 021001.
• N. Ildiri, H. Bazille, Y. Lou, K. Hinkelman, W. A. Gray, W. Zuo. 2022. “Impact of WELL Certification on Occupant Satisfaction and Perceived Health, Well-being, and Productivity: A Multi-office Pre- versus Post-occupancy Evaluation,” Building and Environment, 224, pp. 109539. 
• K. Hinkelman, S. Anbarasu, M. Wetter, A. Gautier, W. Zuo. 2022. “A Fast and Accurate Modeling Approach for Water and Steam Thermodynamics with Practical Applications in District Heating System Simulation,” Energy, 254(A), pp. 124227.
• K. Hinkelman, J. Wang, W. Zuo, A. Gautier, M. Wetter, C. Fan, N. Long. 2022. “Modelica-Based Modeling and Simulation of District Cooling Systems: A Case Study.” Applied Energy, 311, pp. 118654.
• S. Huang, J. Wang, Y. Fu, W. Zuo, K. Hinkelman, R. M. Kaiser, D. He, D. Vrabie 2021. “An Open-source Virtual Testbed for a Real Net-Zero Energy Community”. Sustainable Cities and Society, 75, pp. 103255.
• C. Fan, K. Hinkelman, Y. Fu, W. Zuo, S. Huang, C. Shi, N. Mamaghani, C. Faulkner, X. Zhou 2021. “Open-source Modelica Models for the Control Performance Simulation of Chiller Plants with Water-side Economizer.” Applied Energy. 299, pp. 117337.
• Y. Ye, K. Hinkelman, Y. Lou, W. Zuo, G. Wang, G., J. Zhang 2021. “Evaluating the Energy Impact Potential of Energy Efficiency Measures for Retrofit Applications: A Case Study with US Medium Office Buildings.” Building Simulation, 14 (5), pp. 1377-1393.
• Y. Ye, K. Hinkelman, J. Zhang, W. Zuo, G. Wang 2019. “A Methodology to Create Prototypical Building Energy Models for Existing Buildings: A Case Study on U.S. Religious Worship Buildings.” Energy and Buildings, 194, pp. 351-365.
• X. Lu, K. Hinkelman, Y. Fu, J. Wang, W. Zuo, Q. Zhang, W. Saad 2019. “An Open Source Modeling Framework for Interdependent Energy-Transportation-Communication Infrastructure in Smart and Connected Communities.” IEEE Access, 7, pp. 55458-55476.
• K. Van Lieshout, J. Anderson, K. Shelburne, B. Davidson 2014. “Intensity Rankings of Plyometric Exercises Using Joint Power Absorption.” Clinical Biomechanics, 29, pp. 918–22.

Conference Papers

• S. Anbarasu, T. Ambadkar, R. Adhikari, K. Hinkelman, W. Zuo, Z. He, A. Moftakhari 2024. “Optimizing Operational Costs in Combined Heat and Power Integrated District Heating Systems: A Reinforcement Learning Approach.” SimBuild 2024. May 21-23, Denver, CO.
• Z. He, S. Anbarasu, K. Hinkelman, J. Hu, W. Zuo, A. Moftakhari 2024. “Computationally Efficient and Accurate Modeling of Combined Heat and Power Systems for District Energy Systems.” SimBuild 2024. May 21-23, Denver, CO.
• K. Hinkelman, D. Milner, W. Zuo 2023. “Open-Source Models for Sand-Based Thermal Storage in Heating Applications.” The 15th International Modelica Conference. October 9-11, Aachen, Germany.
• D. Milner, K. Hinkelman, J. Gifford, W. Zuo, Z. Ma 2023. “Sand-based Thermal Storage for Building Heating Applications: A District Energy Case Study.” The 7th International Energy Conference (ASTECHNOVA 2023). October 4-5, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
• K. Hinkelman, S. Anbarasu, W. Zuo 2023. “Ecological Network Analysis of Integrated Energy Systems with Modelica: A Novel Biomimetic Approach for Building Design and Operation.” The 18th Conference of International Building Performance Simulation Association (Building Simulation 2023). September 4-6, Shanghai, China.
• K. Hinkelman, W. Zuo, J. Wang, S. Huang, M. Wetter 2022. “Ecosystem-Level Biomimicry for the Built Environment: Adopting Systems Ecology Principles for the Control of Heterogeneous Energy Systems.” The 5th International Conference on Building Energy and Environment (COBEE 2022). July 25-29, Montreal, Canada.
• S. Anbarasu, K. Hinkelman, W. Zuo. 2022. “Tracing the Dependency of Water and Energy in Smart and Connected Communities through a Multi-Domain Modeling Framework.” The 5th International Conference on Building Energy and Environment (COBEE 2022). July 25-29, Montreal, Canada.
• K. Hinkelman, S. Anbarasu, M. Wetter, A. Gautier, B. Ravache, W. Zuo 2022. “Towards Open-Source Modelica Models For Steam-Based District Heating Systems.” Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop On Open Source Modelling And Simulation Of Energy Systems (OSMSES 2022), Aachen, German, April 4-5, 2022.
• K. Hinkelman, J. Wang, C. Fan, W. Zuo, A. Gautier, M. Wetter, N. Long 2021. “A Case Study on Condenser Water Supply Temperature Optimization with a District Cooling Plant.” 14th International Modelica Conference, Virtual Conference, September 20-24.
• K. Hinkelman, S. Huang, J. Wang, J. Lian, W. Zuo 2019. “Enhancing the Implementation of a First-order Equivalent Thermal Parameter Model to Enable Accurate and Robust Building Thermal Response Prediction.” Proceedings of the 16th Conference of International Building Performance Simulation Association (Building Simulation 2019), September 2-4, Rome, Italy.
• Y. Ye, K. Hinkelman, J. Zhang, Y. Xie, W. Zuo 2019. “A Methodology to Quantify the Impact of Building Energy Code Upgrades on Building Energy Savings: A Case Study on Small Offices.” Proceeding of the 16th Conference of International Building Performance Simulation Association (Building Simulation 2019), September 2-4, Rome, Italy.
• K. Van Lieshout, C. Bayley, S. Akinlabi, L. von Rabenau, D. Dornfeld 2015. “Leveraging Life Cycle Assessment to Evaluate Environmental Impacts of Green Cleaning Products.” Procedia CIRP, 29, pp. 372–77, Sydney, Australia.
• Y. Ye, K. Hinkelman, W. Zuo, G. Wang 2019. “ASHRAE TRP-1771: Methodology to Evaluate Sensitive Levels of Inputs for US Commercial Building Models.” ASHRAE 2019 Annual Conference, June 22-26, Kansas City, MO.

News