Sustainability scientist Ariane Middel, an assistant professor in the School of Arts, Media and Engineering and in the School of Computing, Informatics and Decision Systems Engineering, has been awarded an NSF CAREER award to further pursue her research in the SHaDE lab, which looks at heat from a human perspective.
The panel that reviewed her work particularly valued Middel’s integration of research and education, with K–12 outreach and a special focus on attracting women to STEM fields, and the academia-practitioner partnerships she is building with cities in the Valley.
“The proposed research will help us understand how people experience heat by including other atmospheric variables, such as mean radiant temperature (MRT),” Middel said. “MRT represents the heat load on a human body and varies significantly if somebody is standing in the shade or sun. We will use an innovative mobile sensor platform called “MaRTy” to measures how people experience heat in Phoenix and Los Angeles.”