Biography
Dr. Adams Rackes is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering. Dr. Rackes’ expertise is in building science and healthy and sustainable buildings, including ventilation, air quality, HVAC systems, energy efficiency, electrical systems, occupant health and wellness, and benefit-cost analysis. Their research has focused on decision-making and computational tools for improving the design and operation of sustainable buildings. As a teaching professor, Dr. Rackes is driven by several motivations: curiosity about how things work, desire to improve the daily lives of all people, and deep commitment to sustainability and justice. These inform a dedication to shaping the critical thinking skills, passions, and agency of students who will be next generation engineers and future leaders.
Prior to becoming a teaching professor in September 2023, Dr. Rackes worked as a research scientist at Drexel, conducting experiments on airborne virus transmission, surveys on indoor air quality and thermal comfort, and outreach to school communities on ventilation and air quality. Before that, Dr. Rackes was co-founder of a startup business implementing automated fault detection and energy efficiency diagnostics in commercial buildings, and a stay-at-home parent. Dr. Rackes’ doctoral dissertation, also completed at Drexel, focused on understanding and optimizing the tradeoffs of commercial building ventilation’s impact on energy consumption, positive indoor air quality outcomes (improved work performance and reduced illness), and negative indoor air quality outcomes (disease burden increased exposure to outdoor pollutants). As a graduate student, Dr. Rackes was a recipient of both a Fulbright Study/Research Award (Brazil) and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Before becoming an engineer, Dr. Rackes worked as a welder and steel fabricator.
Degrees / Education
- PD, Civil Engineering, Drexel University, 2017
- MS, Architectural Engineering, Drexel University, 2014
- BS, Architectural Engineering, Drexel University, 2012
- AB, History and Literature, Harvard University, 2003
Research Interests
Building science, indoor air and thermal processes, and indoor environmental quality health and performance impacts; Sustainable design, operation, and control of energy efficient, healthy, and comfortable high-performance buildings; Building performance simulation, machine learning, and optimization techniques to improve decision-making about building and system design and operation; Sensor networks, statistical modeling, and parameter estimation for enhancing real-time information about indoor air.
Areas of Study
Select Publications
- Ben-David, T., Rackes, A., Lo, L.J., Wen, J., & Waring, M.S. (2019). Optimizing ventilation: Theoretical study on increasing rates in offices to maximize occupant productivity with constrained additional energy use. Building and Environment, 166, 106314.
- Ben-David, T., Wang, S., Rackes, A., & Waring, M.S. (2018). Measuring the efficacy of HVAC particle filtration over a range of ventilation rates in an office building. Building and Environment, 144, 648–656.
- Rackes, A., Ben-David, T., & Waring M.S. (2018). Outcome-based ventilation: A framework for assessing performance, health, and energy impacts to inform office building ventilation decisions. Indoor Air, 28 (4), 585–603.
- Rackes, A., Ben-David, T., & Waring M.S. (2018). Sensor networks for routine indoor air quality monitoring in buildings: Impacts of placement, accuracy, and number of sensors. Science and Technology for the Built Env, 24 (2), 188–197.
- Ben-David, T., Rackes, A., & Waring M.S. (2018). Simplified daily models for estimating energy consumption impacts of changing office building ventilation rates. Building and Environment, 127, 250–255.
- Ben-David, T., Rackes, A., & Waring M.S. (2017). Alternative ventilation strategies in US offices: Saving energy while enhancing work performance, reducing absenteeism, and considering outdoor pollutant exposure tradeoffs. Building and Environment, 116, 140–157.
- Rackes, A., & Waring, M.S. (2017). Alternative ventilation strategies in US offices: Comprehensive assessment and sensitivity analysis of energy saving potential. Building and Environment, 116, 30–44.
- Rackes, A., Melo, A.P., & Lamberts, R. (2016). Naturally comfortable and sustainable: informed design guidance and performance labeling for passive commercial buildings in hot climates. Applied Energy, 174, 256–274.
- Rackes, A., & Waring, M.S. (2016). Do time-averaged, whole-building, effective volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions depend on the air exchange rate? A statistical analysis of trends for 46 VOCs in U.S. offices. Indoor Air, 26, 642–659.
- Hamilton, M., Rackes, A., Gurian, P. L., & Waring, M.S. (2016). Perceptions in the U.S. building industry of the benefits and costs of improving indoor air quality. Indoor Air, 26, 318–330.
- Li, X., Tan, H., & Rackes, A. (2015). Carbon footprint analysis of student behavior for a sustainable university campus in China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 106, 97–108.
- Rackes, A., & Waring, M.S. (2014). Using multiobjective optimizations to discover dynamic building ventilation strategies that can improve indoor air quality and reduce energy use. Energy and Buildings, 75, 272–280.
- Rackes, A., & Waring, M.S. (2013). Modeling impacts of dynamic ventilation strategies on indoor air quality of offices in six US cities. Building and Environment, 60, 243–253.