ASHRAE acknowledged the exceptional achievements and contributions of its members to both the Society and the built environment during its 2024 Winter Conference in Chicago. 

A list of the awards and recipients are below.

Fellow ASHRAE

Fellow ASHRAE is a membership grade that recognizes members who have attained distinction and made substantial contributions in HVAC&R and the built environment such as education, research, engineering design and consultation, publications, presentations and mentoring. The Society elevated 23 members to the grade of Fellow:

  • Vikrant C. Aute, Ph.D., research professor, University of Maryland, College Park, Md.
  • KF Chan, director, Southa Engineering Ltd, Hong Kong.
  • Richard A. Danks, P.E., Life Member ASHRAE, consultant, Kirtland, Ohio
  • Jason W. DeGraw, research and development staff member, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn.
  • Richard B. Fox, Ph.D., CEO, Aircraft Environment Solutions and Manager, Aeroparts Environmental Control Solutions, Queen Creek, Ariz.
  • Siva Gopalnarayanan, senior director, HVAC Controls, Kova Products/Onx Homes Inc., Carrollton, Texas.
  • Klas C. Haglid, P.E., founder and CEO, Haglid Engineering & Associates, Inc., Hillsdale, N.J.
  • Jae-Weon Jeong, Ph.D., professor, Department of Architectural Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea.
  • Yogendra K. Joshi, Ph.D., professor, John M. McKenney and Warren D. Shiver Distinguished Chair, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Ga.
  • Carolyn (Gemma) Kerr, Ph.D., Life Member ASHRAE, retired co-owner, partner, and senior chemist, InAIR Environmental Ltd., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
  • Satheesh Kulankara, Ph.D., lead staff engineer, Johnson Controls, York, Penn.
  • Satish Kumar, Ph.D., executive director and president, Alliance for an Energy Efficiency Economy, New Delhi, India.
  • Hartwig M. Künzel, head of department, Fraunhofer-Institute for Building Physics (IBP), Valley, Bavaria, Germany.
  • Suzanne LeViseur, P.E., HBDP, senior mechanical engineer, Haddad Engineering, Inc., Jacksonville, Fla.
  • Farhan Mehboob, CEO, S. Mehboob & Company – Consulting Engineers, Karachi, Pakistan.
  • Richie Mittal, managing director, Overdrive Engineering Pvt Ltd, Noida, India.
  • Ashish Rakheja, managing partner, AEON Integrated Building Design Consultants LLP, Noida, India.
  • Andres Sepulveda, director, Commtech Commissioning Services SA, Madrid, Spain.
  • Paul W. Snell, P.E., retired engineering fellow, Johnson Controls Inc., York, Penn.
  • Igor Vaisman, Ph.D., chief therman management engineer, Mission Technologies, a division of HII, Carmel, Ind.
  • Shengwei Wang, Ph.D., chair professor, Building Energy and Automation, director of research, Institute for Smart Energy, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
  • Pawel Wargocki, Ph.D., professor, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, DTU SUSTAIN, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
  • Jin Wen, Ph.D., professor, associate dean for research, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Penn.

Award of Engineering Excellence

The Award of Engineering Excellence was created in 1989 to recognize a first-place winner of the Society-level Technology Award competition for an outstanding application of innovative design and effective energy utilization. The recipient of the Award of Engineering Excellence will have demonstrated the best overall compliance with the judging criteria.

First place recipients of the Award of Engineering Excellence are:

  • Hiroki Yokoyama, new healthcare facilities category, Obihiro Kosei General Hospital, Obihiro, Japan. The building is owned by Hokkaido Federation of Health and Agricultural Cooperatives.

The ASHRAE Technology Awards 

The ASHRAE Technology Awards recognize outstanding achievements by ASHRAE members who have successfully applied innovative building designs. Their designs incorporate ASHRAE standards for effective energy management and indoor air quality and serve to communicate innovative systems design. Winning projects are selected from entries earning regional awards. 

  • Cody Ellingson, Jeremiah Christenson and Erik Aakhus, P.E., new commercial buildings category, Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative Office Complex, Williston, N.D. The building is owned by Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative.
  • Martin Roy, Lianne Cockerton and Alexandre Cadieux, existing commercial buildings category, The Phenix - Sustainable Design Lab - Lemay Architecture and Design, Montreal, QC, Canada. The building is owned by Lemay.
  • Kiersten Washle and Teresa B. Laurence, P.E., EBCx commercial building category, Liberty Mutual - Boston Campus, Boston, Mass. The building is owned by Liberty Mutual. 
  • Monjed G. Barakat, P.E., Chad Riggs, Brad Bittmann and Alicia Decesaris, P.E., existing educational facilities category, Loudoun County Public Schools – Aldie Elementary School, Aldie, Va. The building is owned by Loudoun County Public Schools.
  • Wade Bennion, P.E. and Randy Neumann, P.E., new educational facilities category, Sunburst Elementary School, Layton, Utah. The building is owned by Davis School District.
  • Chun-Sing WONG, Ph.D., BEAP, OPMP, Jacky C K NG, BEAP and Kin-Kwok LAM, BEAP, HBDP EBCx Institutional Buildings category, Sha Tin Racecourse Grandstand, Hong Kong. The building is owned by The Hong Kong Jockey Club.
  • Robin Graves, P.E. and Jason Atkisson, P.E., new institutional buildings category, Promega Kornberg Center Fitchburg, Wis. The building is owned by Promega Corporation. 
  • Matthew Wade, P.E., EBCx Health Care Facilities category, Mercy Health - Lourdes Hospital, Paducah, Ky. The building is owned by Bon Secours Mercy Health.
  • Gheorghe Mihalache, Ph.D., P.Eng., new industrial facilities or processes category, Fromagerie Bel Canada, Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, Canada. The building is owned by Groupe bel Canada.

Student Design Competition

The 2023 Student Design Competition focused on the design of a new laboratory building, which consists of a large single-story building with a rooftop penthouse in Cairo, Egypt. Total building area is approximately 2,515 m2. As part of the project, new HVAC systems were to be designed for the new laboratory facility. The building consists of a wet bench lab, dry bench lab, research support offices, common area for circulation, secured high density data center room, penthouse, common reception area, researcher offices, storage, resting pods room and social room.

  • First place in the HVAC Design Calculations category was awarded to the University of Nebraska. Team members are Jackson Fritch, John Latta and Clayton Riley.
  • First place in the HVAC System Selection category was awarded to the University of Sheffield. Team members are Lawrence Copestick, Hasan Shwaish, Hitaishi Gayatri Gopaul, Cian Silaghi and Zain Tariq.
  • First place in the Setty Family Foundation Net Zero Energy Design category was awarded to Loughborough University. Team members are Thomas Crook, Girishkumar M. Gudnennavar, Mirza Habeebullah Baig, Ziqiu (Alex) He and Rodrigo Gonzalez Morra.

The Setty Family Foundation Applied Engineering Challenge

In the 2023 Setty Family Foundation Applied Engineering Challenge, students designed a portable IAQ health meter to detect contaminants in spaces and display the levels of different toxins to the user. The system considered multiple system variables, including space temperature, humidity and contaminant level, as outlined in ASHRAE Standard 62.1, Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality, as well as outdoor condition and other related IAQ issues.

  • The first place student team is from Bandung Institute of Technology. Team members are Lie Kevin Marcellino Gunawan, Andrew Tanuwijaya, Nur Fharhan Al Fariz, Frederick Ebenezer Leonard, Muhammad Maulvi Mirza Chairat and Muhammad Arghy Rafidan.

F. Paul Anderson Award

Eckhard A. Groll, Ph.D., Fellow Member ASHRAE, received the F. Paul Anderson Award. The award is ASHRAE's highest technical achievement given for notable achievement of outstanding services performed in the HVAC&R field. Groll is the William E. and Florence E. Perry head of mechanical engineering and Reilly professor of mechanical engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.

E.K. Campbell Award of Merit

Filza H. Walters, Fellow Member ASHRAE, received the E.K. Campbell Award of Merit. The award honors an individual for outstanding service and achievement in teaching and is presented by the Life Members Club. Walters is professor of practice, Architectural Engineer Program, Department of Multidisciplinary Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.

John F. James International Award

Ahmed Alaa Eldin Mohamed, Ph.D., received the John F. James International Award. The award recognizes a member who has done the most to enhance the Society’s international presence.   Mohamed is chairman and partner, Middle East Gate Holding, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

YEA Inspirational Leader Award

Ghina Annan received the YEA Inspirational Leader Award. The award recognizes a Young Engineer in ASHRAE (YEA) member who has gone above and beyond to make considerable contributions to the industry and community. Annan is decarbonization business lead, Stantec, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

ASHRAE Hall of Fame

Benjamin T. Bootle, Jr., P.E. (1931-1996) and Prem C. Jain, Ph.D., Fellow Life Member ASHRAE (1936-2018), were inducted into the ASHRAE Hall of Fame. The ASHRAE Hall of Fame honors deceased members of the Society who have made milestone contributions to the growth of ASHRAE-related technology or the development of ASHRAE as a society.