Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Virginia

The Asadi Lab investigates how buildings and environmental conditions shape human health, comfort, and well-being.
Our research places people at the center of the built environment, asking how the spaces we occupy influence our everyday experiences and long-term health.
A major focus of our work is indoor environmental quality, including light, air, water, thermal conditions, and environmental contaminants. We are particularly interested in how the quality and characteristics of light affect people’s health, comfort, behavior, and experience of indoor spaces. We study these environmental factors as interconnected conditions rather than isolated building performance measures. Our work examines how buildings can both contribute to human exposure and become part of the solution for reducing environmental health risks. We investigate exposure pathways involving indoor air, water, materials, emerging contaminants, and changing environmental conditions.
Our research spans multiple scales, from individual occupants and indoor spaces to buildings, infrastructure systems, and communities. We combine field measurements, environmental monitoring, human-centered studies, sensing technologies, and data-driven analysis. These approaches allow us to better understand how physical environments affect people under real-world conditions. We also explore how smart building technologies, artificial intelligence, and digital systems can support healthier and more responsive environments. An important goal of our work is to translate environmental and building data into information that can improve design, operation, and decision-making.

Our projects often bring together engineering, environmental health, building science, technology, and community perspectives.
Through this interdisciplinary approach, we seek to identify practical ways to reduce harmful exposures while improving the quality of the spaces people occupy.

Ultimately, the Asadi Lab aims to advance built environments that actively promote human health, well-being, and resilience.