International researchers will join Syracuse University celebration of life, work of pioneering indoor air quality researcher P. Ole Fanger

International researchers will join Syracuse University celebration of life, work of pioneering indoor air quality researcher P. Ole FangerDecember 08, 2006Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

Two prominent international researchers in indoor air quality — Pawel Wargocki of Denmark and Shin-ichi Tanabe of Japan — will visit Syracuse University next week as part of a celebration to honor the memory of world-renowned Danish researcher P. Ole Fanger. The daylong celebration, Thursday, Dec. 14, hosted by SU and the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, will include invited talks from 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. in the Public Events Room, Room 220 of Eggers Hall, followed by a memorial service at 4 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel. The celebration is open to the public; parking is available in Irving Garage.

Wargocki, an associate research professor at the International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy at the Technical University of Denmark, will speak on “Improving Environmental Quality in Classrooms” at 8:30 a.m. Fanger, the world’s leading expert on the effect of the indoor environment on human comfort, health and productivity, was scheduled to lecture on the same topic on Sept. 19 on the SU campus. He died at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse on Sept. 18 from a rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Fanger was on a weeklong visit to Syracuse in his capacity as a University Professor in SU’s L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science. Fanger was also a senior professor at the International Center for Indoor Environment and Energy at the Technical University of Denmark.

An invitation has been extended to all school districts in Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties to attend Wargocki’s lecture.

For more than three decades, Fanger conducted interdisciplinary research that has contributed to identifying the prime importance of the indoor environment for human comfort, health and productivity. His pioneering work on thermal comfort and indoor air quality provided the scientific foundation for international and national standards all over the world. His most recent work was focused on the effects of indoor air quality on the health and productivity of students in the classroom.

Tanabe, professor in the Department of Architecture at Waseda University and a research colleague of Fanger’s, will speak on “Thermal Comfort and Productivity” at 9:30 a.m. Other invited speakers throughout the day include Richard Hayter, associate dean for external affairs and professor in the College of Engineering at Kansas State University, “The Global Future of the HVAC&R Industry,” (10:45 a.m.); David Grimsrud, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, “Professor P. Ole Fanger: A Pioneer With a Vision,” (1 p.m.); and H. Ezzat Khalifa, NYSTAR Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and director of the New York State Strategically Targeted Academic Research (STAR) Center for Environmental Quality Systems at Syracuse University, “Intelligent Indoor Environmental Systems,” (1:45 p.m.).

The Rev. Thomas V. Wolfe, dean of Hendricks Chapel, will lead a memorial service at 4 p.m. in the main chapel.

Tributes to Fanger’s life and work may be read and added at the Syracuse CoE website, http://www.syracusecoe.org.