Indoor environment’s effect on human health, performance to be explored during Syracuse Symposium on Environmental and Energy Systems

Indoor environment’s effect on human health, performance to be explored during Syracuse Symposium on Environmental and Energy SystemsOctober 07, 2005Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

The potential impact of indoor environments on human health, productivity and performance is driving various health effects research programs and initiatives. The increasing public- and private-sector demand for healthy and sustainable built environments is catalyzing a market for new technologies and innovations that improve built and urban environments.

The Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems’ fifth Annual Symposium will address these topics through presentations on the latest advances in research development and industry. This year’s symposium, to be held Oct. 24-25 at the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel & Conference Center, in Syracuse, will focus on dual topics: indoor environment and human health, and indoor environment and human performance. Presentations will cover recent research and development of new technologies and design techniques to improve indoor environmental quality and energy efficiency, achieving gains in occupants’ health, comfort and productivity.

Dr. Bernard Goldstein, dean of the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, will be the keynote speaker on Oct. 24, speaking on the challenges facing indoor air quality and human health.

Among the other featured speakers this year are:

• Michael Madden, of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, speaking on diesel exhaust exposure studies;
• Jan Sundell, an environmental scientist from Denmark who studies the impact of the indoor environment and health;
• Dr. William Beckett, professor of medicine and environmental medicine at the University of Rochester, speaking on the relationship of respiratory symptoms and factors in the home environment;
• Michael J. Smith, the Duane H. and Dorothy Bluemke Professor of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, speaking on the relationships between characteristics of interior environments and employee work satisfaction, distress, health and productivity;
• Lisa Heschong, an architect and principal of the Heschong Mahone Group, who will discuss how recent studies have found a strong relationship between various metrics of human performance and the presence of daylighting and window views in schools, offices and retail stores.

Physicians, engineers, scientists, health professionals, entrepreneurs and others will present their latest accomplishments, discuss current activities and explore future opportunities for synergies in research, technology transfer and product development.

Registration information is available athttp://www.syracusecoe.org/symposium/2005. Academic and research participants seeking more information can contact Cynthia Nieman at (315) 443-4445 or cynieman@syr.edu; business and industry participants seeking more information can contact Ana Fernandez at (315) 464-9934or fernanda@nyieq.com.

The symposium is presented by the Syracuse Center of Excellence (CoE) in Environmental and Energy Systems, a federation of more than 70 businesses, organizations and academic and research institutions. New York Gov. George E. Pataki established the Syracuse CoE to create jobs and wealth across the state through collaborations in research, development and education. Within the Syracuse CoE, the New York Indoor Environmental Quality (NYIEQ) Center Inc. leads commercialization and corporate programs; the Environmental Quality Systems (EQS) Strategically Targeted Academic Research (STAR) Center leads research and development projects.