Areas
Selected Courses Taught
Profile
Biography
Professional Registrations
Professional Engineer New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and 5 other states
Registered Architect New Jersey
Professional Planner New Jersey
Education
Master of Science, Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 1977
Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering, University of Houston, 1972
Awards
G. Holmes Perkins Award for Distinguished Teaching, University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design, 2012
Fulbright Distinguished Scholar, University College London (UK), 2005
National Trust for Historic Preservation, National Preservation Award, Restoration of the 1929 Atlantic City Convention Hall Auditorium, Watson & Henry Associates, 2003
Experience
At Weitzman School, Michael Henry teaches courses focusing on the deterioration and pathologies of buildings and their systems and on diagnostic methodologies and monitoring of buildings and their performance. His areas of interest include: preventive conservation of historic buildings and museum collections; traditional approaches to interior environmental management in historic buildings; energy efficient methods for conservation environments for collections in museums; moisture transport in building envelopes and materials; measurement of building performance and deterioration; and the special challenges of buildings and museums in hot-humid climates.
He is Principal Engineer/Architect and founding partner of Watson & Henry Associates where he has practiced for the past thirty-three years, consulting to institutions, cultural heritage stewards and architects/engineers throughout the United States and in India, Cuba, Mexico, Brazil and Tunisia.
Michael Henry's work includes: sustainable environmental management and monitoring for museum collections and archives; investigation, monitoring, analysis and assessment of historic buildings; preservation of significant historic structures, especially unconventional or technically challenging buildings; and engineered stabilization of large museum objects.
Selected Publications and Lectures
Shin Maekawa, Vincent L. Beltran and Michael C. Henry. Book. Environmental Management for Collections: Alternative Conservation Strategies for Hot and Humid Climates. The Getty Conservation Institute. 2015. Winner, 2016 PROSE Award for Environmental Science, Association of American Publishers.
Michael C. Henry. Conservation Environments, Museum Buildings, and Sustainability. Smithsonian Institution Summit on the Museum Preservation Environment, Washington, DC: March 2013.
Michael C. Henry. The Conservation Environment: an Engineer’s Perspective. Conservation Standards: Fact or Fallacy, a meeting sponsored by the American Institute for Conservation and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Albuquerque, New Mexico: May 2012.
Michael C. Henry. Climate, Historic Building Envelope, Comfort & Environmental Management in Hot-Humid Climates. Preservation Re-Engineering: Finding Green Environmental Management in Vernacular Historic Buildings in a Hot and Humid Climate, a symposium by the Pitot House and the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, New Orleans, LA: April 2011.
Michael C. Henry. The Conservation2 Building: Non-Mechanical Strategies for Energy-Efficient Collections Environments. 25th Annual National Archives Preservation Conference, National Archives and Records Administration. Adelphi, MD, March 2011.
Frank G. Matero, Alex B. Lim and Michael C. Henry. Paper. Vegetative Capping of Archaeological Masonry Walls in The Colorado Plateau V: Research, Environmental Planning and Management for Collaborative Conservation. Charles van Riper III et al., editors. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ: 2011.
Michael C. Henry. To Everything There is a Season: Strategic thinking for sustainable environmental management for collections conservation. Sustainable Cultural Heritage Conference sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche of Italy, Washington, DC: May 2009.
Michael C. Henry. Climate Change: Balancing Environmental Needs of Society & Collections. International Institute for Conservation Congress, London, UK: September 2008.
Michael C. Henry. What Will the Cultural Record Say About Us? Stewardship of Culture and the Mandate for Environmental Sustainability. Keynote Speech. Gray Areas to Green Areas Conference on Developing Sustainable Preservation Environments. University of Texas, Austin: November 2007.
Michael C. Henry. The Heritage Building Envelope as a Passive and Active Climate Moderator: Opportunities and Issues in Reducing Dependency on Air-Conditioning. Experts Roundtable on Sustainable Climate Management Strategies. Getty Conservation Institute, Tenerife, Spain: April 2007.
Michael C. Henry. From the Outside In: Preventive Conservation, Sustainability and Environmental Management. Article. Conservation: The Getty Conservation Institute Newsletter: V22, No. 1: Spring 2007.
