Rahman Azari

Rahman Azari is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at The Pennsylvania State University, serving as the founding director of the Resource and Energy Efficiency (RE2) Lab. He previously held roles as an Assistant Professor and interim director of the Architecture Ph.D. program at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). His research focuses on life cycle environmental impacts of built environments, innovative materials for energy production and carbon sequestration, and data-driven urban sustainability models. Azari holds a Ph.D. in Built Environment from the University of Washington.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Built Environment, University of Washington (Seattle)

Research Interests:

• Embodied carbon reduction in buildings
• Energy-efficient construction materials
• Urban sustainability frameworks
• Building lifecycle assessment

Awards and Recognition:

• Upjohn Research Grant (American Institute of Architects, 2018–2019)
• Illinois Science and Technology Coalition ‘Researcher to Know’ (2019)
• Faculty sponsor for student awards at ACSA+AIA COTE Top Ten Competitions (2016–2017)

Projects:

• URB-EC: Urban Embodied Carbon initiative
• RE2 Lab research on building energy efficiency

Grants and Funding:

• Cocoziello Institute seed grants for embodied carbon research
• DOE-funded studies on low-income housing climate resilience

Labs and Affiliations:

• Director of the RE2 Lab (Penn State)
• Member of the Integrated Energy Systems and Equitable Communities research themes at Penn State’s IEE