John Allen, PhD
Distinguished Professor, Clinical and Cognition Neural Systems
Director, Psychophysiology Laboratory
Director, Depression Risk Laboratory
My research spans several areas, but the main focus is the etiology and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders. I am interested in identifying risk factors for depression using electroencephalographic and autonomic psychophysiological measures, especially EEG asymmetry, resting state fMRI connectivity, and cardiac vagal control. Based on these findings, I wish to develop novel and neurally-informed treatments for mood and anxiety disorders, including Transcranial Ultrasound, EEG biofeedback, and Transcranial Direct Current and Transcranial Alternating Current. Other work includes understanding how emotion and emotional disorders influence the way we make decisions and monitor our actions.
Alex Auerbach, PhD
Director of Clinical and Sport Psychology
Auerbach, an alum and Wildcat who earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, arrived in Tucson after finishing his doctorate in Counseling Psychology from the University of North Texas with a concentration in sport and performance psychology. His dissertation at North Texas was on the impact of grit, mindfulness and achievement goal orientation on sport anxiety and performance.
With a ride range of professional experience, Auerbach has worked with athletes at the professional and collegiate levels. He worked with the Washington Wizards as a consulting psychologist for the NBA Combine as well as with student-athletes at North Carolina, TCU and North Texas. Auerbach has also played a key role in building Arizona Athletics Diversity and Inclusion programs, commencing in the winter of 2018.
Erica Baranski, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Arizona Institute for Place and Wellbeing. She is a personality and social psychologist who specializes in personality development and the intersection of individual differences and the lived environment. She is currently working on the Wellbuilt for Wellbeing and Multimodal Objective Sensing to Assess Individuals with Context projects, both of which assess environmental and physiological predictors of important workplace outcomes.
Erica received her doctorate at the University of California, Riverside Department of Psychology and her bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas, Austin. Broadly, her research interests include processes of volitional personality change, person-situation interactions and personality and individual differences across countries.
Edward J. Bedrick, PhD
Professor, Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Edward J. Bedrick, PhD is a Professor of Biostatistics and Associate Director of the Statistics Laboratory at the University of Arizona. His research interests include principled methods for data science, Bayesian methods, the analysis of observational data and generalized linear and mixed models. Dr. Bedrick has collaborated in a variety of fields including anthropology, ecology, nursing, nephrology, oncology, pediatrics, psychiatry, and veterinary epidemiology. Dr. Bedrick received his PhD in statistics from the University of Minnesota. He is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.
Dean Billheimer, PhD
Director, Statistical Consulting
David Dean Billheimer, PhD, works with the Arizona Statistics Consulting Laboratory (StatLab) to partner with scientists, physicians, and businesses to advance discovery and understanding. We provide statistical expertise, personnel and computing resources to facilitate study design and conduct, data acquisition protocols, data analysis, and the preparation of grants and manuscripts. Dr. Billheimer also works to adapt and develop new statistical methods to address emerging problems in science and medicine. Also, he tries to raise the level of statistical practice through seminars, workshops, and short courses. Rather than simply working within the university, Dr. Billheimer facilitates discovery translation and economic development by consulting with public and private organizations external to the University of Arizona.
Barbara Bryson, EdD
Associate Dean for Research and Academic Affairs
Barbara White Bryson Ed.D. FAIA is Associate Dean for Research at the College, Director of the Drachman Institute, and Professor of Practice in the School of Architecture. Bryson previously served the University as Vice President of Strategic Planning and Analysis before joining CAPLA in 2016. Bryson’s research interests include the future of the architecture profession as well as integrated planning and master planning processes for university campuses.
After practicing architecture within major firms for nearly two decades, Bryson first turned to higher education in 1996 leading design and planning at the University of Miami as University Architect. Starting in 2000, Bryson led Rice University’s construction program as director of project management and planning for four years and then as associate vice president for facilities, engineering, and planning at Rice for over a decade. Bryson was responsible for university-wide planning that integrated academic, financial, operational, and maintenance needs of the university. Her accomplishments include creating an integrated campus master plan that addressed, among other goals, Rice's intention to enhance research and teaching relationships with member institutions within the Texas Medical Center. She also oversaw the planning and development of Rice's BioScience Research Collaborative. In addition, Bryson directed a study of Rice's science and engineering research space to allocate resources for institutional priorities. For seven years, Bryson taught a course in design and construction innovation at the School of Architecture and the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University placing architecture and MBA students in the same classroom.
Bryson attended Georgia Institute of Technology and received her B.S. in Architecture from the University of Texas at Arlington. Bryson earned her MBA from the University of Miami and her doctorate in higher education from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2008, Bryson was elevated to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects for her work in integrated planning, and, in 2010, she was named a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council. Bryson was named a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Texas at Arlington in 2013.
Alexander Danvers, Ph.D., a Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Arizona, researches emotions and social interactions, taking a dynamic systems perspective that emphasizes feedback and reactions. He received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Arizona State University in 2017 and was affectionately described as a "quantoid": a substantive psychologist with a strong interest in advanced quantitative methods.
Altaf Engineer, Ph.D., NCARB, LEED AP BD+C
Assistant Professor, UA IPWP | School of Architecture, CAPLA
Altaf Engineer is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Arizona School of Architecture and the Institute on Place, Wellbeing, and Performance (UA IPWP). He is Chair of the Health and Built Environment Program at the School of Architecture.
Altaf holds a Ph.D. in Architecture from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he was an Illinois Distinguished Fellow for three years. He is a licensed and registered architect in New York, USA and in India, and NCARB certified. He is a LEED Accredited Professional with a portfolio of a number of sustainable higher education buildings, institutional buildings, adaptive re-use, and residential projects. Altaf received his Masters in Architecture from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he was awarded the ARCC King’s Merit Medal for Excellence in Architectural + Environmental Behavior Research for my Master’s thesis titled Museum of light: An investigation into the quality of naturally illuminated Spaces. He received his Bachelors in Architecture from the University of Mumbai, India.
Altaf received the 2018 Emerging Legacy Award from the College of Fine & Applied Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This award recognizes alumni and friends who have demonstrated courage, curiosity, and passion in their work and honors individuals who have impacted their fields in transformative ways—catalysts with a distinguished service to the arts. Dr. Engineer's scholarship, teaching and practice are informed by his interest in health and wellbeing, social, and behavioral factors in design, with a special focus on daylighting and museum studies. He is lead author of the book Shedding New Light On Art Museum Additions: Front Stage and Back Stage Experiences published by Routledge in 2018.
Jacob N. Hyde, PsyD
Assistant Professor, Family and Community Medicine - (Clinical Scholar Track)
Jacob N. Hyde, Psy.D. is a clinical health psychologist and Assistant Professor in Family & Community Medicine at the University of Arizona and Banner – University Medicine Family Medicine Clinic at South Campus. He teaches behavioral science within the South Campus Family Medicine Residency Program and provides clinical services to patients of all ages.
After combat service in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Dr. Hyde completed his Psy.D. from The Adler School with a concentration in behavioral medicine. Prior to joining UArizona, he was the faculty director of the Sturm Specialty in Military Psychology Program and a clinical assistant professor at the University of Denver. He has done numerous press interviews, articles, and op-eds related to military/veteran issues and extreme environments (Washington Post, NYTimes, WSJ, tv/radio).
Dr. Hyde’s clinical expertise and research interest are in military psychology, the impact of the physical environment on performance, and cognitive performance in isolated, confined, and extreme environments.
Aletheia Ida, PhD
Assistant Professor, Chair MS.Arch EBT
Architecture
Aletheia Ida, PhD, is an Architect and Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture. She teaches courses in Design Studio, Research Methods, Environmentally Adaptive Systems, Emerging Materials, Building Enclosures, Environmental Building Technology Design Theory, as well as Independent Research and Thesis advising. Aletheia earned her accredited Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Oregon, post-professional Master of Architecture in Design and Energy Conservation from the University of Arizona, and Doctorate in Architectural Sciences from the Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She integrates design theory in her research for emergent environmental building technologies, incorporating aspects of material inventions with socio-environmental performance criteria through innovative digital and physical prototyping methods. She holds a provisional co-patent for Building Integrated Biopolymer Sorption Systems and a National Science Foundation EAGER award.
Kathleen C Insel , PhD, RN
Interim Chair
Professor, Nursing
The focus of research is on cognitive function over the lifespan and implications of cognitive function (specifically executive function and working memory) on self-management of chronic disease, or in the case of children, on school achievement. Self-management is often indexed by examining medication adherence. The population of interest is older adults with hypertension and in collaboration with Dr. Ki Moore, children who are diagnosed and treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Findings have implications for self-management challenges in other populations with chronic disease conditions.
I have specific interest and expertise in quantitative research methods.
Victoria Maizes, MD
Executive Director / Andrew Weil Endowed Chair in Integrative Medicine / Professor, Medicine / Professor, Public Health
vmaizes@arizona.edu
Dr. Victoria Maizes is Executive Director of the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and a Professor of Medicine, Family Medicine and Public Health. Internationally recognized as a leader in integrative medicine, she stewarded the growth of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine from a small program educating four residential fellows per year to a designated Center of Excellence training more than 1000 residents and fellows annually.
Dr Maizes has pioneered multiple innovative educational programs including the Integrative Family Medicine Program, and Integrative Medicine in Residency, two national models for educating primary care physicians. As founding co-chair of the education committee of the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine, Dr. Maizes led a team of educators developing objectives for medical students in integrative medicine.
A graduate of Barnard College, Dr Maizes received her MD from the University of California, San Francisco, completed her residency in Family Medicine at the University of Missouri, Columbia and her Fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. Dr. Maizes speaks worldwide to audiences on integrative medical education, women’s health, healthy aging, nutrition, and cancer. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on integrative medicine and is the co-editor of the Oxford University textbook Integrative Women's Health and the author of Be Fruitful: The Essential Guide to Maximizing Fertility and Giving Birth to a Healthy Child. Dr Maizes serves as the co-host of the Body of Wonder podcast with Dr Andrew Weil.
Matthias Mehl, PhD
Professor
Director, Naturalistic Observation of Social Interaction Laboratory
I am a social, personality, and health psychologist who is interested in the psychological implications of our daily lives. I study individual differences in social life and the role that our social lives play for coping with upheavals and health. Methodologically, I adopt an ecological “out-of-the-lab-and-into-the-real-world” approach and develop behavioral assessment methods for studying everyday life. My work focuses on the naturalistic observation of social interactions and quantitative text analysis of natural language use.
Nirav Merchant, PhD
Director, UA Data Science Institute (Data7) Co-PI, CyVerse
Nirav Merchant is the Co-PI for NSF CyVerse a national scale Cyberinfrastructure for life sciences and NSF Jetstream the first user-friendly, scalable cloud environment for NSF XSEDE.
He received his undergraduate degree in Industrial engineering from the University of Pune, India, and graduate degree in Systems and Industrial Engineering from the University of Arizona (1994).
Over the last two decades his research has been directed towards developing scalable computational platforms for supporting open science and open innovation, with emphasis on improving research productivity for geographically distributed interdisciplinary teams.
His interests include data science literacy, large-scale data management platforms, data delivery technologies, managed sensor and mobile platforms for health interventions, workforce development, and project based learning.
Susan Miller, MS
Deputy Director for Research Cyberinfrastructure, Data7
Susan Miller's experience includes data analysis, High Performance Computing, conducting Computing Workshops for Scientists, and collaborations with CyVerse, AGAVE, KMAP, and Space Objects Behavioral Sciences projects. Susan has completed HIPAA training and participated in the 2016-2017 cohort of the UA IT Leadership Academy. Susan also serves on the UA Research Computing Governance Committee and several related subcommittees.
Susan earned a M.S. in Computer Science from UA in 1983 and a B.S. in Molecular & Cellular Biology in 2002. Her other interests include public speaking, writing, and cat rescue. She is a member of the UA Biosciences Toastmasters club. With Nirav Merchant, she has co-authored a chapter on Bioinformatics Programming in David Mount's Bioinformatics text book.
Sairam Parthasarathy, MD
Professor, Medicine
Chief, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
Director, Center for Sleep and Circadian Sciences, UA Health Sciences
Medical Director, Center for Sleep Disorders, Banner ? University Medical Center Tucson
Dr. Parthasarathy has served as interim PACCS chief for two years. He joined the UA College of Medicine – Tucson faculty in 2004, when he moved here from Chicago to practice at the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System’s Tucson VA Medical Center. He later became director of the SAVAHCS Sleep Medicine Lab, chief of its Pulmonary and Critical Care Section and SAVAHCS chief of research. In 2011, he joined the UA faculty full time and he launched the Center for Sleep Disorders at what was then University Medical Center and, in 2013, he became program director of the UA’s Sleep Medicine Fellowship. In Chicago, he was on faculty at Loyola University Medical Center, where he was director of the Sleep Disorders Center, and the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, where he was director of respiratory care and home oxygen therapy.
Jessica Rainbow , PhD, RN
Assistant Professor, Nursing
Dr. Rainbow is an Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona College of Nursing. The goal of her program of research is to improve the hospital work environment to advance nurse and patient health. She is particularly interested in nurse presenteeism (being present at work, but not performing at full capacity), burnout, and fatigue, and their associated negative consequences for healthcare providers, patients, and healthcare organizations. Dr. Rainbow has worked clinically in critical care, eat disorder treatment and infusion clinic settings. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Nevada, Reno and her PhD in nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Rainbow’s research has been funded by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, and through internal funding at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Arizona. She has presented her work locally, nationally, and internationally. She is a JONAS scholar and the winner of the 2018 Mary Keller Research Award from the University of Wisconsin Madison School of Nursing.
In the Ratcliff group, we are broadly interested in materials synthesis, structural control, processing, and transport phenomena of low cost semiconducting materials. Our particular emphasis is organic-based electronic devices, which offer mechanical flexibility and tailorable properties through synthesis. Our overarching goals are developing exciting opportunities in flexible devices for bioelectronics, thermoelectrics, energy harvesting and storage, and opto-electronics, all with reduced manufacturing cost and lessened environmental impact, compared to inorganic semiconductors. Website: http://ratcliff.faculty.arizona.edu/content/research-topics
Young-Jun Son, PhD
Department Head of Systems and Industrial Engineering
Professor of Systems and Industrial Engineering
Young-Jun Son is a Professor and Department Head of Systems and Industrial Engineering at University of Arizona. His research focuses on a data-driven, multi-scale, simulation and decision model needed for design and control in various applications, including extended manufacturing enterprise, renewable energy, healthcare, homeland security, transportation, and social network. He has authored/co-authored over 90 journal papers and 100 conference papers. He is a Fellow of Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), and has received the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) 2004 Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineers Award, the IIE 2005 Outstanding Young Industrial Engineers Award, the IISE Annual Meeting Best Track Paper Awards (2005, 2008, 2009, 2016, 2018, 2019), and Best Paper of the Year Award in 2007 from International Journal of IE. His research activities have been funded by NSF, AFOSR, DOT/FHWA, US Department of Energy/AZ Commerce Authority, USDA, NIST, Sandia National Lab, Science Foundation of Arizona, Boeing, Samsung, Motorola, Raytheon, Tucson Electric Power, Microsoft, and several application software companies. He is a Department Editor for IISE Transactions and serves on the editorial board for seven additional journals. He has served as co-Program Chair for ISERC 2007 and the General Chair for INFORMS Annual Meeting 2018 and will serve as the General Chair for Winter Simulation Conference 2019.
Esther M. Sternberg M.D., Director IPWP
Research Director, Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine/
Andrew Weil Inaugural Chair for Research in Integrative Medicine/
Professor, Medicine/Professor Psychology
esternberg@email.arizona.edu
Dr. Sternberg is internationally recognized for her discoveries in
brain-immune interactions and the effects of the brain's stress
response on health: the science of the mind-body interaction. A
dynamic speaker, recognized by her peers as a spokesperson for the
field, she translates complex scientific subjects in a highly
accessible manner, with a combination of academic credibility, passion
for science and compassion as a physician.
Currently Professor of Medicine and Research Director, Andrew Weil
Center for Integrative Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, Dr.
Sternberg is Founding Director, of the UA Institute on Place,
Wellbeing & Performance, a unique interdisciplinary Institute
linking biomedical, health professionals and design professionals to
research and create places supporting health and wellbeing. She
received her M.D. degree and trained in rheumatology at McGill
University, Montreal, Canada. She previously served on the faculty at
Washington University, St. Louis, MO (1980-86); was Senior Scientist
and Section Chief at the National Institutes of Health (1986-2012);
and was Research Professor at American University (Washington, DC)
In addition to numerous publications in leading scientific journals,
she is reviewer and editorial board member for many scientific
journals, has edited several textbooks, has authored two popular
books: The Balance Within: The Science Connecting Health and
Emotions (W.H. Freeman & Co., 2000, paperback H. Holt
2001; Dutch 2001, Chinese 2002; Japanese 2005) and best-selling Healing Spaces: The Science of Place and Well-being
(Harvard University Press, 2009; paperback 2010; German 2011; Korean
2013); and created and hosted a PBS television special, The Science of Healing, based on her books. Dr. Sternberg
is a regular contributor to the "Books et al." section of
Science Magazine and writes a column for Arthritis
Today (readership 4 million). She lectures nationally and
internationally to lay and scientific audiences and is frequently
interviewed on radio, television, film, Web, and print media on the
mind-body connection; place and wellbeing; 'stress and illness';
spirituality, love, and health; including on NPR Radio's Krista Tippett'sSpeaking of Faith,On Being, Science Friday; PBS Television's The New
Medicine, Life (Part 2;international radio and
television (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; Australian Broadcasting
Corporation, Voice of America).
While at NIH, Dr. Sternberg served as Chief of the Section on
Neuroendocrine Immunology & Behavior, National Institute of Mental
Health; Director, Integrative Neural Immune Program, NIMH/NIH;
Co-Chair NIH Intramural Program on Research on Women's Health; and
established and directed the NIH-Quebec Fonds de Recherche
International Research Career Transition Award Program. Her numerous
original scientific and review articles and textbook chapters are
published in leading scientific journals including Science,
Nature Reviews Immunology, NatureMedicine, The New England Journal of Medicine, Scientific
American and Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences. In recognition of her work, she received the Public
Health Service's Superior Service Award; Arthritis Foundation's
William R. Felts Award for Excellence in Rheumatology Research; United
States Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Service
Staff Recognition Award; FDA Commissioner's Special Citation; NIH
Director's Challenge Award; NIMH Director's Merit Award; elected to
the American Society for Clinical Investigation; Committee member of
the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine; testified
before Congress; World Health Organization advisor; member of the
National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Literature Selection Technical
Review Committee for selection of journals for PubMed. Dr. Sternberg
has lectured and keynoted at the Smithsonian Institution (Washington,
D.C.); Nobel Forum (Karolinska Institute, Stockholm); Royal Society of
Medicine (London, UK); Woman's Heart Day (Madison Square Garden NYC
& Verizon Center Washington, DC), TEDx Tucson. She has chaired
many national and international scientific conferences; is
past-President of the International Society for Neuroimmunomodulation;
moderated a panel with the Dalai Lama (2005); was a panelist at the
United Nations (Sept. 11, 2008); co-directed a concurrent NLM
Exhibition and video on "Emotions and Disease"; invited
delegate Fortune Magazine's Most Powerful Women Summit.
For her accomplishments, which galvanized establishment of the
field of brain immune interactions, Dr. Sternberg is recognized and
the National Library of Medicine as one of 300 women physicians who
changed the Face of Medicine (www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/),
and by NIH with the Anita B. Roberts "Distinguished Women
Scientists at NIH" Lectureship (2012). In recognition of her
contributions to medicine & leadership in Neuroimmunology, Trinity
College Dublin (Ireland) awarded Dr. Sternberg an Honorary Degree of
Doctor in Medicine (Doctorate Honoris Causa) on the 300th anniversary
of Trinity College Dublin School of Medicine. For her leadership at
the interface of the fields of design and health she is advising the
US Green Building Council, the American Institute of Architects, the
US General Services Administration, the Institute of Medicine and the
US Department of Defense on the impact of the built and natural
environment on human health outcomes. In 2012 she was invited to
Keynote the Vatican's 27th Pontifical Council for Healthcare Workers
and met with Pope Benedict XVI on the subject of the impact of Place
on Wellbeing and Spirituality. <www.esthersternberg.com><http://integrativemedicine.arizona.edu/about/directors/sternberg>
Vignesh Subbian, PhD
Assistant Professor of Systems and Industrial Engineering
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Vignesh Subbian is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Systems and Industrial Engineering, member of the BIO5 Institute, and a Distinguished Fellow of the Center for University Education Scholarship (CUES) at the University of Arizona (UArizona). His professional areas of interest include medical informatics, healthcare systems engineering, and broadening participation in engineering and computing. Dr. Subbian leads the Computational Medicine and INformatics (COM-IN) Collaboratory at UArizona, which is an engineering-driven, cross-disciplinary biomedical research and training hub. Funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), research efforts in the COM-IN Collaboratory leverage systems engineering and computational methods for wide range of clinical and healthcare applications.
Ricardo Valerdi
Professor, Systems and Industrial Engineering
Dr. Ricardo Valerdi is a Professor at the University of Arizona in the Department of Systems and Industrial Engineering. His research focuses on systems engineering, cost estimation, and sports analytics. He was the Founder and co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Enterprise Transformation and is the current Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Cost Analysis and Parametrics. He served on the Board of Directors of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) and is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Valerdi is also UA’s Faculty Athletics Representative for the PAC-12 and NCAA. He received a Ph.D. in Industrial & Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California.
Robert Wilson, PhD
Assistant Professor, Cognition/Neural Systems
Director, Neuroscience of Reinforcement Learning Lab
Research in my lab mixes theoretical and computational modeling, psychophysics, pupillometry, EEG and fMRI to probe the neuroscience of learning and decision making in humans. Of particular interest is how we decide between exploring for information and exploiting what we already know. For example, when dining at a favorite restaurant, do you explore and try a new item on the menu, or do you exploit and get the same dish as always? In recent work we have shown that humans use two distinct strategies for solving this “explore-exploit dilemma”: a directed strategy in which exploration is driven by information seeking, and a random strategy in which exploration is driven by chance through decision noise. Ongoing work in the lab is investigating the neural bases of these two strategies and how they change in mental illness and across the lifespan.
Changxu "Sean" Wu, PhD
Professor of Systems and Industrial Engineering
Professor, Cognitive Science Graduate Interdisciplinary Program
Changxu Wu (S'04–M'07) received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in industrial and operational engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA, in 2004 and 2007, respectively. Since August 2017, he has been a full professor with the Department of Systems and Industrial Engineering, University at Arizona. He directs the Cognitive System Laboratory, SUNY-Buffalo, and he is interested in integrating cognitive science and engineering system design, particularly modeling the human cognition system with its applications in system design, improving transportation safety, promoting human performance in human–computer interaction, and inventing innovative sustainable and smart energy systems with human in the loop
Omar Youssef, PhD
Research Associate, UA IPWP | Lecturer, School of Architecture, CAPLA
Omar Youssef is a Lecturer in the School of Architecture and a Research Associate in the Institute on Place, Wellbeing, and Performance (IPWP) at the University of Arizona (UofA). He has degrees in Interdisciplinary Sciences (PhD) and Design + Energy Conservation (MSc) from the UofA. Omar teaches environmental control systems, sustainable architecture studio and advanced computer simulation for thermal performance optimization of Buildings. In addition, Dr. Youssef develops methods of assessment to measure environmental attributes and human physiological responses. Focusing on the impact of lighting on human behavior, heart rate variability and stress responses. Leveraging knowledge and evidence through research and design of environments and spaces to inform design guidelines and decisions that optimize health and wellbeing. Utilizing State-of-the-art technologies such as emerging monitoring technologies and non-invasive devices and analytic algorithms to enhance occupant health and wellbeing.
