PAIR Seminar by Prof. ZHAI Zhiqiang (12 Jun 2026)

Speaker: Prof. ZHAI Zhiqiang Professor Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering University of Colorado Boulder, United States Topic: Building Environment and Energy: Challenges in Different Scales Abstract: As rapid climate change and urbanization intensify, engineering tomorrow's built environment requires confronting critical environmental and energy obstacles across distinct spatial and temporal scales. In this presentation, Dr. Zhiqiang (John) Zhai outlines these systemic bottlenecks rather than providing simple solutions. Spatially, the talk examines nested vulnerabilities across four domains: from micro-scale physical interfaces and meso-scale occupant-building systems to macro-scale urban structures and regional/global atmospheric impacts. Temporally, it explores how these multi-scale issues grapple with both short-term environmental fluctuations and long-term climate trajectories, providing a comprehensive high-level roadmap of the defining challenges facing future smart buildings and cities. Biography: Dr. Zhiqiang (John) Zhai is a full Professor and the Program Coordinator of the Architectural Engineering Program in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (CEAE) at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CUB), and the Site Director of the US NSF Building Energy Smart Technologies (BEST) Center. He has a unique and integrated background in both Architecture and Engineering with a Ph.D. degree in Mechanics (Tsinghua University, 1999) and a Ph.D. degree in Architecture (MIT, 2003). Dr. Zhai’s research and teaching interests and expertise include: integrated building systems; indoor and outdoor environmental quality; sustainable building and urban. Dr. Zhai is the Fulbright US Scholar of the US Department of State and the International Leader Fellow of Royal Society of New Zealand. Dr. Zhai is a Fellow of The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), The International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ), and The International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA). Dr. Zhai is a PI/Co-PI for over 70 projects and published over 250 technical papers and was ranked as the World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University (2021-2024). Dr. Zhai was a Senior Fellow and Manager at Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and a Fellow of The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). He was a Visiting Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Hong Kong University, and a Visiting Professor at a dozen of universities such as University of Canterbury, Tohoku University, University of Malaya, Gadjah Mada University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, and Tianjin University etc. Dr. Zhai has served as Conference Chairs, Advisory/Scientific Committee Members, Track and Session Chairs for many building, energy and environment related conferences and symposiums; and he has delivered over 250 talks globally. Dr. Zhai is an Editor, Guest Editor and Editorial Board Member for a few important journals in the field, such as, Energy and Buildings, Science and Technology for the Built Environment, Sustainable Cities and Society, Building and Environment, Buildings, Building Simulation: An International Journal, and Indoor and Built Environment etc. Dr. Zhai has been serving as Faculty Director of the Architectural Engineering Program and the Executive Committee of CEAE, and the First Level Review Committee for tenure and promotion of the Engineering College at CUB, as well as the Vice President for Academic Affairs (adjunct) at Hebei Geo University (China). He was granted numerous academic and service awards including the most prestigious “Changjiang Scholar” Chair Professorship Award by the Ministry of Education of China (2016), the Distinguished Service Award (2010) and the Distinguished Lectureship (2014/2026) by ASHRAE, and the Gold Award of New Product & Technology (one of the ten) by the 2016 World Internet of Things (IoT) Conference and Exposition (2016). Dr. Zhai was the Invited Participant for the most prominent US Frontiers of Engineering (US FOE) 2010 Symposium and the Invited Organizer (one of the eight) for the 2011 Symposium by National Academy of Engineering of US. Upcoming PAIR Events: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/pair/news-an... PAIR Facebook :   / polyu.pair   PAIR Instagram :   / pair_polyu   LinkedIn :   / pair-polyu-47224722b   X :   / pair_polyu   Pinterest :   / pair_polyu   YouTube Channel:    / @pairpolyu3024   WeChat : https://www.polyu.edu.hk/pair/-/media... Xiaohongshu : https://www.xiaohongshu.com/user/prof...