News
June 15, 2023 – Welcome to Belén Llopis Mengual!
Belén is a visiting Ph.D. student from Universitat Politècnica de València. She will spend six months working with Dr. Yuill and N-BE³RG, focusing on modeling faults in vapor compression refrigeration cycles, and enhancing the capabilities of IMST-ART.
June 3, 2023 – N-BE³RG goes canoeing
Dr. Yuill's Ph.D. advisees went for a canoe trip down the Platte River. This trip was a farewell to Dr. Yifeng Hu, who completed a post-doc with Dr. Yuill and is taking a research position at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. There were a few canoe tipping incidents in the fast water!
January 1, 2023 – Welcome to Ashkan Asadi!
Ashkan has joined the research group and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Architectural Engineering with Dr. Yuill as his advisor. He earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Azad University in Tehran.
August 15, 2022 – Yuill named the Richard L McNeel Associate Professor
Dr. Yuill has received a named professorship in the college of engineering. The professorship lasts for four years.
August 1, 2022 – UNL wins big at ASHRAE student competitions!
All three teams from University of Nebraska that entered the ASHRAE student design competitions were winners, with two Second Place wins and a Rising Star designation. Congratulations to these students! The competition is very strong, with universities all over the world competing. Dr. Yuill served as the faculty advisor to each team, and Brian Kolm served as an industry mentor.
HVAC System Selection
First Place: Pennsylvania State University Team 1
Second Place: University of Nebraska – Lincoln (Joey Hagge, Aaron Young, Ben Weyeneth, Uziel Ramos, Ahmed Khalil)
Third Place: Ain Shams University
Rising Star: Texas A&M University
HVAC Design Calculations
First Place: The University of Hong Kong
Second Place: Cairo University
Third Place: California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Rising Star: University of Nebraska – Lincoln (Joshua Palakapilly, Lamar Holmes, Anna Swoboda, Jack Schirmer, Josue Lamas)
Building EQ Competition
First Place: Loughborough University
Second Place: University of Nebraska – Lincoln (Anthony Butler, Nathan Taylor)
Third Place: University of Regina
Rising Star: Montana State University - ChemBio
January 1, 2022 – Welcome to Mehrdad Poursadegh!
Mehrdad is pursuing a PhD in Architectural Engineering. His M.S. in Mechanial Engineering is from Ferdowsi University of Mashad.
December 9, 2021 – Congratulations to Dr. Amir Ebrahimifakhar!
Amir Ebrahimifakhar, Ph.D. successfully completed his doctoral degree and started his new position at Delos Labs.
August 10, 2021 – Congratulations to Dr. Yifeng Hu!
Yifeng Hu, Ph.D.,P.E. successfully completed his Ph.D. and started his position as a post-doctoral researcher.
August 15, 2020 – Welcome to Yuxuan (Cory) Chen!
Cory joined the group after completing his MS in mechanical engineering at Arizona State University. He will pursue a PhD in Architectural Engineering with Dr. Yuill.
August 3, 2020 – ASHRAE selects Nebraska team as Student Design Competition Winners
ASHRAE announced that the UNL team won 1st Place in the System Selection category. The team consisted of Ashley Everitt, John Kramer, Jessica Lee and Mitchael Sieh. Their faculty advisor was David Yuill, and industry mentor was Joe Hazel. Congratulations, team! They design an HVAC system for a rare document storage facility in Mumbai, India.
June 30, 2020 – Mehrabi and Yuill receive Best Paper award
ASHRAE has announced that Mehdi Mehrabi, who completed his PhD in Architectural Engineering, and Dr. Yuill have been awarded the Best Paper award for 2019. One award is made from among all papers published in Science and Technology for the Built Environment during the year. The award was given for their paper “Fouling and its effects on air-cooled condensers in split system air conditioners (RP-1705)”
April 30, 2020 – Yuill awarded College Faculty Research & Creative Activity Award
Dr. Yuill received this award for his recent success in “activities associated with investigation/experimentation aimed at the discovery and/or interpretation of facts, as well as the development of creative works or new products”. He received this award, along with several of his colleagues who were honored for the outstanding teaching, research, and service that they do. See the full list.
December 20, 2019 – Dahdolan completes MS
N-BE³RG member Moh’d Dahdolan received his M.S. in Architectural Engineering degree today. His thesis focused on air-economizers and their faults. He was advised by David Yuill. Congratulations, Moh’d!
November 21, 2019 – UNL to partner with Berkeley Lab on fault prevalence
UNL is part of a team that received funding from the Department of Energy to study the prevalence of faults in HVAC systems within commercial buildings in the US. The three-year project is led by Dr. Jessica Granderson of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and will be carried out by LBNL, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and UNL. The UNL team is led by David Yuill. In addition to the research institutions, several commercial FDD providers will serve as industry partners.
August 15, 2019 – New PhD Student joins N-BE³RG
Ali Rooholghodos is the newest member of N-BE³RG. He has BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering, and will pursue a Ph.D. in Architectural Engineering with David Yuill serving as his advisor. Welcome, Ali!
August 5, 2019 - UNL Team Wins first place in ASHRAE Student Design Competition!
A team of seniors in Architectural won first place in the 2019 ASHRAE Student Design Competition for System Selection. The three students on the team were Mitch Mallett-Hiatt, Colin Miller, and Samuel Underwood. Their faculty advisor was David Yuill, and industry advisor was Rick Hiatt. The students designed a hospital in Budapest, Hungary. They will receive their awards at the ASHRAE Winter Meeting in Orlando, FL, on February 1, 2020.
June 25, 2018 – N-BE³RG members attend ASHRAE Annual Meeting
Several members of the group attended the ASHRAE Annual meeting in Kansas City, MO. Pictured below are (L to R) Dr. Christian Bach (Oklahoma State University), Dr. Harshad Inamdar (Rheem), Dr. David Yuill (UNL), Amir Ebrahimifakhar (UNL), Yifeng Hu (UNL) and Moh’d Dahdolan (UNL).
June 22, 2019 - Yuill receives Exceptional Service Award from ASHRAE
Dr. Yuill received the Exception Service Award at the plenary session of ASHRAE’s Annual Meeting in Kansas City, MO. The award recognizes his many years of service to ASHRAE, serving on and leading technical committees, standards committees, and the Society Handbook Committee, as well as technical contributions to ASHRAE’s publications. In the photo, Dr. Yuill is with longtime friend Dr. Bill Bahnfleth, past president of ASHRAE, who received the Donald Bahnfleth Environmental Health Award.
June 1, 2019 - UNL Receives Department of Energy funding to study fault prevalence
UNL has been awarded funding for a project that will include a large field study of air-conditioning systems. The project will be completed in 2022 and will include measurements at multiple US locations. DOE’s Building America program will provide most of the funding for the project, which has a budget of $949,833. The principal investigator is N-BE³RG’s David Yuill. Building America is a program that focuses on residential high performance buildings, and is part of the Building Technologies Office within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at DOE.
March 22, 2019 – Yuill’s online article goes viral
An article in The Conversation written by David Yuill has gone viral, with over 35,000 reads in its first two days, 1500 shares on social media, and republication in over a dozen news outlets globally. The article is based on his work with Mehdi Mehrabi on condenser airside fouling, conducted for ASHRAE Research Project 1705.
December 14, 2018 – Two N-BE³RG members receive Ph.D. degrees
Two of N-BE³RG’s inaugural members, who have each given several presentations to N-BE³RG, completed their doctoral degrees in Architectural Engineering. Congratulations to Dr. Alireza Behfar and Dr. Mehdi Mehrabi! Both graduates were advised by David Yuill.
September 15, 2018 - N-BE³RG faculty to host Smart Buildings Workshop
We will host a Smart Buildings Workshop in Omaha on November 9th, 2018. A key objective of the workshop is to gather ideas on what content should be part of the Durham School's new Smart Buildings undergraduate program. It will bring together thought leaders from industry, government, and academe. Fadi Alsaleem is spearheading the effort to develop the workshop. The Workshop's website shows the speakers and other details, and includes a link to register: https://unl-smart.github.io/SBIoT2018/
August 15, 2018 - New faculty member!
Dr. Iason Konstantzos has joined the faculty of the Architectural Engineering program. Dr. Konstantzos was formerly a post-doctoral scholar at Purdue University, where he completed his Ph.D. His expertise is in building envelopes, human comfort, daylighting, and high-performance buildings. Welcome to Dr. Konstantzos!
August 15, 2018 - New Ph.D. student
Welcome to James Butler, a new Ph.D. student in N-BE³RG! James has B.S. and Master of Architectural Engineering degrees from UNL, and two years of experience designing mechanical systems at Specialized Engineering Solutions (SES). He will be advised by Dr. Yuill.
July 17, 2018 - UNL AE students win ASHRAE student design competition
A team of four Architectural Engineering students won First Place in the ASHRAE Student Design Competition for Design Calculations! The team members are Jack Buckely, Madeline Sampsel, Austin Seagren, and Chris Wozny. The team was advised by Dr. David Yuill, P.E. and industry mentors Joe Hazel, P.E. (HDR) and Dan Karnes, P.E. (Leo A Daly). Their design was for an HVAC system serving anew 65,450 ft² multi-use facility located north of Istanbul, Turkey. The system includes a heat recovery chiller with a geothermal ground loop. They will receive their award at the 2019 ASHRAE Winter Meeting in Atlanta. Congratulations, team!
March 27, 2018 - Yuill receives college award
Dr. Yuill received the 2018 College of Engineering Faculty Service Award, and was formally recognized by Dean Perez at a ceremony on April 5, 2018. The award recognizes service to the University, College, Durham School, and to the community.
February 13, 2018 - ASHRAE President-Elect Visit
Sheila Hayter, President Elect of ASHRAE, visited the University of Nebraska - Lincoln student chapter of ASHRAE in Omaha. Students sat down with Hayter for a fun conversation about her path to where she is now, and how participation in ASHRAE can make a positive difference on the world around us, as well as helping to form a network of friends and colleagues in the profession. Hayter also serves as a Distinguished Lecturer of ASHRAE, and gave presentations in Omaha and Lincoln on environmentally sustainable building design and operation.
January 20, 2018 - ASHRAE Chicago Winter Meeting
21 students from University of Nebraska - Lincoln Student ASHRAE attended the Winter meeting in Chicago. Sungming Yoon and Mehdi Mehrabi presented Conference Papers, and two student teams accepted their awards from the ASHRAE design competitions: 3rd Place in System Selection and 3rd Place in Applied Engineering Challenge (AEC). The AEC was sponsored by the Setty Family Foundation, and the award was presented by the Setty Family.
December 30, 2017 - New Students in N-BE³RG
September 15, 2017 - Student ASHRAE Group tours Lennox Factory
July 26, 2017 - Two Nebraska teams place in ASHRAE Student Design Competition
May 5, 2017 - Dr. Shihan Deng recieves degree
April 13, 2017 - Yuill selected for Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award
March 2, 2017 - Yuill wins AESLAC Award
February 17, 2017 - Laboratory Complete
January 30, 2017 - ASHRAE in Las Vegas, NV
December 12, 2016 - Santiwattana and Wang complete MS degrees
December 4, 2016 - Two more new PhD students
November 20, 2016 - Multiple presenters at ASHRAE
August 15, 2016 - Four new PhD students
August 1, 2016 - Dr. Fadi Alsaleem to join faculty of Durham School
Dr. Fadi Alsaleem has accepted a faculty position in the Durham School. He comes to us from Wichita State University, where he was an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Alsaleem had several years of industry experience prior to accepting his first academic job, most recently at Emerson Climate Technologies. He has expertise in several areas, including MEMS, air-conditioner fault detection and diagnostics, thermal comfort, comfort inference, and big data. Dr. Alsaleem is very active in research, and is expected to contribute significantly to N-BE³RG.February 3, 2016 - David Yuill is awarded 2016 ASHRAE New Investigator Award
ASHRAE has announced that the winner of the 2016 New Investigator Award is David Yuill, director of N-BE³RG. This prestigious award is given to one faculty member annually from any university worldwide who shows:- Competence in engineering - as evidenced by the nominees' achievements to date, particularly the quality of research and publications, teaching accomplishments, and references.
- Potential for continued professional growth as a research engineer - as evidenced by the quality of the nominee's research plan, the currency and significance of the long-range research and the appropriateness of the research to ASHRAE and to the academic setting.
- Potential for significant development as an educator and academic leader in the training of future engineers in ASHRAE's area of interest as evidenced by the nominee's teaching plan and the narrative statements describing the nominee's qualifications for this award with regard to the nominees development as an academic leader in an ASHRAE related interest area.
ASHRAE reports: "We received seventeen nominations for this award, all of which were outstanding. Dr. Yuill can take special pride in being judged the best of this august group." See the press release from UNL here.
January 24, 2016 - UNL student design competition teams receive awards in Orlando
The three student teams from UNL that entered the ASHRAE Student Design Competitions were presented with their awards at the ASHRAE 2016 Winter Meeting, in Orlando, Florida. The three teams each entered a different category of the competition - HVAC Design Calculations; HVAC System Selection; and Applied Engineering Challenge - and each team was a finalist, including two 1st Place wins. The competition receives entries from all over the world, and this is the first time that any university has had three finalists in the competition. N-BE³RG director, Dr. David Yuill, was the faculty advisor for the three teams. Joe Hazel and Dan Karnes were industry advisors, and the students were: Brianna Brass, Matt Easlon, Mary Kleinsasser, Ben MacKenzie, Rachel Obenland, Kristin Hanna, Garrett Johnson, Mark Wilder, James O'Dell and Jim Butler.
December 1, 2015 - UNL Awarded Research Funding
ASHRAE Research Project 1705-RP - Investigation of Airside Fouling on Outdoor Heat Exchangers has been awarded to Principal Investigator David Yuill, Ph.D., P.E., Assistant Professor of Architectural Engineering at UNL. The project is budgeted for $246k and includes $135k from ASHRAE. It is anticipated to be completed in November 2017. The aim of this research is to fully characterize fouling on the outdoor heat exchangers of air-cooled unitary equipment, such as rooftop units and split systems. The characterization includes analysis of the fouling material composition, its effects on equipment performance, and ways to simulate the fouling material in laboratory tests.
September 1, 2015 - Psychrometric Chamber Construction Underway
The faculty of N-BE³RG have commissioned a psychrometric chamber test laboratory to be built. The facility includes two large rooms that are each controlled to have specific temperature and humidity conditions, and allows air-conditioners to be tested at a range of outdoor and indoor conditions. The facility includes sensors and data acquisition equipment to monitor all parts of an air-conditioning system, such as mass flow rate, airflow rate, temperatures, pressures and humidity. It is expected to be completed in January 2016.
August 24, 2015 - UNL teams win big in ASHRAE student competitions
The UNL entries to the ASHRAE Student Design Competition beat out teams from all over the world to take:
1st place in System Selection
1st place in Design Calculations
3rd place in Applied Engineering Challenge
Dr. Yuill served as the faculty advisor to the teams. Read more here: Nebraska Engineering News
April 24, 2015 - Behfar wins Milton Mohr Graduate Scholarship
Alireza Behfar, a doctoral candidate in Architectural Engineering, has been awarded the Milton Mohr Graduate Scholarship.
April 8, 2015 - Yu and Yuill win ASHRAE research project
Dr. Yu (PI) and Dr. Yuill (Co-PI) have been awarded ASHRAE Research Project 1615-RP: Fault Detection and Diagnostic (FDD) Methods for Supermarkets- Phase I. This project will begin immediately. It is sponsored by ASHRAE's TC 7.5 - Smart Building Systems.
March 18, 2015 - ASHRAE to offer "Best Graduate Student Paper" award
ASHRAE has announced a new program to give an award for the best graduate student conference paper. Details are provided in a press release at ASHRAE
March 6, 2015 - EPA Approves Climate-Friendly Refrigerants
The EPA has announced approval of several climate-friendly refrigerants for air-conditioning applications, including several natural refrigerants. From the EPA announcement:
• Ethane in very low temperature refrigeration and in non-mechanical heat transfer;
• Isobutane in retail food refrigeration (stand-alone commercial refrigerators and freezers) and in vending machines;
• Propane in household refrigerators, freezers, or combination refrigerators and freezers, in vending machines, and in room air conditioning units;
February 21, 2015 - Hello World
The N-BE³RG website went live today. Hooray!