LTU Center for Sustainability Members

DANIEL FAORO, R.A., AIA
Associate Professor, College of Architecture and Design

Professor Faoro is an Associate Professor in the College of Architecture and Design. He holds a first professional B.Arch degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and M.Arch in Urban design from Harvard University, and is licensed architect in Illinois. He has 19 years of teaching experience in architectural design in public and private universities with an emphasis in sustainable design and technology. He has been the faculty instructor for multiple award winning student design competitions in architecture and sustainable architecture. Professor Faoro has award winning competition entries and published articles on design of small residences and sustainable design. He has published articles on the use of recycled and sustainable materials in architecture. He has coordinated and participated in outreach and enrichment activities involving faculty, students and professionals in housing and alternative energy. He has received awards for service in the area of affordable housing from The American Institute of Architects and homeless shelters. He is part of the faculty advisor team for the passive solar house prototype entry to LTU Solar decathlon in 2007. He has a knowledge of low energy/sustainable residential design and material and system selection and modular construction strategies for residential projects with multiple proposals in development for research in alternative energy and building systems.

ANDREW L. GERHART

Dr. Gerhart’s areas of interest concerning sustainability are power generation and energy systems, particularly those dealing with fluid flow and heat transfer.  Dr. Gerhart is the coordinator of the Lawrence Technological University Thermal Science Laboratory and the Energy and Environmental Management Certificate program.  He serves as one of the faculty advisors for the LTU Solar Decathlon Hot Water team and is developing a wind tunnel laboratory.  Dr. Gerhart was funded by the Department of Energy to develop a highly efficient combustion chamber and was federally funded to research plume flow.  In addition, Dr. Gerhart spent a year at Black and Veatch in Kansas City working with power plant design & feasibility and coal load studies. 

MARK HIEBER, ASLA, LEED AP
Associate, Harley Ellis Devereaux
Sustainable Design Landscape Architecture - LEED Accredited Professional

As a steward of the land, Landscape Architect Mark Hieber is focused on creating ecologically sound, sustainable environments that join people to the places where they live, work and play.   Mark is a United States Green Building Council LEED Accredited professional, an expert in sustainable site design and innovative stormwater management.  With over 23 years of experience in landscape architecture, Mark’s broad practice ranges from land planning, master planning, wayfinding and identity strategies to detail design; he has led multi-disciplined planning teams for many successful projects throughout the country.  Mark has been responsible for the development of planning strategies for campuses of many types as well as site-scale design, construction detailing, and planting design.

Mark believes that through thoughtful planning and design, successful places are created that integrate built elements for people into the supporting environmental fabric of nature.  Mark routinely speaks on the topic of sustainable design, particularly focused on sustainable sites and innovative stormwater management.

Additionally, for the past eight years, Mark has taught college courses at Lawrence Technological University’s School of Architecture, focused on bringing an understanding and appreciation for the land to young students of building architecture.

CELESTE ALLEN NOVAK, AIA; LEED AP

Celeste Allen Novak is the principal of En\compass Architecture and focuses on environmental design LEED consulting for nonprofit organizations,(LEED), and sustainable communities.   As an architect, she is the designer for mixed use, green residential projects and brings expertise from her experiences with major architectural firms to her classes at LTU.   As a planner and former member of the Scio Township planning commission, she initiated new community environmental design ordinances – dark sky, wetlands, woodlands,  and performance based overlay districts.  She previously led several community design charrettes and as the Regional director from Michigan on the national AIA board, she is a leader in AIA’s Sustainable Design Assessment Teams S/DAT a member of the Sustainability discussion Group and a member of the NCARB Sustainability committee.   She has written articles on green materials, adaptive re-use, LEED and lectured on sustainability as well as early 20th century architecture and women architects.  

She will be leading an S/DAt in Tucson May 2007 and would be glad to invite other LTU faculty members or students to participate if they are interested.

YUHONG WANG

Dr. Wang has been involved in several sustainability related activities.  Dr. Wang is collaborating with researchers from Beijing Tsinghua University on a sustainability research project: Sustainable Development Planning of Hengshui Lake Area, funded by the World Bank.  The project focuses on how to achieve harmony between economic development, societal needs, and environment protection in a wet land area in the northern China.  Dr. Wang is also working on a research project concerning pavement preservation for Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. By making pavements last longer, valuable resource and energy can be saved and pollution caused by pavement material production and construction can be reduced.  Dr. Wang also developed a new course with the title of Sustainable Construction Practices in the Civil Engineering Department at LTU.  The course discussed a wide range of sustainability issues in both building and engineering construction.  Dr. Wang also has a pending patent on using Bamboo in residential and commercial construction.