Research Projects

This research builds an integrative approach specific to the facility management work context that addresses the technological interactions, specifically the adoption of automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI), in the changing nature of facilities operation and management (O&M) at the human-technology frontier, ultimately tying these technological questions to the socio-economic dynamics of the facility management workforce. The evolving archetypes will need to build on the combination of research methods from engineering, computer science, economics, education and adult training, human behavior, organizational behavior, and psychology to present convergent solutions.

Research Goal: To integrate and radically transform the nature of O&M in facilities by removing barriers to technology adoption.

Research Objectives: (1) Design a digital twin (DT) ecosystem of a facility that enables the transformation of FMs from mere service managers to offering innovative cutting-edge O&M services by providing both physical and cognitive assistance to them; (2) Design a multi-modal, user interface for this ecosystem that allows for seamless communications and interactions with FMs and other stakeholders, including the occupants. (3) Evaluate the willingness and abilities of FMs to utilize the proposed DT technology, resulting in a feedback loop to support continuous improvement to the developed technologies that provide details on barriers to adoption and opportunities for improvement; and (4) Assess economic, social, and organizational effects of adopting technology on FMs, occupants, and facility owners.

The goal of this project is to identify the current Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) data workflow and handover process of its various transportation assets. The project will help in understanding how this process can be improved (and the comparative process flow) by developing a digital project handover process that utilizes BIM, IFC, COBie, or other technologies/methods. Moreover, the project aims to ensure a long-term data availability and linkage throughout all phases of a projects design, construction, and operation.

This project aimed to answer the question of "How can existing Alaska Native housing be adapted to better alleviate energy insecurity? How effective are existing energy efficiency retrofits; how can they be improved to reduce energy burden long-term?" The project had many focuses, but a major aspect of this research was fieldwork to gain knowledge on local values, culture, and traditions in order to best tailor towards the community.

(Website)

Mass timber is an emerging construction technology growing in popularity in the United States. One obstacle in the gradual adoption of mass timber construction is the limited availability of qualified engineers and designers. This project aims to identify existing timber engineering courses and educational resources available to university students and instructors in the United States and identify areas for improvement to enhance the future engineering and construction workforce. Specifically through input from a panel of qualified industry professionals, a DACUM chart will be produced using the Delphi Survey Methodology to provide a unified series of tasks and duties that are viewed to be important for entry level structural engineers working in mass timber design.  The results of this will provide clarity on curriculum needs to ensure graduating engineers are prepared to work with mass timber elements. Additionally, interviews will be conducted with university-level timber engineering instructors to discuss instructional materials that are currently available and determine what new educational resources are needed to help increase the availability of mass timber-related course taught nationwide. The results of the interviews and DACUM chart will guide the development of mass timber engineering educational materials, including learning modules, virtual tours, and student assignments that can be presented independently or implemented with existing engineering coursework.

The goal of this research project is to develop an integrated framework to assess Demand Side Management potential of diverse residential households, specifically targeting undeserved, lower income urban rural, and remote populations. The project was based on three research goals revolving around socioeconomic factors, the relationship to occupancy and energy consumption, and addressing potential occupant comfort barriers to DSM participation. The educational goal behind the research is to inform existing and future workforce in sustainable, smart buildings and DSM management.

 (Website; News Article)

Michigan State's Industrial Assessment Center was founded to allow faculty and students to work with Michigan Companies to save money, improve energy efficiency, and shrink carbon footprints. Michigan State offers the unique standpoint of being inclusive in their work, but also having the expertise to truly impact Michigan's communities and manufacturer's. (U.S. Department of Energy)

(Website; New's Article; Flyer)

This project looks into the efforts of reducing energy demands in various type's of buildings throughout the world. The research specifically looks into fenestrations (windows), and their effect on both comfort and effiency.  The research team collaborates with European colleagues in hopes of expanding knowledge. Teams involved aim to find practical solutions to improve the design and performance of fenestration within buildings. (National Science Foundation)

(Website)

The focus of this study is to model and validate a highly integrated system using programmed lighting, shading controls, and thermal energy storage systems for commercial buildings. The project attempts to utilize those smart building technologies to achieve a certain goal of shifting the electricity load and peak load reduction. The team modeled and simulated the smart building system by using daylighting and energy model software, including Radiance, WINDOW, EnergyPlus, and the latest plugin tools Ladybug/Honeybee based on the platform Grasshopper on computer aid design software Rhinoceros for co-simulation. The work in progress also includes validation for field-test results for the next step.

The goal of this project is to assess the impact of the global epidemic caused by severe respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on American residential households. Major tasks of this project have been taken into consideration including (1) Using American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data to track the changes over the years to help with understanding the residential occupancy as well as improving the occupancy schedule in existing modeling and simulation tools (2) Use ATUS data to find demographic factors associated with the American residential households to help with uncovering the driven factors behind the changes.

This project aims to find and develop user transparent sensor systems that accurately quantify human presence to dramatically reduce energy use in commercial and residential buildings. The goal of this project is to create teams across Universities and Research Centers that develop sensing technologies that minimize or eliminate the need for human intervention while pursuing aggressive cost, performance, privacy, and usability requirements. 

(Website; ISU CoE News)

This project has two main goals. The first goal is to identify methods of use of virtual models to train MSU Industrial Assessment Center (MSU IAC) students in assessment processes and evaluate their effectiveness. To accomplish this goal, virtual training environments will be created by scanning real-world environments, used for training of students via VR headsets connected to VR environments, then evaluated for impact on student training. The second goal is to evaluate the use of VR to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of IAC assessments, specifically during the post-assessment phase.

The industrial sector accounts for roughly one third of emissions in the US. It is important to explore the different perspectives of industrial building owners and occupants to help address this current problem. The first part of this study discusses the barriers and motivations for these facilities when implementing an energy efficiency project. Additionally, this project discusses the most common payback periods which are important in deciding on an investment. 

The second part of this study focuses on addressing cost barriers which is a common theme in barriers and motivations from the previous chapter by looking into the non-energy impacts. Non-energy impacts (NEI), also known as non-energy benefits, are impacts that exclude energy cost reduction. Some examples include improved productivity, improved air quality, and improved morale of workers.