Hillier Faculty Building Energy Research Portfolio Growing

Associate Professor Hyojin Kim has distinguished herself in a number of ways since she joined the Hillier College of Architecture and Design in fall of 2019. She came to NJIT with a research project funded by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) within the U.S. Department of the Interior. This research aims to develop a new field toolkit and methodology for evaluating the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) performance of historic buildings for their sustainable and effective reuse, while preserving the integrity and fabric of those buildings. IEQ includes thermal comfort, air quality, lighting and acoustics. Prior research has shown that building reuse offers environmental savings over demolition and new construction, which can reduce the building sector’s contribution to climate change. 

“I am interested in ways to enhance overall building performance, including both energy and IEQ, through my research using a variety of tools such as computer simulation and field measurements. My current research is focused on creating or redesigning real-time building performance feedback loops for architects and engineers, by evaluating existing building systems and technologies in terms of their energy efficiency, water use and IEQ performance. Well-designed building performance feedback loops will contribute to reducing a building’s energy use while maintaining acceptable IEQ for occupants.”

On her arrival in September, Kim was awarded a new grant for a one-year project to develop an “Integrative Method to Whole-House Energy and Comfort Rating.” This is a grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce. This research aims to develop an integrative method to rate whole-house performance based on both energy efficiency and comfort. It is designed to contribute to an improved understanding of how energy-efficient improvements in a low-load house impacts on thermal comfort, with testing and high resolution data gathering carried out at the NIST Net-Zero House.

Anuradha Kadam, a fourth-year architecture student, believes the work they are doing is important for the long-term success of net-zero energy houses. “There is a lot we do not yet know about the performance of net-zero energy houses after construction. Since people are more likely to live in a net-zero energy house if thermal comfort is ensured, we aim to develop a whole-house rating system for how net-zero measures affect thermal comfort performance, which has not yet been done.” 

Doctoral student Han Yan is working on the team as Kim's research assistant for this study. Her main responsibility is to work on data treatment and data analysis of the indoor environment. “I think Dr. Kim's research is really important to the school of architecture. It lays out the opportunities for understanding architecture from a technical perspective. It's interesting to be able to see the process of quantifying outcomes of design decisions. Data-driven decision making is a very objective process, and it could and should be implemented more in architecture and all other design fields,” Yan said.

Kim was also awarded another grant in December 2019 for a research project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through Oak Ridge National Laboratory to test and validate the accuracy of the Building Energy Modeling (BEM) software currently used in the building industry, such as the DOE’s EnergyPlus. It is part of a $3 million DOE project to maximize the adoption of energy efficient high-performance buildings. 

As the founder and faculty advisor for a new student chapter of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Professor Kim is also this year's recipient of the Distinguished Service Award by ASHRAE, recognized in June via virtual conference, and is the incoming chair for the research subcommittee for the ASHRAE Technical Committee on Building Energy Performance, effective July 2020.

Amber Eiserle, class of '22 architecture student and lead coordinator for new student orientation at the Albert Dorman Honors College, has been working hard with other interested students to establish an ASHRAE branch at NJIT. ASHRAE is an organization that provides students with guest lecturers and material on the topics of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC&R) design standards as well as ways to improve them to become more eco-friendly or efficient. “I hope we are able to provide the same and more to architecture and engineering students and even attend a few of the major conferences. While we are currently in the process of submitting our final paperwork to become an official student branch at NJIT, we couldn’t have done it without Professor Kim,” Eiserle said. 

“For my service to the profession, I have focused my participation on those activities that are primarily related to high-performance building design and operation. I have served as a voting member of ASHRAE Technical Committee (TC) 7.6, Building Energy Performance; TC 4.7, Energy Calculations; and the Guideline Project Committee for Guideline 14 Measurement of Energy, Demand, and Water Savings,” Kim added. 

Regularly serving as a session chair at the ASHRAE and International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate conferences, Kim has proposed and monitored ASHRAE research projects, and organized seminars for the ASHRAE conferences. Distinguished in her research, Kim also has been invited to review submissions for various international journals, conference proceedings, and grant applications, including $19.5 million of federal funding for the U.S. DOE.

Kim sees her mission as teaching her students — future architects — to be responsible stewards of our natural and built environment. “Their decisions will impact a building’s lifelong performance in providing a comfortable and energy-efficient indoor environment for workers or residents,” she observed. “Students need to understand their future power.” 

“Personally I feel very lucky to be able to work alongside a researcher like Dr. Kim,” said Yan, “She is intelligent, rigorous, and enthusiastic about her projects. I think she is a great representative of the type of technological community found at NJIT. To me, she is a great female role model as a scientist.” 

Kadam adds, “I have always been interested in interdisciplinary work between architecture, environmental science, and engineering. Research is an exciting way for me to expand my knowledge and learn new skills and applications, such as coding using Python, graphic design, statistics and math, all of which are skills I have learned throughout my research experience with Prof. Kim. Research is also exciting to me because in learning these new skills, I am also contributing to society and technological progress by sharing my findings.”

Kim holds a doctorate in architecture and runs the (BE)² LAB — Building Energy and Built Environment Lab — where she teaches a class for students who are interested in Building Energy Modeling and other classes in environmental control systems that address energy performance and sustainability in buildings. Kim has several students in the architecture program who are working on her research projects and also pursuing minors in environmental studies and sustainability.