All People
Headshot of Zhao

Jie Zhao

PhD, WELL Faculty
Lecturer
jzhaonyc@upenn.edu
Google Scholar
Areas

Profile

Dr. Jie (Jay) Zhao is a lecturer in the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania. He teaches a graduate level course - Healthy Buildings: Science and Application.

Previously, Jie has worked as Head of Delos Labs and an Executive Vice President at Delos for over 9 years. As the creator of the WELL Building Standard, Delos develops programs and solutions that transform our built environments into vehicles to improve human health, well-being, performance, and resilience. Jie led the global research effort for advancing science and innovation in the company.

His research focuses on Human-building Interactions, including healthy buildings, total building performance, occupant behavior in buildings, sensing and controls in buildings, health, comfort, and productivity of building occupants, as well as building energy efficiency and sustainability. He has published 20+ academic articles and serves as reviewers for 10+ top tier academic journals and conferences in the building science field. He frequently contributes to public media as subject matter experts in healthy buildings, such as Wall Street Journal, CBS News, Forbes and Money. Jie received his PhD in Building Performance and Diagnostics from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.

Select Publications

Journal Articles

  1. Becerik-Gerber, B., Lucas, G., … Zhao, J. et al. The field of human building interaction for convergent research and innovation for intelligent built environments. Scientific Report 12, 22092 (2022). 
  2. Becerik-Gerber, B., Lucas, G., … Zhao, J, et al. Ten questions concerning human-building interaction research for improving the quality of life. Building and Environment, 2022 (226).
  3. Rong, S., Zhao, J., Aristizabal, S., and Campanell, C. (2021). The Impact of Indoor Environment on Occupants’ Mental Health and Well-being: A Review. Chinese & Overseas Architecture, 2021(08):11-26.
  4. Jamrozik, A., Clements, N., Hasan, S., Zhao, J., Zhang, R., Campanella, C., Loftness, V., Porter, P., Ly, S., Wang, S., and Bauer, B. (2019). Access to daylight and view in an office improves cognitive performance and satisfaction and reduces eyestrain: A controlled crossover study. Building and Environment, 165. 
  5. Jamrozik, A., Ramos, C., Zhao, J., Bernau, J., Clements, N., Wolf, T.V., and Bauer, B. (2018). A novel methodology to realistically monitor office occupant reactions and environmental conditions using a living lab. Building and Environment, 130, 190-199.
  6. Rong, S., Allen, S., Zhao, J., Lu, C., Zhang, R. (2017). Circadian Lighting and Its Smart Control Strategy: A Review. China Illuminating Engineering Journal, 28(5), 10-15.
  7. Zhao, J., Lam, K.P., Ydstie, B.E., Loftness, V. (2016). Occupant-oriented mixed-mode EnergyPlus predictive control simulation. Energy and Buildings, 117, 362-371.
  8. Zhao, J., Lam, K.P., Biswas, T., Wang, H. (2015). An online platform to automate LEED energy performance evaluation and submission process. Construction Innovation: Information, Process, Management, 15(3).
  9. Zhao, J., Lasternas, B., Lam, K.P., Yun, R., Loftness, V. (2014). Occupant behavior and schedule modeling for building energy simulation through office appliance power consumption data mining. Energy and Buildings, 82, 341-355.
  10. Zhao, J., Lam, K.P., Ydstie, B.E., Karaguzel, O.T. (2014). EnergyPlus Model-based Predictive Control within Design-Build-Operate Energy Information Modelling Infrastructure. Journal of Building Performance Simulation, 8(3), 121-134.
  11. Zhao, J. & Lam, K.P. (2012). Influential Factors Analysis on LEED Building Markets in U.S. East Coast Cities by Using Support Vector Regression. Sustainable Cities and Society, 5, 37-43.
  12. Xiao, H., Zhao, J., Kang, Q. & Lei, J. (2010). Research and design of integrated control systems for indoor environments. Journal of Tongji University (Natural Science), 38, 1-5.
  13. Xiao, H., Kang, Q., Zhao, J. & Xiao, Y. (2010). A dynamic sky recognition method for use in energy efficient lighting design based on CIE standard general skies. Building and Environment, 45(5), 1319-1328.

Conference Publications

  1. Rong, S., Zhao, J. (2018). A review of Current Circadian Lighting Metrics. IES Light + Human Health Research Symposium, Atlanta, GA. 
  2. Di, Y., Zhao, J., Nguyen, J.L. (2017). An Application of Engineering Models to Estimate Chronic Health Loss Due to Indoor PM2.5 in US Offices. Global Burden of Disease 20th Anniversary Conference, Seattle, WA. 
  3. Dong, B., Wang, N., Hooks, E., Zhao, J. (2016). Quantifying Behavior Driven Energy Savings for Hotels. Proceedings of 2016 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, 8, 1-8.
  4. Zhao, J., Lam, K.P., Loftness, V., Ydstie, B.E. (2015). Occupant individual thermal comfort data analysis in an office. Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Sustainable Human-Building Ecosystems, Pittsburgh PA.
  5. Lei, Y., Song, Y., Rojas, R.M., Han, J.M., Park, J., Zhao, J., Aziz, A., Loftness, V. (2015). Comparison of the results obtained with simplified IEQ Toolkit and robust instrument in POE field studies. Proceedings of Engineering Sustainability 2015, Pittsburgh, PA.
  6. Lam, K.P., Zhao, J., Ydstie, E.B., Wirick, J., Qi, M., Park, J. (2014). An EnergyPlus whole building energy model calibration method for office buildings using occupant behavior data mining and empirical data. Proceedings of 2014 ASHRAE/IBPSA-USA Building Simulation Conference, 160-167, Atlanta, GA.
  7. Lasternas, B., Zhao, J., Yun, R., Zhang, C., Wang, H., Aziz, A., Lam, K.P., Loftness, V. (2014). Behavior Oriented Metrics for Plug Load Energy Savings in Office Environment. Proceedings of 2014 American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, 7, 160-172, Pacific Grove, CA.
  8. Yun, R., Aziz, A., Lasternas, B., Zhang, C., Loftness, V., Scupelli, P., Mo, Y., Zhao, J., Wilberforce N. (2014). The Design and Evaluation of Intelligent Energy Display for Sustainability in the Workplace. Design, User Experience, and Usability. User Experience Design for Everyday Life Applications and Services, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 8519, 605-615.
  9. Zhao, J., Lam, K.P., Ydstie, B.E. (2013). EnergyPlus Model-Based Predictive Control (EPMPC) by Using Matlab/Simulink and MLE+. Proceedings of 13th International Conference of the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA), 2465-2472, Chambery, France. 
  10. Zhao, J., Yun, R., Lasternas, B., Wang, H., Lam, K.P., Aziz, A., Loftness, V. (2013). Occupant Behavior And Schedule Prediction Based on Office Appliance Energy Consumption Data Mining. Proceedings of CISBAT 2013 Conference - Clean Technology for Smart Cities and Buildings, 549-554, Lausanne, Switzerland.
  11. Yun R., Lasternas B., Aziz A., Loftness V., Scupelli, P., Rowe A., Kothari R., Marion F., Zhao, J. (2013). Toward the Design of a Dashboard to Promote Environmentally Sustainable Behavior among Office Workers. Persuasive Technology, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 7822, 246-252.
  12. Zhao, J., Lam, K.P., Karaguzel, O.T., Ahmadi, S. (2012). Design-Build-Operate Energy Information Modeling (DBO-EIM) for Green Buildings: Case Study of a Net Zero Energy Building. Proceedings of the 1st Asia conference of International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA). Shanghai, China.
  13. Xiao, H., Xiao, Y., Yuan, M. & Zhao, J. (2009). Sky luminance model recognition based active green lights control model. Light without Borders: Proceedings of the 6th Lux Pacifica (pp. 49-54). Julian, W. G. Bangkok: Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney.

Book Chapters

  1. Dong, B., Kjærgaard, M.B., Simone, M.D., Gunay, H.B., O’Brien, W., Mora, D., Dziedzic, J., and Zhao, J. (2018). Sensing and Data Acquisition. Exploring Occupant Behavior in Buildings. Springer International Publishing. 
  2. Lam, K.P., Zhao, J., Zhang, R., Karaguzel, O.T. (2014). System Integration for Interoperable Data Models of Building Scale Ecosystem. Analytics for Building-Scale Sustainable Ecosystems. New York & Connecticut: Begell House.

Select Press

Wall Street Journal, CBS News, Forbes (2024, 2023, 2022, 2019), Fox News, Money, CNET, Building, Seniors Housing Business, Kitchen & Bath Design News, Best Life, Work Life, Consumer Affairs, Health, and Homes and Gardens.

Education

PhD in Building Performance and Diagnostics, Carnegie Mellon University

Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering, Tongji University

Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Automation, Tongji University

Select Exhibitions

SigWai Canopy Park - A Sustainable Low Cost Modular Art Installation and Sponge Park for Energy Generation and Water Conversation