Hoque receives NSF CAREER grant to study urban development impacts

Hoque receives NSF CAREER grant to study urban development impacts

Cities today contribute almost two-thirds of the world’s primary energy demand. By 2030, this fraction is projected to increase to three-quarters, matching the urban sector’s expected share of global energy-related CO2 emissions. The current urban outlook demands a comprehensive understanding of urban sustainability policies to address climate change and energy security. Dr. Simi Hoque, assistant professor in Building and Construction Technology, has been awarded an NSF CAREER grant, valued at over $550.000 to develop an Integrated Urban Metabolism Analytical Tool (IUMAT) to measure, evaluate, and predict the impacts of energy and water use, land use, and transportation systems at an urban scale. This interdisciplinary project will involve a collaborative research coalition comprised of Amherst Town Conservation Department, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland, and faculty from Civil Engineering and Urban Planning at UMass-Amherst. Broadly, IUMAT will be applied to evaluate city sustainability planning scenarios and support outreach STEM activities among middle...
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Excitement builds about possibility of local wood use for Cross-Laminated Timber

Excitement builds about possibility of local wood use for Cross-Laminated Timber

The Republican and Masslive reported today about Peggi Clouston's recent grant: AMHERST - Peggi Clouston gets almost giddy when she talked about the cross laminated timber beam that was on display at the celebration of the new $52 million design building at the University of Massachusetts. The associate professor of environmental conservation at UMass is hoping that this new composite can use wood species from the Northeast that are not being used now. She and colleagues received a three-year $390,000 National Science Foundation grant to show that the new material can incorporate currently underused wood species and creating a market for local trees and opening jobs in rural communities. Read on... The announcement was also featured on NPR in Connecticut. Click below to listen to the story: http://cpa.ds.npr.org/wnpr/audio/2015/10/ps_151027_eri_wood_demand.mp3...
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Hoque Co-PI in $1M NSF grant to study intelligent building systems

Hoque Co-PI in $1M NSF grant to study intelligent building systems

Together with Co-PIs Prashant Shenoy in Computer Science and David Irwin in Electrical and Computer Engineering, BCT faculty member Simi Hoque has received a three-year, $1M grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to work with Holyoke Gas & Electric Co. (HG&E) to develop smart energy services that will improve grid efficiency, encourage energy conservation and promote local renewable energy sources such as rooftop solar. This grant was awarded through Utility Driven Smart Energy Services and will be used to design more intelligent technologies and systems for buildings. Hoque and her students will be studying building occupants' behavior to understand how they interact with energy-using equipment in their homes in order to design systems and incentives that motivate energy awareness and energy conserving behavior. Link: http://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/umass-amherst-researchers-receive-1...
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Clouston and Schreyer awarded $390k NSF grant to study local CLT

Clouston and Schreyer awarded $390k NSF grant to study local CLT

Peggi Clouston (PI) has just been awarded a $390k grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study local Cross Laminated Timber (CLT). She will share this award with co-PIs Sanjay Arwade from CEE and Alexander Schreyer, also from BCT. This grant was issued through the NSF‐CMMI-Structural and Architectural Engineering (SAE) Program. The goal of the project is to verify that low-value lumber from local northeastern species is a structurally viable and safe material for incorporation into massive wood panel products, like Cross Laminated Timber (CLT). Creating this type of high-value market for low-value wood will help create green jobs in rural communities and spur economic development for the local forest industry, as well as  promote more sustainable building practices through increased use of wood in construction....
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