FACULTY HONORS
Dr. Jelena Srebric received the 2005 Yaglou Award conferred to her for significant research accomplishments in indoor air sciences by the International Academy of Indoor Air Sciences (IAIAS). Dr. John D Spangler (pictured left), Harvard University professor and the president of IAIAS, delivered the award to Dr. Srebric during the opening ceremony of the 10th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate, Indoor Air 2005 held in September in Beijing, China. The purpose of this award is to acknowledge outstanding work of young, promising researchers within the indoor air sciences and to encourage them to continue their career in this field. Dr. Srebric’s research focuses on the use of computational fluid dynamics as a design tool, simulations and measurements of indoor and outdoor environments, ventilation, indoor air quality and building energy analysis, and sustainable building design.

Dr. Martin Moeck, along with undergraduates Ben Noggle, Lindsey Beane, Abbey Beresik, Brian Smith, and Mark Miller, and graduate students Pimonmart Wankanapon and Younju Yoon, attended the 5th annual International Association of Lighting Designers Education Conference and Annual Meeting held Oct. 21-22, 2005 in Alexandria, VA. Moeck’s presentation, “Façade Engineering and Lighting Design—A New Approach,” gave an overview on forward ray tracing tools used by the students in the Luminaire Optics graduate class, as well as daylight systems design for green buildings.

Meeting up with AE alumni across the country, Dr. Stanley Mumma was an invited ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer on the topic of Dedicated Outdoor Air Systems this past fall at the following locations: Minneapolis, MN; Greenville, SC; St. Louis, MO; Chicago, IL; and Charleston, SC. At the Chicago winter meeting of ASHRAE, Dr. Mumma also presented two papers.

Professor Kevin Parfitt was named Engineer of the Year by the 2006 American Society of Civil Engineers, Central Pennsylvania Section, and Dr. Walter G. M. Schneider, AE instructor, was named Young Engineer of the Year. The award ceremony was held on Jan. 19, 2006 in Harrisburg, PA. Project of the Year went to McAllister Building renovations project on University Park campus. (look for a complete article about the AE alums involved with the McAllister project in the Spring/Summer 2006 newsletter)

Congratulations are also in order to Dr. Schneider for winning the Firefighter of the Year award from the Bellefonte Fire Department, Logan Fire Company. Dr. Schneider has been involved with fire service since 1986.

Dr. David Riley received funding from the National Science Foundation for his proposal titled, “Teaching Sustainability in Engineering through Public Scholarship,” which plans to assess ways to integrate sustainable practices in engineering.

NEW FACES
Dr. Andres Lepage joined the AE faculty as an assistant professor in December 2005. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1997. His research interests are in the area of reinforced concrete components, structural steel components, hybrid components, structural dynamics, and earthquake-resistant design. He has prepared and taught structural engineering courses at Seattle University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Universidad del Zulia at Maracaibo, Venezuela, and Universidad Catolica Andres Bello at Caracas, Venezuela. Prior to joining Penn State, Dr. Lepage practiced as a structural engineer for over eight years at KPFF Consulting Engineers, Inc. in Seattle, WA.

Dr. Bo Kasal has a joint faculty appointment between AE and the civil and environmental engineering department as the Bernard and Henrietta Hankin Chair in residential building construction and director of research of the Pennsylvania Housing Research Center. Kasal replaces Dr. Eric Burnett who retired in August 2005. Kasal received his Ph.D. degree from Oregon State University in 1992. His specialties in teaching and research are wood structures, low-rise building under natural-hazard loads, in-situ evaluation of wood structures and residential construction. Prior to coming to Penn State, Kasal was a professor at North Carolina State University.

ON SABBATICAL
Dr. Ali Memari was on sabbatical leave during the fall semester 2005. He spent a few months with Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. to gain experience in Building Technology (BT). BT is an expanding area in the building industry that deals primarily with the design, construction and evaluation of building envelope systems. Dr. Memari is hoping that this experience will help him in developing new research initiatives that will complement his current research on structural and seismic performance of building envelope systems.

SPRING BREAK FOR CREDIT
Drs. David Riley, Jenni James (Agricultural Economics) and Kathleen Kelley (Horticulture) are offering students an alternative to the traditional spring break activities this March. Students and faculty will travel to Louisiana to assist small agribusinesses in recovering from the hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Students will provide labor for clean-up, demolition, or construction.Students will earn 400-level credit for this experience, which promises to develop teamwork and leadership skills. In addition, each student is responsible for raising $500 towards the trip. For more information, or to sponsor a student, please visit: www.engr.psu.edu/cfs/katrina.htm.

FACULTY TRAVEL
Dr. Richard Behr traveled to Saudi Arabia in December 2005 to evaluate the architectural engineering program at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. He was a member of a nine-person evaluation team from the United States (one person per academic discipline). His week in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia was a busy one, but he did find some time to compare notes casually with his counterparts at KFUPM. Dr. Behr also discussed the possibility of having some top quality KFUPM students come to the Penn State AE department to complete their AE doctoral studies, with the expectation that they return to Saudi Arabia to become new faculty members in the KFUPM AE Department.

In September, Dr. William Bahnfleth traveled to Beijing, China to present a paper on standards development for ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) air disinfection systems at the Indoor Air 2005 conference. Also in attendance were Dr. Jelena Srebric and Ph.D. candidates Carlos Gomes and Bin Hu. While at the conference, Penn State representatives were excited to meet up with graduates of the AE program: Yazhou Li and Ruigang Zheng, and former post-doc Dr. Jason Jia.

In October, Dr. Bahnfleth presented a paper on calibration of multizone air flow models at the Clima 2005 conference in Lausanne, Switzerland. From there, he traveled to Denmark, where he made a presentation on chilled water pumping systems to a research workshop at the headquarters of Grundfos in Bjerringbro, and subsequently visiting the International Center for Indoor Environment and Energy at the Danish Technical University in Lyngby (a suburb of Copenhagen) to give an overview of the Penn State Indoor Environment Center.

ENVIRONMENTAL
SUSTAINABILITY: LEAN AND GREEN TAKING NEXT BIG STEPS
Dr. Michael Horman recently became the newest recipient of the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award. The CAREER grant is designed to jumpstart promising young academics early in their careers. Horman's proposal entitled "Lean & Green - Developing High Performance Processes for High Performance Buildings" secured the award. This award will be a strong boost to the work of the Lean and Green Research Initiative for the next five years and validates the important research and education being done in the department in project delivery for high performance green buildings.

This CAREER project will focus specifically on the project delivery (procurement, design, and construction) processes of “environmentally sustainable” or “green” buildings to investigate how value is created and wasted in these projects. Of particular interest is the relationship between process waste and the costs of green projects and whether changes to process waste can affect the levels of building sustainability. Horman and his team are focusing on the “how” and “who” questions of sustainable building innovatively using lean techniques developed by the automotive industry for improving the reliable and efficient production of cars.

The impact to industry should be significant. Most firms and contractors with AE graduates are involved with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) projects. These projects can be challenging and complex to complete and often cost more as a consequence. Many owners shy away from green buildings because of the initial cost, even though there are substantial operational savings involved. Horman’s research will help designers and contractors to be more efficient and cost effective on their LEED projects.

The CAREER Award also blends effectively with Horman’s work in the greening of healthcare facilities, where he is studying the link between green facilities and patient recovery and healthcare worker productivity. A recent roundtable was organized by the Lean and Green Research Initiative and PACE in October 2005 and was held jointly with the AE department’s Indoor Environment Center.

Horman joins Drs. Thomas Boothby, Ali Memari, John Messner, and Jelena Srebric as AE faculty who have received the NSF CAREER award.

AE alumni interested in learning more about Lean and Green research and/or would consider returning to Penn State to complete a graduate degree in this area should contact Dr. Horman at mjhorman@engr.psu.edu.

New Lean and Green Research Initiative Website
In conjunction with the growing research activities of the Lean and Green Research Initiative, a new website has been launched by the group. This new website employs the latest web design technology and establishes a new identity. This will allow for site updates with the latest research, educational activities and products, as well as provide an enhanced experience for web site visitors. Researchers, educators, current and prospective graduate students will be able to find lists of current projects, who is involved, and current events.

The mission of the Lean and Green Research Initiative is to conduct research and education to improve the delivery of high performance buildings through the development of resource efficient (lean) processes that maximize value at minimal delivery cost. While the CAREER award will enable the detailed study of project delivery processes, the Initiative will also conduct research into green project management tools, the role of the constructor on green projects, use of prefabrication technologies, healthcare, and innovations in project delivery.

Those interested in learning more can visit Lean and Green online at www.leanandgreen.org, or e-mail the director, Dr. Horman, at mjhorman@engr.psu.edu.