Yumna Kurdi
Yumna Kurdi is a Ph.D candidate in the Architectural Engineering program at Penn State University (PSU). Yumna has a master’s degree in Architecture from Carnegie Mellon University and a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Jordan University of Science and Technology. In the past, Yumna has been involved in several projects related to Energy Efficiency in Buildings where she worked on energy simulation for buildings. Yumna’s doctoral research is related to urban energy systems, distributed solar power generation, electrical demand and supply patterns, parametric design, energy simulation, and building design optimization. .
Yumna currently works for the Office of Physical Plants (OPP) in evolving PSU’s sustainability policy for design and construction under the supervision of John Bechtel, the assistant director of design and Construction at OPP. This work involves engaging with several ongoing design and construction projects at PSU to build in sustainability goals for the projects, exploring the applicability of several sustainability rating systems at Penn State and engaging with several sustainability-related classes on campus to teach students about sustainability in design and construction.