NEWS
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA. - A team of graduate students from the University of Oklahoma Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture claimed a significant victory April 27, earning top honors in the Multi-Family Housing Division of the international BuildingNEXT competition, held at the U.S. Department of Energy’s laboratory in Golden, Colorado.
The Eco-Sooner team, made up of 11 master’s and doctoral students from various divisions of the college, competed against 93 other colleges and universities from around the world. Judges praised the team for its innovative and well-rounded design, which focused on high-performance systems and long-term energy savings. Their project tackled substantial global challenges like affordable housing and lowering consumer costs with solutions that can be scaled widely.
Negar Matin, Ph.D., faculty advisor to the team, expressed her pride in their accomplishment. “This recognition is a testament to our students' hard work, innovation and collaborative spirit,” she said. “Their success not only highlights the excellence of our academic programs but also underscores our commitment to sustainable and affordable housing solutions across Oklahoma.”
The BuildingNEXT competition, formerly known as the Solar Decathlon competition, recognizes outstanding achievement by awarding four teams in each division an honorable mention. The Eco-Sooner team’s win in the Multi-Family Housing Division places them among the top-performing teams in the world.
"This latest achievement in the BuildingNEXT competition further solidifies the OU team’s position as one of the top-performing groups in the nation,” said Hans Butzer, dean of the College of Architecture. “Their continued excellence reflects not only technical skill but also exceptional leadership, bringing together master’s and Ph.D. students from across disciplines to deliver outstanding results."
The Eco-Sooners team's student members include Shiva Azizi, Akshaya Balakrishnan, Abbey Fradette, Jennifer Fuentes-Gonzales, Yousef Haghighi, Rodney Hurt, Charlotte McMeekin, Iman Moradi, Keerthana Nampally, Juan Jose Serrano Sala and Oluwayanmife Taiwo.
The award ceremony held at the Department of Energy facility marked a high point in a rigorous competition known for showcasing the latest in sustainable design and construction.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit www.ou.edu.
Over four weeks this summer, teams of incoming engineering students designed mobility devices for Duck, a young rescue dog born without a front leg. Students in OU’s Engineering Summer Bridge program designed and prototyped mobility devices tailored to Duck’s needs, using CAD software, electronics and 3D printing while applying the engineering design process to a real engineering problem.
University of Oklahoma researcher Keenan Greyslak, Ph.D., has long been interested in how a mother’s diet during pregnancy and lactation may influence a child’s risk of developing metabolic diseases earlier and more severely as they age. With a new grant from the National Institutes of Health, he is furthering his investigations while taking another step toward a career in academic biomedical research.
Zhenghong Tang, Ph.D., has been named chair of the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability in the University of Oklahoma’s College of Geographic and Atmospheric Sciences. A leader in the field of planning, Tang will oversee the department and its mission of creating a community of interdisciplinary scholars and experts who aim to better understand the Earth’s human-natural systems.
