quality of life Projects
Daylighting [project page]
Daylighting can significantly reduce the lighting power density without reducing measured lighting levels. It also helps reduce a building owner’s electricity consumption during the utility’s peak demand periods and reduce heating and cooling costs. It may also reduce the loss of worker productivity during power failures.
Indoor Air Quality Monitoring [project page]
Students will develop real-time monitors of indoor environmental quality to create a low-toxin, low-pathogen environment. Airborne pollutants such as bacteria, dust mites, mold, pollen and biologicals as well as carbon dioxide levels will provide new data that could shed light on air quality control of conditioned spaces.
Net-Health Monitoring [project page]
Remotely tracking occupant healthcare trends through a variety of non-invasive biosensors can help reduce the number of hospital visits over time. Students will work to encrypt data transmission according to HIPA security standards, Web-enable home health care products and develop manageable sensors and algorithms to detect negative trends, especially in at-risk patients.
Retractable Roof [project page]
The roof above our courtyard will contain a retractable skylight that can by opened or closed as desired. The action of the skylight will be controlled by a computer program that has access to internal and external environmental conditions information. The roof will provide research opportunities with daylighting, airflow and indoor air quality
Sleep Monitoring [project page]
Sensors monitors occupant sleep patterns via external health indicators such as brain waves, heart rates, and REM to promote the best sleep possible and optimal wake-up times.
Soundproofing and Acoustic Suggestions for the Study Room and the Media Room - Noise Cancellation [project page]
Students are researching methods of creating localized spaces of silence that already include hypersonic speakers, sand, air gaps, and resilient channels as well as actively processing noise signals to create new corrective signals for the human listener in real-time.