University of Pennsylvania, School of Design, Philadelphia, PA, US, Research Associate

Assisting Prof. Dr. William Braham in the research on Emergy Accounting.

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, US, Masters, Masters in Environmental Building Design

Energy Modeling and Simulation, Environmental Building Design, High-Performance Buildings, Building Energy assessment and remediation.

COA – NIASA Awards for Excellence in Architectural Thesis 2009, Award

Council of Architecture has, since 2006, through its academic unit - National Institute of Advanced studies in Architecture (NIASA), been hosting annually, a national level Awards program for Excellence in Architectural Thesis for the students of Architecture.

The objective
The awards program has twin goals in mind –

To encourage students to excel in their academic pursuit.
To spread the awareness about Architecture and the Architect’s role in the development of the society through exhibitions and open juries associated with the awards program.

The thesis public jury and the corresponding exhibition are meant to showcase architectural talent and provide a means for non-architects to appreciate the thought process, social responsibility and hard work behind an architectural project. Citizens are invited through the media to visit the public exhibition that displays the best of the architectural work of students. It is an event that attempts to draw citizens to the benefits of good architectural design. The exhibition is open for three days and provides to the people,an opportunity to interact with architects, students and faculty of schools of architecture and apprise themselves of current trends in the field of architecture and urban development. The students through the exhibition get valuable feedback on their ideas to help them shape their future plans.

The method
The program is conducted in two stages – Zonal and National. All the schools / institutions in India are grouped into five zones, each consisting of 20–25 institutes. The zones are formulated keeping in mind the major clustering of institutions, accessibility and their broad standards. Juries at the zonal and national levels are held at different locations every year to ensure that towns / regions of lower architectural exposure also get initiated into the programme.
At each zonal stage, one day prior to the public Jury, a panel of jurors consisting of three eminent professionals, shortlists, for the public jury, ten best entries from amongst all the entries received.From each zonal jury two best entries are chosen to participate in the national jury, held at a place other than where the zonals are held. Here the entries of all ten finalists are exhibited for three days and the public jury is held on the third day. The results are announced at the end of the jury and awards are presented on the third day in a well publicized event.
Thethree National Winners are awarded prizes worth Rs.60,000/- each and the remaining seven finalists are awarded prizes worth Rs.20,000/- each, comprising of cash and books of architectural interest.