Construction Management Seminar: Human-centered intelligent environments: AI-enabled systems for health, performance, and sustainability
- Sponsor
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Speaker
- Dr. Burcin Becerik-Gerber, Sonny Astani Professor and Department Chair, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Southern California
- Originating Calendar
- CEE Seminars and Conferences
Advances in sensing, data science, and artificial intelligence are enabling built environments to evolve from static infrastructure into adaptive, human-aware systems. This talk presents recent research on human-centered intelligent environments that integrate multimodal sensing, behavioral modeling, and machine learning to support comfort, health, productivity, and energy efficiency. Drawing on work from the Innovation in Integrated Informatics Lab (iLAB) and the Center for Intelligent Environments (CENTIENTS), I will discuss computational frameworks for human–building interaction, including digital twins, user-state modeling, and closed-loop control strategies that incorporate human experience into building operation. Applications span intelligent workplaces that detect and mitigate stress, adaptive environmental control that balances energy and comfort, and human–robot collaboration in construction settings. The talk also highlights methodological challenges related to personalization, uncertainty, data fusion, and validation. Together, these advances point toward a new class of engineered systems in which human experience becomes an explicit design and optimization variable in engineering.
Dr. Burcin Becerik-Gerber is a Professor and Chair of the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Southern California and the Founder and Director of the USC Center for Intelligent Environments (CENTIENTS). Her research focuses on advanced sensing, data science, and artificial intelligence for the design, construction, and operation of user-centered, adaptive built environments. She pioneered the field of Human-Building Interaction (HBI), which examines the dynamic interplay between human experience and intelligent systems in the built environment. Dr. Becerik-Gerber has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications and has led more than $15 million in sponsored research funded by agencies including NSF, DOE, DHS, and DOT. Her work has received numerous honors, including MIT Technology Review’s TR35 Award, the FIATECH Celebration of Engineering and Technology Innovation Award, ASCE’s Computing in Civil Engineering Award, the ASCE Henry L. Michel Award for Industry Advancement of Research, and the ASCE Peurifoy Construction Research Award. She is a member of the National Academy of Construction and serves on the National Academies’ Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment.