Professor Mona Azarbayjani is the graduate program director at the David R. Ravin School of Architecture at UNC Charlotte. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign and joined UNC Charlotte in 2010. Her research focuses on building energy performance, thermal comfort, and high-performance building systems, emphasizing climate-responsive design, environmental analytics, and computational modeling to improve building efficiency and occupant comfort. Her work investigates the integration of architectural design, building systems, and simulation-based analysis to advance sustainable and resilient built environments. She collaborates with faculty in Electrical and Computer Engineering on interdisciplinary research related to energy systems and building performance.
Dr. Azarbayjani has published one book, eight book chapters, and numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers. She has advised four Ph.D. students, two of whom have graduated. She served as lead PI on a U.S. Department of Energy/NREL project to design, build, and operate a net-zero energy house for the 2013 Solar Decathlon at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California. As lead faculty and project manager, she worked with students, faculty, and industry partners, earning the People’s Choice Award, eighth place in Architecture, and third place in Engineering.
Read more about her in this faculty spotlight.
EXPLORE HER RECENT WORK
The project AI Thermal Comfort Imaging is a contactless non-intrusive data collection approach for the creation of healthy energy saving built-environment. The research will investigate collecting thermal condition data directly from the occupants in a completely non-intrusive approach through the integration of thermal and RGB cameras.
High-Performance Double Skin Facade Buildings: This book provides a comprehensive theoretical platform for the use and construction of double skin façade projects. The DSF concept has been used mostly in European buildings; however, its success in other climates should be addressed. Increasing numbers of buildings are featuring double skin façade technology in the US; however, still relatively few have been studied for their performance in operation.
The Importance of Wood and Timber in Sustainable Buildings: The publication of Azarbayjani and Thaddeus is intended to advance the knowledge of Cross Laminated Timber technology. In addition, it will examine trends in mass timber construction in North America from the perspective of carbon footprint, structural performance, fire, and life safety.
