Areas of Expertise:

Leon Glicksman, Professor of Building Technology and Mechanical Engineering has been the head of the Building Technology Program in the Department of Architecture for the past 18 years. He has worked on research and consulting related to energy-efficient building components and design, natural ventilation, sustainable design for developing countries, and design tools. He is a member of the MIT Energy Council and co-chair of the campus energy initiative.

He did basic studies to improve thermal insulation for buildings during the period when CFCs were removed from insulation. He has directed several experimental studies of ventilation flows in buildings that form the basis for a book on design guidelines for displacement ventilation He has also been carrying out basic studies on the hydrodynamics and heat transfer of fluidized beds for clean combustion of dirty fuels.

Currently, he is leading an MIT effort to develop energy-efficient, sustainable building technologies and compatible designs. This program is carrying out research on natural ventilation of buildings,, building designs to reduce energy use, and integration of energy-efficient measures with indoor air quality considerations. A series of technical studies and residential designs were developed for Chinese cities working jointly with researchers from Tsinghua University in Beijing. The results are summarized in a recent book. He is a member of the team that recently was awarded the program for the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center in Buildings.

A study of the application of natural ventilation to US buildings to improve indoor air quality and reduce energy use for air conditioning is underway. He and his students are working with a Japanese developer to design naturally ventilated office buildings in central Tokyo. Glicksman and coworkers are developing a web site for advanced building designs that can be easily used by architects and developers in the early stages of design. Guidelines for sustainable buildings for the MIT campus are being defined. He is leading the development of advanced aerogel insulation systems as part of the MIT DMA Program.

Glicksman is a consultant to numerous agencies and companies, the principal investigator on several research projects, and a member of the ASHRAE, AIChE, and ASME. He is the author of more than two hundred articles published in refereed journals or proceedings and two books.