Tahar El-Korchi
Professor
Department Head
Codirector, Morocco Project Center
Codirector, Panama Project Center
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Email: tek@wpi.edu
Office: Kaven Hall 101
Phone: 508-831-5530, 508-831-5518
I enjoy my interactions with students at all levels of education, research, and mentoring, whether it be in the classroom, the lab, or in project work. I especially enjoy taking them to the Morocco Project Center and sharing with them the places where I grew up. Challenging the students to achieve higher levels of discovery is a thrill for me. ... View Profile
Steven Van Dessel
Associate Professor
Director of the Architectural Engineering Program
Email: svandessel@wpi.edu
Office: Kaven Hall 206
Phone: 508-831-4895
My research and teaching activities are in the area of sustainable building design and building technology, with a special focus on the study of adaptive building envelop systems. One of the goals of our research is to develop smart materials that can alter their thermal properties in response to changing outdoor conditions, in order to conserve energy and optimize building thermal comfort. This research entails the use of energy modeling tools, experimental investigations, and the development of practical applications. ... View Profile
Nicholas A. Dembsey
Professor
Email: ndembsey@wpi.edu
Office: Gateway Park II 1212
Phone: 508-831-5971
In today's cost-conscious world, ensuring greater life safety and property protection has never been more challenging. To this end, my research focuses on the building performance applications of fire dynamics, fire characteristics of materials, and fire models. I am working with students in the following areas: fire safety of green buildings; develop of new techniques and guidance documents for practicing engineers to measure fire properties of materials; and in the optimization of building assemblies for fire performance, ease of manufacturing and cost effectiveness. View Profile
My courses are application courses presented by a practitioner to train future practitioners. My teaching style challenges students not only to understand the HVAC design concepts presented but to understand how HVAC design relates to and applies fundamentals learned in other courses. When calculating heating and cooling loads, students use their knowledge of building materials and how buildings are put together to understand heat transfer through the building skin. When sizing fans and pumps, students see how principles such as Bernoulli's equation and the conversion of velocity to pressu ... View Profile
Soroush Farzin-Moghadam
Assistant Teaching Professor
Email: mfarzinmoghadam@wpi.edu
Office: Kaven Hall 117B
I am a designer, researcher, and educator working at the interface of Architecture and engineering. I am currently an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Architectural Engineering program at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where I teach Design Studio and Great Project Seminar.My primary research interests focus on sustainable building technologies, urban simulation, and humanitarian architecture. I collaborated with several architectural firms on international design competitions and projects ranging from residential complexes to airports. ... View Profile
Prof. Liu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). His research focuses on built and urban environment, occupant-building-environment interaction, and integrated design for sustainable and healthy buildings. Prof. Liu envisions his research promoting built sustainability and occupant well-being through the interface among building science, information science, public health, and social science. View Profile
Kathy Ann Notarianni
Associate Professor
Email: kanfpe@wpi.edu
Office: Gateway Park II 1205
Phone: 508-831-6786
Today, firefighters serve increasingly as first responders for emergency medical calls, civil emergencies, terrorist threats, and hazardous materials incidents, in addition to fire emergencies. The fire service needs tools and technologies that aid in carrying out their ever expanding mission without increasing costs. My research is focused on working with the fire service to achieve this important goal. I am conducting research on fire department mobilization times and exposure of fire fighters to toxic gases. ... View Profile
Milosh T. Puchovsky
Professor of Practice
Associate Department Head & Principal Industry Liaison
Co-Director, Center for Global Public Safety
Email: milosh@wpi.edu
Office: Gateway Park II 1209
Phone: 508-831-5113
Fire protection engineers recognize and assess a broad range of fire and life safety risks and, possess the technical knowledge and skills needed to develop effective solutions. Through my academic endeavors and professional practice, I bring practical perspectives to our students' educational experience. My teaching incorporates situations that practicing fire protection engineers face on a daily basis, facilitating our students' functional understanding of a fire's physical behavior, its impact, and the role of reacting systems, regulations and product standards. ... View Profile