Dr. Hua has been conducting research on methodology for post-occupancy evaluation (POE); impact of a variety of workplace concepts and strategies on behavioral and organizational outcomes; and the interaction between occupants and building systems and resulted influence on building performance. She has also studied strategies to engage and motivate multiple stakeholders in sustainable building practice and in resilience building efforts in multiple building markets in the U.S., Japan, and China. 

It is her goal to inform the design, delivery, operation, management and re-engineering of built environments and building sector policy-making to enhance the quality of built environments, support health and performance of their occupants, and facilitate the delivery of business goals; and to mitigate the building sector's impact on global climate change.

As an Appointed Member of the China Green Building Council, Dr. Hua has been actively promoting sustainable building policy, practice, and education in China. She is playing an active role in promoting sustainable campus research and practice both in China and internationally.

Nishida, Y., Hua, Y., & Okamoto, N. (2018). Alternative building emission reduction measure: Outcomes from Tokyo Cap-and-Trade Program. In Lorch, R., Laubscher, J., Chan, E.H., and Visscher, H. (Eds.) Building Governance and Climate Change. Routledge.

Yang, E., Hua, Y., & Diciccio, T. (2018). Diffusion of innovation in sustainable building practices and the role of stakeholders.Journal of Green Building,  Vol. 13, No.4. 91-102.

Hua, Y. (2018). Topics for human factors and ergonomics research and interventions in future workplace. Journal of Ergonomics. Vol. 8, Issue 1.

Gocer, O., Hua, Y., & Gocer, K. (2016). A BIM-GIS integrated pre-retrofit model for retrofit decision support. Building Simulation. Vol. 9, Issue 5, 513-527.

Nishida, Y., Hua, Y. & Okamoto, N. (2016). Alternative building emission governance: Outcomes from the Tokyo Cap-and-Trade program. Building Research & Information. Vol.44, Issue 5-6, 644-659.

Ge, J., Hua, Y., Daziano, R., Tong, X., & Chen, Si (2016). An overview of the success story of Jiangsu Electric's residential time of use program in China and the related behavior changes. Proceedings of 2016 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings: From Components to System, From Buildings to Communities. American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

Aquilina, S.B., Kozlowski, M. & Hua, Y. (2015). Fundamental sustainability at Cornell Law School's new academic center. Journal of Green Building, Vol. 10, No. 2, 42-63.

Gocer, O., Hua, Y., & Gocer, K. (2015). Completing the missing link in building design process: Enhancing post-occupancy evaluation method for effective feedback for building performance. Building and Environment, Vol. 89, 14-27.

Hua, Y. & Yang, E. (2014). Building spatial layout that supports healthier behavior of office workers: A new performance mandate for sustainable buildings. Work: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment, and Rehabilitation. Vol. 49(3), 373-380.

Hua, Y., Gocer, O., & Gocer, K. (2014). Spatial mapping of occupant satisfaction and indoor environment quality in a LEED Platnum campus building. Building and Environment. Vol.79 (September 2014), 124-137.

Joseph, A., Taylor, E., Quan, X., Nanda, U., & Hua, Y. (2014). Building a knowledge base for evidence-based healthcare facility design. Intelligent Building International. Vol. 6, No.3, 155-169.

Hua, Y. (2013). Chapter 3: Sustainable campus as a living laboratory for climate change mitigation and adaptation: The role of design thinking processes. In Koenig, A. (ed.) Regenerative Sustainable Development of Universities and Cities: The Role of Living Laboratories. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 

Academic Director, Cornell China Center;

Co-Director, International Workplace Studies Program, Cornell University;

Co-Chair of Faculty Advisory Board and faculty fellow, Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability

Dr. Hua is the Academic Director of Cornell China Center, dedicated to building a bridge between Cornell and China to foster innovative collaboration for addressing critical challenges facing the world, as well as support the visibility and impact of Cornell research and Cornell scholars in China.

For complex topics, such as quality of built environments, future workplace, sustainability and resilience, the search for solutions starts from defining the challenges and opportunities. In the context of buildings and cities, I would like to equip students with both the scope of thinking as well as solid knowledge and skill sets for creating innovative methods and solutions to make built environments value-enablers for their users and the society. Being members of graduate fields of both Design & Environmental Analysis and Real Estate at Cornell gives me an opportunity to reach out to students from a variety of backgrounds and to make an impact.

DEA1050: Career Explorations

DEA2040: High Performance Buildings

DEA5540: Workplace Strategy Studio

DEA6250: Human Dimensions of Sustainability Building

• Ph.D., Building Performance & Diagnostics, Carnegie Mellon University 
• Master of Engineering, Building Science & Technology, Zhejiang University, China 
• Bachelor of Architecture, Zhejiang University, China

Director, Cornell China Center

International Workplace Studies Program (IWSP)
iwsp.human.cornell.edu

https://research.cornell.edu/news-features/building-spaces-serve-occupants

https://chinacenter.cornell.edu