Liang Zhang
Liang Zhang is an assistant professor of the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Arizona. Prior to joining the University of Arizona, Liang was a research scientist at National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) where he led and worked on high-profile U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) projects related to large-scale building energy modeling, artificial intelligence in buildings, smart and connected communities, and fault detection & diagnostics. Before joining NREL, he received his Ph.D, in architectural engineering at Drexel University. In the dissertation, he developed a novel artificial intelligence-enhanced building energy forecasting modeling framework for transactive load control in grid-interactive efficient buildings.
Degrees
- PhD: 2018, Architectural Engineering, Drexel University, U.S.
- MS: 2015, Power Engineering, Tongji University, China
- BS: 2012, Electronic Science and Technology, East China Normal University, China
Work Experience
- Assistant Professor, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 8/2022 - Present
- Researcher III - Commercial Building Scientist, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, 2/2019 - 8/2022
- Graduate Intern - Electrical Engineering Researcher, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, 5/2018 - 9/2018
- Research and Teaching Assistant, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 9/2015 - 12/2018
Interests
Zhang's research is broadly focused in the area of computing and modeling for smart buildings and cities to promote building energy efficiency, sustainability, and decarbonization. More specifically, his research has emphasized the following topics:
- Grid-interactive efficient building
- Machine learning control in buildings
- Fault detection and diagnostics in buildings
- Smart and connected communities
- Building energy modeling (building, community, and urban scale)
Courses
Spec Top in Bldg Sci
ARCE 497B (Spring 2024)
ARCE 497B (Spring 2023)
ARCE 597B (Spring 2024)
Research Topics
CE 596A (Spring 2024)
Independent Study
CE 599 (Fall 2024)
CE 599 (Spring 2024)
Dissertation
CE 920 (Fall 2024)
CE 920 (Fall 2023)
Selected Publications
Scholarly Contributions
- Published 17 peer-reviewed journal papers (13 first-authored) on high-impact journals such as Energy, Applied Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Energy and Buildings, Building and Environment, Sustainable Cities and Society. Published 7 conference papers, 5 national laboratory technical reports, 1 patent, and 2 licensed software.
- Reviewer of more than 10 international journals, such as Applied Energy, Building & Environment, Energy & Buildings, and Building Simulation.
- Invited to present at ASHRAE conferences, ASME conferences, IBPSA conferences, Purdue International Conferences, and IBO workshops.
Creative Works
- Collaborated with Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to assess whether and how Los Angeles County can achieve 100% renewable energy by 2045 considering different building electrification scenarios.
- Analyzed the impact of COVID-19 mitigation strategies on commercial building energy use in the U.S.
- Developed a probabilistic sequence-to-sequence deep learning algorithm to predict building energy load and PV power generation and to better control the campus operations at National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
- Committee member of Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator for early-stage commercial building technology. He helps start-up companies to accelerate industrialization of lab technologies.
Awards
- Key Contributor Award, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2021