Archives: Faculties

Steven Grant

Steven Grant

School of Architecture, CityLab-Orlando
Professor of Practice + Program Director Themed Environments Integration (TEI)
407-610-8325
steven.grant@ufl.edu

Steven Grant, AIA is the Program Director of the Master of Science in Architectural Studies Concentration in Themed Environments Integration, and a Professor of Practice, at the University of Florida’s, CityLab-Orlando. He received a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design degree, and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Ball State University, and a Master of Liberal Studies degree from Rollins College.

Professor Grant has been a registered architect for 36 years, practicing in Chicago and New York before moving to Los Angeles in 1991 to be an Architect and Design Manager at Walt Disney Imagineering, where he spent 28 years design managing theme park projects at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

Professor Grant has merged his extensive knowledge and experience obtained from working with teams in the design and construction of over one-hundred themed environments at Walt Disney World, with his liberal arts studies, to direct the Themed Environments Integration MSAS graduate program at UF’s Orlando CityLab.

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Aladdin Alwisy

Aladdin Alwisy

M.E. Rinker, Sr, School of Construction Management
Assistant Professor
352-273-1157
RINKER 311
aalwisy@dcp.ufl.edu
https://sites.google.com/view/smart-idc-lab/home
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Please visit https://sites.google.com/view/smart-idc-lab/home for an in-depth look at Professor Alwisy’s Robotics Lab

Publications

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Research Interests

Dr. Alwisy’s research interests lie in developing and assessing sustainable practices that capture the future of intelligent design and manufacturing systems by establishing the scientific and technological foundations for uncertain, human-centric processes in industrialized construction. His research will take advantage of recent advances in Robotics, Sensing Technologies, Machine Learning (ML),  Augmented/Virtual/Mixed reality (AR/VR/MR), Simulation, and Lean Manufacturing to promote the shift towards industrialized construction by reducing the expense of the design, manufacturing process, and system control. Dr. Alwisy has largely contributed to construction automation by the development of the first-in-the-nation Robotic Station for the framing and installation of industrialized construction that utilizes patented robotic systems and methods. Additionally, Dr. Alwisy developed innovative BIM technologies, such as BIM- and knowledge-based drafting and design for manufacturing, performance-based target cost modeling system, and computational energy-based generative design framework.

Research Lab

Smart Industrialized Design and Construction (IDC) Lab

The main research interests of this lab lie in the Digitization of the Multidisciplinary Design & Construction Processes of Industrialized Projects (Modular & Panelized Construction) in order to develop and assess sustainable practices in the construction industry that dynamically and interactively improve the performance metrics of buildings while seeking to reduce the overall lifecycle cost.

To achieve a true shift towards the industrialization of construction projects, we plan to develop innovative frameworks and paradigms that bridge the gap between the state-of-art and state-of-practice with regard to leading construction management techniques, specifically Industry 4.0 technologies. As such, the pursuit of the digitization of the design & construction processes is expected to continually promote the adaptation of new concepts by introducing automated and semi-automated tools that simplify the implementation process for construction practitioners.

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Hassan Azad

Hassan Azad

School of Architecture
Assistant Professor
352-294-1452
AH 230
h.azad@ufl.edu
https://eaarlab.com/

Education:
PhD in Design, Construction, and Planning | University of Florida
MSc in Low Energy Architecture | University of Tehran
BSc in Architectural Engineering | Iran University of Science and Technology

Areas of Focus:

Hassan Azad, an assistant professor at the University of Florida’ School of Architecture, is a scholar known for his research, teaching, and practice in the areas of architectural science, building technology, and particularly architectural and environmental acoustics. Dr. Azad is the director at EAAR Lab where with his team they conduct research projects that encompass a variety of topics including Technology Integration with Architectural Design, Computer Programming and Simulation for Architectural and Acoustical Applications, and Smart and Connected Built Environment.

Smart & Connected Communities – He is also interested in smart technologies in building and urban scales that elevate acoustic comfort. In addition, he studies the environmental effect of unwanted sound on public health.

Sustainability – Using sustainable acoustic materials for sound insulation and absorption.

Bio:
Hassan Azad is a LEED AP BD + C and an AIA Associate. He is also a member of Noise Control Engineering (INCE-USA), International Building Performance Simulation Association, USA Chapter (IBPSA-USA), Society of Building Science Educators (SBSE), Building Technology Educators Society (BTES), Acoustical Society of America (ASA), and Audio Engineering Society (AES). He serves as a member for the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) Technical Committee (TC) on Architectural Acoustics, and Technical Specialty Group (TSG) on Computational Acoustics. Dr. Azad has received many awards, scholarships and grants and is a recipient of Robert Bradford Newman Medal for Excellence in Architectural Acoustics.

At the School of Architecture, Professor Azad teaches several undergraduate and graduate courses. He is also a University of Florida’s Doctoral Research Faculty and supervises doctoral and master’s degree seeking students. He teaches Environmental Technology I & II and graduate seminars on topics of Architectural and Environmental Acoustics.

Hassan Azad holds a B.Sc. in Architectural Engineering from the Iran University of Science and Technology and a M.Sc. in Low Energy Architecture from the University of Tehran. He graduated with a Ph.D. in design, construction, and planning from the School of Architecture of the University of Florida in 2018. Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Azad worked as an acoustical consultant in the San Francisco bay area for a year.

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Sarah Gamble

Sarah Gamble

School of Architecture
Assistant Professor
352-294-1457
AH 250
sarah.gamble@ufl.edu

M Arch, University of Texas at Austin
B Des, University of Florida

Areas of Focus:
Sustainability (Built Environment Resilience, Sustainable Architecture and Design)

Research:
My work focuses on the sustainability and resilience of communities at multiple scales. Taking shape as individual building design to neighborhood / urban design, past project experience includes affordable housing, disaster relief, historic preservation, public art, educational spaces, and active transportation. This focus aligns with the development of new course work and program offerings in Public Interest Design / Community Design. A current research/writing project with Coleman Coker at UT Austin focuses on designers understanding of environmental issues and its impact on practice / design for communities.

Bio:
Sarah Gamble is a registered architect and educator with a passion for the public realm and community projects. Gamble teaches architectural design for graduate and undergraduate students at the UF School of Architecture, following teaching at the University of Texas at Austin from 2011 to 2018. Gamble’s academic research focuses on context and how design is catalyzed by the surrounding environment and our understanding of it, including physical, cultural, social, and ephemeral facets. This focus feeds her architectural practice, residing in public interest design, a field incorporating elements of urban planning, architectural design, the arts, social work, community engagement, and education.

A native of Florida’s Gulf Coast,​ Gamble’s practice has focused on the southeastern United States within the public and non-profit sectors, including creative placemaking, historic preservation, community engagement, affordable housing, disaster recovery, and institutional design. In 2018, Gamble served as the State Architect for the Texas Historical Commission’s Main Street Program and its 80+ member communities providing design and revitalization consulting services, in addition to developing resources for the public. From 2011 – 2017, Gamble co-founded and co-led GO collaborative (Gamble Osgood Collaborative), a design and planning firm connecting people with place with clients and grantors including the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), City of Calgary, and ArtPlace America. GO collaborative led the creation of Exploring Our Town, following an 18-month research and design process. This interactive, online resource serves policymakers and the public  at many steps along the creative placemaking path and presents information for communities planning or implementing their own projects by providing succinct case studies, topic overviews, and applicable lessons learned from both individual projects and from overall project efforts. The resource features 70+ completed or on-going projects from across the country that received funding through the NEA’s Mayors’ Institute on City Design 25th Anniversary Initiative (MICD25) and the annual Our Town grant program.​ From 2009 – 2011​, Gamble served as Architect of the Austin Community Design and Development Center, a non-profit community design center focused on affordable housing. She focused on the design of homeless transitional housing and led an infill affordable housing program, the Alley Flat Initiative. From 2007 – 2009, Gamble was a designer at Specht Architects (formerly Specht Harpman Architects) in Austin working on projects at St. Edward’s University. Gamble’s focus was the award winning Doyle Hall, a renovation and addition to a 1950’s mid-century dormitory to the home of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. The project received a AIA Austin Design Award and was featured in Metropolis and Architect Magazines. From 2006 – 2007, Gamble co-founded and served as Coordinator of the CITYbuild Consortium of Schools, based at the Tulane University School of Architecture. The organization served 17+ national universities to assist in New Orleans’ rebuilding following Hurricane Katrina. In 2008, Gamble received a ACSA Collaborative Practice award for this work.

As a professional and volunteer, Sarah has been recognized for her advocacy and design work within Austin and beyond. In 2015, Gamble received the Young Alumni Award from the University of Florida School of Architecture and was featured by Austin(its) Magazine as one of 21 Austinites making a difference. In 2013, she was featured in Texas Architect magazine as one of “4 Under 40” architects and named one of Austin’s “10 to Watch” in 2011 by Tribeza Magazine for her positive impact on the city

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Idris Jeelani

Idris Jeelani

M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management
Assistant Professor
352-273-1164
RINKER 317
idris.jeelani@ufl.edu
https://caslab.wixsite.com/caslab

Ph.D. Civil Engineering, North Carolina State University, 2019
M.S. Civil Engineering, North Carolina State University, 2016
B.Tech. Civil Engineering, NIT Silchar, 2011

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Publications

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Biography

Dr. Jeelani leads the Construction Automation and safety (CAS) research group, at the Rinker School of Construction Management. His research focuses on construction safety, visual data analytics, and cognitive sciences to support the building of the next generation of safe and smart infrastructure. He joined UF in 2019 after completing his Ph.D. and MS in civil engineering from North Carolina State university. Over the years, he has worked on multiple research projects focusing on : (1) visual attention behavior of construction workers and its impact on their safety performance, (2) augmenting worker performance through the development of AI solutions, and (3) evaluating the health and safety impacts of automated and robotic machines in construction.

The outcomes of the research have been published in leading peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. Dr. Jeelani developed the first personalized hazard-recognition training intervention for construction workers in 2016. The work was published in the ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management and awarded the best paper of 2017 and was nominated for the Norman medal. Dr. Jeelani has also developed the first algorithm to map real-world gaze fixations of dynamic human subjects and developed a novel vision-based automated hazard detection system for construction. The work will be instrumental in augmenting human worker’s performance in detecting hazards on construction job sites. Currently, Dr. Jeelani is working on multiple projects funded by NSF and the US Department of Labor investigating the health and safety implications of UAVs on construction job sites, and building the AI-based tools to improve safety performance in construction.

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Emre Tepe

Emre Tepe

Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Assistant Professor
352-294-1487
AH 444
emretepe@ufl.edu
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Biography

Emre Tepe, Ph.D., has joined the University of Florida School of Landscape Architecture and Planning as an Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning for the Fall 2019 semester. Since 2021, he has also been acting as program coordinator of the recently launched graduate-level Urban Analytics Certificate Program. Dr. Tepe’s research focuses on two key areas: (1) understanding the nexus between local/regional economic development and land use changes and (2) developing planning and policy support systems. His primary academic interests include spatial econometrics, urban analytics, land-use change, spatio-temporal modeling, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and big data.

After graduating from Istanbul Technical University with a bachelor’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning and a master’s degree in Urban Planning, he was awarded a Fulbright Doctoral Scholarship to study at Ohio State University, where he earned his PhD in City and Regional Planning. Upon completing his doctoral studies, he also received the Patricia Burgess Award for Best Dissertation.

Before his position at the University of Florida, he worked as an Assistant Professor at Gebze Technical University for almost two years and as an Adjunct Faculty member at Kadir Has and Cankaya Universities for about a year in Turkey. He has taught courses on statistics, quantitative methods, urban economy, housing, and planning practices. Currently, he teaches Quantitative Data Analysis for Planners, Urban Spatial Analysis, Urban Economy, and Urban Planning Project courses in the Urban and Regional Planning graduate programs, as well as GeoDesign Practicum I in the Sustainability and the Built Environment at UF.

Over the past years at the UF, he has contributed to the field by publishing peer-reviewed journal articles in prominent journals, books, and book chapters, securing intramural and extramural research grants, presenting his research at various academic venues, and serving as a guest editor for a special issue in the Land Journal, a member of the editorial board of Growth and Change Journal, and co-chair of ACSP Conference Track 13: Technology, Society, and Analytical Methods.

Links

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Lisa Platt

Lisa Platt

Department of Interior Design, Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (FIBER)
Assistant Professor
352-294-1435
AH 334
lisaplatt@ufl.edu

Savannah College of Art and Design, BA
Kansas State University, MS
State University of New York at Binghamton, Ph.D.

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Areas of Focus

Sustainability (Building Materials, Built Environment Resilience, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Health Sciences, Sustainable Public Policy, Sustainable Architecture and Design)

My research focuses on using Artificial Intelligence and dynamic modeling to evaluate scenarios for preventative designs that reduce risks to human health. This research includes how phenomena such as climate change, which is having a demonstrated effect on infectious conditions and disease epidemiology, impact community health infrastructure and health system resilience. This area of study’s primary purpose is to explore the potentials that predictive Systems Science and Engineering approaches have in informing reliable risk moderation and sustainable system optimization strategies for environmental planning paradigms successful in moderating outside design basis system hazards.

Biography

Dr. Lisa Sundahl Platt is an Assistant Professor of Interior Design and Research Faculty at the Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (FIBER), University of Florida. She is the creator of the SAMPL (Sustainable Adaptive Material Performance Level) framework and directs the Design Dynamics Lab at FIBER.

Her research centers on the impact of built environment design—with a special emphasis on materiality resilience—on human health and well-being. Dr. Sundahl Platt uses artificial intelligence and complex modeling to forecast outcomes and inform healthier, more sustainable environments. With over 25 years of experience as a licensed interior designer and international consultant, she brings extensive practical insight to her work. Her interdisciplinary background in interior design, psychology, and systems science supports her mission to create living environments that are safe, supportive, sustainable, and resilient.

Dr. Sundahl Platt teaches Interior Materials, which uses SAMPL as an educational framework; Sustainable Interiors, where advanced students gain hands-on experience assessing and designing spaces for LEED and WELL certification; and Advanced Architectural (e.g. Healthcare Design) Studio. As a CIDQ Ambassador, she incorporates NCIDQ awareness and preparation into her advanced studio curriculum.

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Hal Knowles

Hal Knowles

Sustainability and the Built Environment
Instructional Assistant Professor and Change Agent
352-294-6781
AH 150
hknowles@ufl.edu
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Areas of Focus:
Sustainability (Building Energy, Built Environment Resilience, Renewable Energy, Smart Buildings/Cities, Sustainable Construction, Sustainable Technology)

Summary of Teaching, Research, and Outreach Interests
Hal Knowles is interested in several interdisciplinary domains including: (1) fostering resilience and cultivating adaptive capacity across the natural-to-urban transect; (2) exploring complexity and regime shifts within linked social-ecological systems; (3) improving human and community health in the built environment, especially within the emerging ancestral health paradigm; (4) engendering social justice in community development form and function; and (5) integrating organizational leadership, conservation behaviors, energy efficiency, and renewable energy as mitigation strategies for the dual global challenges of climate change and energy transition. His current work branches building-to-city scales and involves: (1) modeling the geospatial resource impacts of alternative urban land use scenarios; (2) evaluating social equity in housing, transportation, and neighborhood opportunities; and (3) deciphering energy use patterns and building performance via nonlinear analytical methods, such as multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA) and cross recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA).

Teaching and Mentoring Experience
For the 2018/2019 school year, Hal will be teaching 11 credit hours in Fall 2018 (DCP 3200, DCP 4945, and URP 4000), nine credit hours in Spring 2019 (DCP 1241, DCP 3210, and DCP 3220), and six credit hours in Summer 2019 (DCP 3210 and DCP 3220). In the past, he was the lead instructor for the DCP 4941 – Practicum in SBE, a six credit course (Fall 2015, Fall 2016, and Spring 2018) and EVR 2001 – Introduction to Environmental Science, a three credit course (Fall 2017). Since the Spring 2016 semester, Hal has also served several students as their project mentor for the DCP 4290 Capstone Project in SBE. In 2017/2018, he served on an M.S. thesis committee for a student in the Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences. During the 2018/2019 school year, Hal is actively serving on one M.S. thesis committee and one Ph.D. dissertation committee within the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. In recent years, he has also been invited to give 42 separate guest lectures, across 18 courses, within 11 departments, at two universities.

Research, Writing, and Content Development Experience
Hal’s publications include chapter sections in four books (contributing author), four refereed journal articles (plus another two in development for submission), and 46 non-refereed publications (38 of which he was first or sole author). He has also led development of, and delivered, nine instructional multimedia curricula and related course materials for professionals and lay audiences across Florida. Hal’s experience in web-based communication and teaching includes project management and principal content development for two websites and conceptual co-developer, collaborator, and analytical consultant for two websites, one of which (My Florida Home Energy) has grown tenfold since its launch in June 2013 and has served over 48,000 users with 86% as new sessions.

Project Funding and Achievements
From 2005 through 2017 at the UF Program for Resource Efficient Communities, Hal contributed to 42 funded projects totaling approximately $2.46 million, including the following: $152,735 as PI/Manager/Instructor; $1,024,760 as Co-PI; $376,959 as Investigator; and $908,710 as Senior Personnel. In 2016, he earned his Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Ecology from the UF School of Natural Resources and Environment and was promoted to Associate In faculty status within the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. In 2018, Hal was was named one of two Florida Climate Institute Faculty Fellows.

Speaking and Conference Experience
Since 2005, Hal has spoken at 43 professional events: two international (both selected), six national (three invited, three selected), 27 state (18 invited, nine selected), and eight local (five invited, three selected). Additionally, he served as lead event planner and facilitator for GreenTrends 2006, the statewide annual conference for the Florida Green Building Coalition.

 

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Jeffrey Carney

Jeffrey Carney

School of Architecture, Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (FIBER)
Professor + Director FIBER
352-294-3373
AH 246
j.carney@ufl.edu

BA, Washington University in St. Louis
M.Arch and MCP, University of California, Berkeley

Areas of Focus: Sustainability  Bio:

Jeff Carney is an Professor in the University of Florida School of Architecture and Director of the Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (FIBER). He is a registered architect and certified urban planner working at the interface of housing, neighborhoods, ecosystems, and hazards, with a focus on community-scale adaptation. His current research includes projects in the cities of Port St. Joe, Jacksonville, and Cedar Key, as well as communities across coastal Lee County, all seeking to balance health, environmental, and housing needs in response to disasters and increasing hazard risks. Jeff is spearheading the GulfSouth Studio initiative, sponsored by the National Academies of Sciences Gulf Research Program (NASEM), to connect community engagement, advanced computational tools, and coastal resilience through studio-based design education in the Florida Gulf region. Most recently, Jeff is co-leading the JaxTwin and Florida Digital Twin initiatives, exploring the use of urban digital twins to support decision-making in the City of Jacksonville and the State of Florida more broadly.

Previously, Jeff served as Director of the LSU Coastal Sustainability Studio (CSS), where he led the development of the Louisiana Resiliency Assistance Program (LRAP), designed the 10,000-square-foot permanent exhibition for the LSU Center for River Studies titled Shifting Foundations, and co-led the award-winning submission The Giving Delta for the Changing Course design competition. Shortly before joining UF, Jeff initiated the Inland from the Coast project, supported by NASEM and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which examined upriver flood impacts on Baton Rouge, LA.

Jeff has led over 45 funded research projects totaling more than $14 million. His work has been recognized nationally with numerous state and national awards in architecture, planning, and landscape architecture. His projects have been widely published and exhibited, including at the Venice Biennale.

Jeff earned his bachelor’s degree in architecture from Washington University in St. Louis and master’s degrees in both architecture and city and regional planning from the University of California, Berkeley. While at Berkeley, he was awarded the Branner Fellowship to conduct a year-long research project studying the evolution of modernist neighborhood design in Europe, South America, and Asia—an experience that continues to shape his work today.

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Jason von Meding

Jason von Meding

M.E Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management, Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (FIBER)
Associate Professor
352-294-3374
RINKER 344
jason.vonmeding@ufl.edu

Ph.D. Construction (Disaster) Management, BArch, BSc Architecture – All Queen’s University Belfast, UK

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Publications

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Areas of Focus

Sustainability (Built Environment Resilience)

Research Interests

My research focuses on the injustices and inequalities that are foundational to our social system, and how disasters unveil society and show us what needs to change. At its core, my intellectual pursuits are interrogating what a sustainable social/political/economic future would look like, and demonstrating that we are not on such a pathway.

Biography

Dr. Jason von Meding is an Associate Professor in Rinker School and a founding faculty member of the Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (FIBER). He is a researcher, educator and communicator in disaster studies who joined the University of Florida in 2019. His research is primarily community-centered and highly participatory, focusing on how injustice and inequality are the fundamental drivers of risk in society, and therefore shape disaster impacts.

Before moving to the U.S. he spent 6 years at the University of Newcastle, Australia, where he established the Disaster and Development Research Group and was recognized as Researcher of the Year at the institution level in 2017. His Ph.D. was conferred by the Queen’s University of Belfast in Northern Ireland, where he also spent 3 years on faculty from 2010-2013 and before that trained as an architect in the early 2000s.

Jason has taught students around the world about disasters for over a decade – from the societal root causes of risk to post-disaster professional practice. At the University of Florida, he delivers courses about the history of shelter, housing and sustainable construction. He is Coordinator of CIB Working Commission 120 – Disasters and the Built Environment and is a popular speaker in the disaster studies field. As part of his focus on public facing science communication, he is co-host of the Disasters: Deconstructed Podcast and tweets @vonmeding.

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