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Who We Are

ADMINISTRATION - "TEAM 7"

Patricia Andrasik, NCARB, AIA, IIDA, LEED AP BD+C, O+M

Patricia Andrasik is associate professor and head of sustainability outreach at the School of Architecture and Planning at The Catholic University of America (CUA), and a licensed architect in Washington, D.C. She was a Fulbright Student Scholar at the Technical University of Slovakia researching the building effectiveness of mass housing while earning her Master of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma and taught as a Visiting Professor in Beirut prior to returning the U.S. to practice.

In 2011 Andrasik collaborated with the USGBC to create LEED Lab. She continues to develop courses which suit market transformation of the architectural field such as Sustainable Strategies and Synergies, Lighting Analysis, and Building Performance Analytics in addition to restructuring architectural lecture courses and studios to include advances in environmental literacy and design. In 2015 she received the President’s Award for the Advancement of Teaching at CUA.

Andrasik has received seed funding to integrate building performance analytics into the design process in local and international architectural projects and collaborated with Autodesk to run a pilot test of new analytical plug-ins which assess design decisions. Her course of work has been recognized in publications and conferences such as the Journal of the National Institute of Building Sciences (JNIBS), New Buildings Institute (NBI) National Forum, Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), APPA Leadership in Educational Facilities, the Association for Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), the Façade Tectonics Conference at the University of Southern California, and the AIA/COTE Sustainability Leadership Conference. Her book, LEED Lab, A Model for Sustainable Education (Routledge 2018) culminates her recent work using campus facilities in performance evaluation.

Mohamad Araji

Mohamad Araji, Ph.D. OEA, LEED AP BD+C

Dr. Mohamad T. Araji is the Director of Architectural Engineering, Associate Director of Research and Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Waterloo, Canada. His specialty involves building science and technology, sustainable design systems and energy efficiency. Dr. Araji has been an incubator for the development of new models in architecture and city-centre environments. He has contributed to landmark projects that range from the Chicago DeCarbonization Plan to the world’s tallest buildings Jedda Tower and the world’s first large-scale positive energy building Masdar Headquarters. Numerous of these projects and winning competitions in his work portfolio at renown architecture firms in the United States apply innovative technologies to form high-performance designs that generate minimal ecological footprint.

Among Dr. Araji’s international recognitions in Canada, USA, Europe, and the Middle East, he has lectured and conducted research at many universities, institutes, conferences, and public events. He has previously taught at the University of Manitoba, Technical University of Munich, Oskar von Miller Forum, Lebanese American University, and Abu Dhabi University. He is the recipient of various teaching awards such as the 2014 TÜV Süd Stiftung Visiting Professorship, the 2017 Carl R. Nelson Teaching Excellence Award and UM’s 2020 Teaching Scholar Award. He has received several prestigious research grants from agencies such as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Mitacs. He is a LEED accredited professional and member of numerous environmental and architectural societies, councils, and associations.

Walter Grondzik

Walter Grondzik, P.E., LEED AP, CPHC

Walter Grondzik, Freelance Consultant and Emeritus Professor of Architecture at Ball State University, is an architectural engineer by training and practice and a licensed professional mechanical engineer in the state of Oklahoma. His academic and professional interests include high-performance building design and analysis and all areas of building environmental control systems and their effects on buildings and occupants.

Grondzik is author of Principles of Building Commissioning and co-author of Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings (10th through 13th editions) and The Green Studio Handbook (1st through 3rd editions). He is an ASHRAE Fellow, a Fellow of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), and recipient of the ASES Passive Solar Pioneer Award. Grondzik is past-president of the Society of Building Science Educators (SBSE), past-president of the Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC), and past-president of the Board of the Passive House Institute US (PHIUS).

Robert J. Koester

Robert J. Koester, AIA, LEED AP

Robert Koester is a Professor of Architecture at Ball State University. He has taught Design-for-Sustainability in multiple educational settings, including undergraduate and graduate Sustainability Studios, Sustainability Seminars, Vital Signs (Diagnostics) Courses and the Daylectric TM Lighting Design Studio, as well as professional development workshops.

He was honored in 2011 by the College of Architecture and Planning Alumni Association with the Charles M. Sappenfield Award of Excellence for “outstanding dedication, contribution and commitment to the education of the students of the College of Architecture and Planning.”

He is the Founding Director (2020) of the Academy for Sustainability which delivers an on-line Graduate Certificate in Sustainability and an on-campus undergraduate Minor in Sustainability and is the Founding Director (1982) of the Center for Energy Research/Education/Service (CERES) at Ball State University (BSU), which continues to provide interdisciplinary academic support focused on energy and resource use, alternatives and conservation. He also is the Founding Chair (2001) of the university-level Council on the Environment (COTE) which continues to serve as a clearinghouse for campus-wide sustainability implementation.

He has served as the Founding Co-Chair (1996) of the BSU Greening of the Campus Conference Series, the 9th (and last) of which was held in March of 2012 and featured dedication of the BSU district-scale geothermal heating and cooling system. He was the Founding Liaison (2006) to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) and serves now as Liaison (2016) to the Climate Leadership Commitment (CLC), while continuing as the Charter Liaison (2010) to the Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System (STARS).

Norbert Lechner

Norbert Lechner, Prof. Emeritus, Architect, and LEED AP is an expert in energy responsive architectural design with an emphasis on solar responsive design including daylighting. He taught at the College of Architecture, Design, and Construction, Auburn University for 33 years. He grew up in New York City but has lived in Alabama for the last 40 years. He is being invited to speak all over the world on sustainable architecture.

His book, Heating, Cooling, Lighting: Sustainable Design Methods for Architects, 4th edition, © 2014, John Wiley & Sons is popular with building professionals, it is used in architecture schools all over the world, and it has been translated into 5 languages. He also published Plumbing, Electricity, and Acoustics: Sustainable Design Methods for Architecture, 2011, John Wiley & Sons, and he wrote one chapter in the book, Low Carbon Cities: Transforming Urban Systems, edited by S. Lehmann, Routledge Pub., © 2014.

He is a consultant for designing sustainable, low energy, and solar responsive buildings. He is also the inventor of new types of heliodons that are much more conceptually clear and easy to use than any existing heliodons, and they are used all over the world.

Franca Trubiano

Franca Trubiano, Ph.D.

Franca Trubiano is Graduate Group Chair of the PhD Program in Architecture and Associate Professor at the Weitzman School of Design of the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) . She is a Registered Architect with l'Ordre des Architects du Québec and received her PhD from UPenn in 2005.

Her edited book Design and Construction of High-Performance Homes: Building Envelopes, Renewable Energies, and Integrated Practice (Routledge Press 2012), was translated into Korean and awarded the 2015 Sejong Outstanding Scholarly Book Award. Trubiano’s research on Integrated Design Advanced Energy Retrofit Roadmaps has been funded by the US Department of Energy. She conducts funded research on 'Forced Labor in the Building Industry,' as well as on 'Fossil Fuels, the Building Industry, and Human Health.' Since 2021, Trubiano has been co-director of Penn's Mellon funded, Humanities + Urban + Design Initiative. She is also author of Building Theories, Architecture as the Art of Building (Routledge 2023), and co-editor of Women [Re]Build; Stories, Polemics, Futures (ORO, 2019).

Drake Wauters

Drake Wauters, AIA, CSI/CDT, SCIP

Drake A. Wauters, AIA, CSI/CDT, SCIP, Architecture consultant and practitioner through a wide range of firm types. He has been in practice since architecture school and been a registered architect since 1989. As a practitioner his career has primarily been centered around technical architecture and building science application. He has also supported software firms in varying capacities and been an ardent advocate for advancement in the profession and in the performance of the built environment in general.

Project involvement since 1985 have included billions of dollars in public and private projects worldwide under both design-build and design-bid-build project delivery methods in design, quality assurance, specifications, and leadership roles. Project types included teaching, research, museum, defense, workplace, justice, utility, theater, and residential sectors and have often included landmark and/or security aspects. Projects have included new buildings and renovated buildings and numerous projects have received awards.

On advocacy, he is a cofounder of Built Environment Education, the AIA knowledge community Building Performance (formerly Technical Design for Building Performance), and has been or is involved in NIBS, DOE, GSA, ASHRAE, ASTM, the AIA AGS and AHPP, AIA work or advisory groups as well as the GW Columbian College of Arts & Sciences.

Advisory Commitee