National Workshop on Architectural Faculty in Environmental Sustainability Research (WAFES)

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

Buildings account for 52% of total energy use and contribute to 37% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., while modern people spend more than 90% of their time indoors. Due to these significant environmental and human physiological factors, environmental sustainability research has been actively conducted for several decades in many academic fields, including engineering, computer science, medicine, and the physical sciences, using buildings as a major research framework. However, despite the role of architecture and architectural design in a building's sustainability profile, most building performance-related research has relied heavily on system and computational process-centered approaches that do not integrate qualitative human and design research parameters. In addition, many Architectural programs in the U.S., where minorities (i.e., females) account for over 40% of the faculty and student populations, have had a cultural preconception of "no-research-needed" in professional schools and develop their curricula with little consideration of the merits of fundamental or applied research. Such a skewed intellectual atmosphere may isolate architectural scholars from "major" research initiatives, and limits the advancement of architectural research and the development of essential research infrastructure in architecture schools across the U.S. This lack of research advancement delays an architectural faculty's research career pathway and forecloses educational opportunities in architectural research among their students. To address these challenges, a national workshop will be held to engage Architectural researchers who are pursuing (or are interested in) Architecture/building-related environmental sustainability research. This workshop will 1) provide a networking opportunity that helps Architectural faculty have in-depth discussions on how to promote an architectural research framework, with specific research parameters, across the disciplines in Architecture; 2) identify the challenges and drawbacks that affect a faculty's research career success in Architecture and that also create a limited involvement of Architectural students in an art/design-integrated STEM research activity; and 3) explore potential cutting-edge Architectural research paradigms and topics in the environmental sustainability research field. The technical discussion and program of the workshop are designed to impact numerous Architectural research fields associated with environmental sustainability by 1) providing mentorship- based networking opportunities for Architecture faculty, who represent a diversity of underrepresented groups, compared to STEM domains, especially for early career individuals and PhD-ready students; 2) discussing how to develop a research platform where affiliated students have an opportunity to become involved in emerging research; 3) establishing emerging research key parameters to be integrated with other disciplines, as an innovative environmental sustainability research paradigm; and 4) enhance the research opportunity of Architectural schools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.