Photo of 2002 Solar Decathlon engineering judge measuring the width of the front deck on the Auburn University solar house to ensure it meets accessibility specifications.
Solar Decathlon 2005
Judges and Jurors
The panel of judges and jurors assembled to evaluate the 18 Solar Decathlon teams and their solar houses is composed of individuals at the top of their respective professions. Renowned in their chosen fields of study, they bring academic excellence and practical in-the-field expertise to each of the 10 contests. Their involvement in the Solar Decathlon will help advance energy efficiency and renewable energy throughout the world.
Using objective and subjective measures to evaluate the teams' solar houses, the judges assign points for every contest that determine each team's overall score and standing.
- Architecture Jury
- Dwelling Panel of Judges
- Documentation Judges
- Communications Judges
- Engineering Judges — Comfort Zone & Hot Water Judges
- Lighting Judges
Architecture Jury
Steve Badanes
Steve Badanes is the founder of Jersey Devil, an architectural firm committed to the interdependence of building and design perpetuating the tradition of medieval craftsmen. His work has been the subject of two books: Devil's Workshop: 25 Years of Jersey Devil Architecture and The Jersey Devil Design/Build Book. He is the recent recipient of the Passive Solar Pioneer Award for 2005 and has conducted design/build workshops at numerous universities across the United States and at the University of Technology in Helsinki, Finland. He has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in Fine Arts. He holds the Howard Wright Endowed Chair at the University of Washington.
Edward Mazria
Edward Mazria, from Mazria Inc. Odems Dzurec Architects, is a leader in the field of resource conservation with 30 years experience as an architect. His buildings have appeared in many publications such as Architectural Digest, Solar Today, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. He has authored several articles, technical papers, and The Passive Solar Energy Book. He is the recipient of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Design Award, AIA Design Innovation Award, and the Department of Energy Commercial Building Award. He has taught architecture at many universities across the United States and lectured extensively throughout the world.
Sarah Susanka
Sarah Susanka is an architect, certified interior designer, author, and public speaker. She was a principal and founding partner of Mulfinger, Susanka, Mahady & Partners Inc., and has shared her insights on big ideas for small places with The Oprah Winfrey Show, USA Today, Boston Globe Magazine, and The Charlie Rose Show. She is the recipient of several awards including the Fast 50 Innovators award by Fast Company magazine; Top Newsmaker for 2000 award by Newsweek magazine; and 1998 Innovator in American Culture award by U.S. News & World Report. She has authored several books including The Not So Big House, Creating The Not So Big House, and her latest release Home By Design.
Ken Wilson
Ken Wilson is the founding principal of Envision Design, an award winning Washington, D.C., based design firm focused on sustainable design. The latest recipient of the 2005 Designer of the Year award by Contract magazine, his projects have appeared in numerous publications such as Metropolis, Metropolitan Home, Interior Design, Contract, and others. He offers more than 25 years experience practicing architecture as a speaker and writer on sustainable design issues and has designed offices for many of the nation's leading environmental organizations and several Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified projects. He is currently the sustainability forum advisor for the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) and serves on multiple committees for the U.S. Green Building Council.
Dwelling Panel of Judges
Dennis Askins
Dennis Askins is the architecture and interiors director for Karim Rashid Design, based in New York City. He has extensive experience in retail store design and showrooms worldwide. He has worked on hotel, restaurant, and residential projects, in addition to product, furniture, and graphic design. He earned a Bachelor of Architecture from Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and was awarded the first FAAR-CSAR scholarship for his thesis research in Milan, Italy.
Robert M. Burt
Bob Burt began working in the construction industry as a laborer while attending George Mason University and has been in the business ever since. He has worked as a carpenter, project superintendent, cost estimator, project manager and, today, serves as Senior Vice President and Director of Operations for Bozzuto Construction Company, a division of The Bozzuto Group. Every year Bozzuto Construction builds over 2000 units (multi- and single-family residential developments as well as senior living apartments and nursing rehabilitation homes) for the Bozzuto Group and third party clients.
Sam Grawe
Sam Grawe is a senior editor and contributing photographer for Dwell magazine. His interest in architecture and design began at an early age when his family regularly traveled through Scandinavia to their home in India. He has written about portable architecture for Nylon magazine and recently co-chaired a weeklong design workshop at The University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Finland.
Katherine Salant
Katherine Salant is a columnist reporting on all aspects of home building including using alternatives in recyclables. She is the winner of the 2003 Best Column All Media award from the National Association of Real Estate Editors. Her column originated 10 years ago in the Washington Post, where it continues to run as Housewatch. Distributed by Inman News Features as Your New Home, it appears in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, and Denver Post, among others. Trained in architecture at Harvard, she began her career as a Fulbright scholar studying and living in village houses in Nepal. She has been a National Endowment for the Arts professional fellow and winner of the Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards.
Documentation Judges
Energy Analysis Documentation Judges
Schematic Energy Analysis Report
Doug Balcomb
Doug Balcomb has been a researcher for 26 years with a specialty in passive solar systems for buildings. His achievements include developing the Solar Load Ratio method, and more recently, the Energy-10 design-tool computer program. He is the founder of The New Mexico Solar Energy Association and the Colorado Renewable Energy Society and has served on the board of directors of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) and the International Solar Energy Society. He has received numerous recognitions, including the 1997 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Passive and Low-Energy Architecture International Group.
Mike Deru
Mike Deru is a senior engineer with the Center of Buildings and Thermal Systems at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. Much of his work is focused toward improving the energy and environmental performance of commercial buildings. He is the project leader for the development of the U.S. Life-Cycle Inventory Database and for the DOE Performance Metrics Project. He also develops models for building energy simulations and directs projects for monitoring and verifying performance of integrated energy efficient measures in commercial buildings. He holds a master's and doctorate in mechanical engineering from Colorado State University and a bachelor's in mechanical engineering from the University of Wyoming.
Pete Jacobs
Pete Jacobs is an engineer at Architectural Energy Corporation (AEC) with more than 25 years experience in energy efficiency and renewable energy research, development, and manufacturing. He leads the AEC Utility Services Business Area Team in load research, market transformation, and efficiency program evaluation studies across the nation. He holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Penn State University, and a Master of Science in mechanical engineering from Colorado State University. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Colorado, and a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).
Russ Taylor
Russ Taylor is an engineer with Steven Winter Associates (SWA) and uses building energy simulation tools to improve the energy efficiency of new and existing building designs. He has worked for 15 years as a developer of building energy simulation methods and as a practitioner of building energy analysis. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in aerospace engineering from Penn State University and a doctorate in aeronautical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he developed the prototype for the DOE next generation building energy simulation tool, EnergyPlus. He has published various papers of his work at several International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA) conferences.
Norm Weaver
Norm Weaver is a professional engineer with InterWeaver Consulting and has more than 20 years experience in conducting building energy efficiency and renewable studies. He has participated in the development of a wide variety of software tools for the building energy analysis field including Energy-10, EnerSim, the U.S. DOE Mobile Home Energy Audit, and the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council Builder Guide package.
Architectural Documentation Judges
As-Built Drawings and Submittals
Phillip Berstein
Phillip Berstein is vice president of Autodesk, a leading provider of software for architecture and engineering. An architect with more than 20 years experience, he has taught at the Yale School of Architecture as a Lecturer in Professional Practice and is published in several journals including Architectural Record, Architecture, and Design Intelligence and Perspecta. He earned a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude with Distinction in Architecture from Yale University, as well as a Master of Architecture from Yale University. He is a trustee of the Emma Willard School in Troy, NY, a senior fellow of the Design Futures Council, a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and chair of the AIA National Documents Committee.
Kathryn Tyler Prigmore
Kathryn Tyler Prigmore, a fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA), practices architecture at HDR Architecture Inc., in Alexandria, Va. She is a former associate dean and associate professor for the Howard University School of Architecture and Design, and a former chair of the Virginia Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Certified Interior Designer and Landscape Architects. Serving in numerous professional and civic capacities, she has been a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) since 1982 and is currently a member of the AIA National Ethics Council. She earned two degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: a Bachelor of Science in building sciences, and a Bachelor of Architecture. She earned a Master of Science in engineering from The Catholic University of America.
Grant Simpson
Grant Simpson, a fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA), is the director of project delivery for RTKL Associates Inc., an international architecture and engineering firm in Dallas, Texas. He is a recognized authority on project management, the development of construction documents, and the integrated design process. He has managed major projects in the United States for the past 25 years and is the 2005 vice-chair of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Practice Management Knowledge Community Advisory Group. A presenter at numerous seminars and conventions across the nation, he has authored publications on project management and documentation.
Communications Judges
House Tours
Ben Finzel
Ben Finzel is a senior vice president in the Washington, D.C., office of Fleishman-Hillard International Communications. He has more than 15 years of communications and public affairs experience in Washington, including service as a presidential appointee at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. His career has focused on energy and environmental communications and policy. He advises clients all over North America on renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives as well as energy policy and communications. He is a cum laude graduate of Texas Tech University where he received a bachelor's in history and is conversant in German.
Craig Savage
Craig Savage is vice president of sales at Building Media Inc., with 25 years of service in the construction industry as a building contractor, remodeler, and custom home builder. Always focusing on the trades, he has published construction computing newsletters, edited the Journal of Light Construction magazine, and produced the JLC LIVE Construction Training Show. He has authored several books including Trim Carpentry Techniques; Construction Forms and Contracts; Quicken for Contractors; and QuickBooks Pro for Contractors.
Jaime Van Mourik
Jaime Van Mourik is the public programs coordinator at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. She has worked on various projects at the museum, including programming for the 2003 exhibition Big and Green: Toward Sustainable Architecture in the 21st Century and the upcoming exhibition The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture. She has active roles in several projects including the annual Environmental Film Festival and the Department of Energy's cosponsored Building for the 21st Century lecture series. She is a faculty member for two of the museum's outreach programs: City Vision and Investigating Where We Live. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; a Master of Architectural History from the University of Virginia.
Web Sites
Ethan Goldman
Ethan Goldman is the webmaster and Information Technology (IT) director for BuildingGreen. He maintains a subscription-based Web site; oversees the custom content management system; and develops the e-commerce infrastructure and sales, fulfillment, and subscription management system. Before joining BuildingGreen, he worked independently developing Web sites and database solutions and providing other forms of computer services. He completed his bachelor's degree at Hampshire College in 2001, where he studied sustainable design and computer science. His thesis described how home energy metering could be used to promote conservation.
Kim Master
Kim Master is a senior associate of What's Working Inc., a green building consultancy providing socially and ecologically responsible guidance to businesses and communities around the world. For more than a decade, she has served private and public organizations on environmental and health issues and has designed and implemented sustainable business initiatives. She has had key roles in the Sustainable Resources 2004 Conference, the Boulder Green Building Guild, and residential green building market transformation programs. A leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED AP), she has coauthored with David Johnston Green Remodeling: Changing the World One Room at a Time. She graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor's degree in human biology and a master's degree in anthropology.
Alan Wickstrom
Alan Wickstrom is the CEO/President of BuildingOnline Inc., the leading Web site design and Internet marketing agency devoted exclusively to residential home building, building products, and home improvement industries. Founded in 1995 and staffed with more than 10 Internet professionals, BuildingOnline Inc., designs, manages, programs, markets, and hosts more than 120 of the building industry's leading Web sites. He is a frequent speaker at numerous trade shows across the country, publisher of the weekly e-mail newsletter BuildingOnline's eUpdate, and has been a weekly radio talk show columnist for On the House, a nationally syndicated home improvement radio show.
Engineering Judges
Comfort Zone & Hot Water Judges
Steve Emmerich
Steve Emmerich is a research engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. His work involves research on air cleaners, indoor air quality (IAQ), and ventilation and energy consumption in commercial and residential buildings. He is currently the vice-chair and incoming chair of various committees of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). He has published more than 30 project reports and technical papers on ventilation and energy consumption. He attended Michigan Technological University for undergraduate studies and earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr. John W. Mitchell
Dr. John W. Mitchell is the Elmer R. and Janet A. Kaiser Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin. His research includes thermodynamics and heat transfer applied to solar and traditional energy systems. His expertise in solar energy is in solar-heat pump and solar cooling systems. Currently, he is involved in research in the control and performance of HVAC systems and has received several patents with his co-workers in this area. He earned his bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and has been a visiting professor at universities around the world. The recipient of numerous prestigious awards, he has authored more than 150 archival journal papers and the book Energy Engineering. He is the current chair of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Research Advisory Panel.
Terry Townsend
Terry Townsend is a licensed mechanical engineer in 21 states with offices of Townsend Engineering in Tennessee and Florida. He has conducted energy audits that have produced significant design opportunities in solar water heating designs for commercial, institutional, and industrial facilities. His projects include conversion of prison facilities in Florida to geothermal-based HVAC&R systems; integration of geothermal-based central energy plants in military bases in Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama; and expansion of geothermal-based applications for commercial, institutional, and industrial facilities in South Korea, China, and the Russian-Baltic States. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from Tennessee Technological University with post-graduate studies in solar energy systems. He is the current president-elect of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) where he leads numerous committees.
Lighting Judges
Howard Brandston
Howard Brandston founded The Brandston Partnership Inc., and has more than 40 years experience in lighting design, engineering, and electronics. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Honor Award, the Illuminating Engineering Society Medal, and the International Association of Lighting Designers Lifetime Achievement Award. He was included in the 1992 Interior Design Hall of Fame and was recently honored as an initial inductee of the Lighting Design Hall of Fame. He is a former president of the Illuminating Engineering Society and has addressed a multitude of professional forums, in addition to serving as a guest lecturer or visiting professor at several universities. Formerly an adjunct professor of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he also held the Feltman Chair in Lighting at Cooper Union as adjunct professor of Social Science and Humanities.
Gary Steffy
Gary Steffy is principal designer and president of Gary Steffy Lighting Design Inc. with design lighting experience for the Michigan Capitol and grounds, the Ohio Statehouse, the Michigan Supreme Court and grounds, the Ohio Supreme Court, and numerous other large business and residential projects. He is currently overseeing lighting design on the expansion and renovation of Bloomfield Township Public Library and on the restoration of the Kansas Statehouse, the Virginia capitol, and the Virginia State Library. He was elected a fellow of the International Association of Lighting Designers and is the recipient of several awards including the 2005 AIA Honor award for the University of Michigan Hill Auditorium, and the 2004 Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award.
Sandra Stashik
Sandra Stashik is a certified lighting consultant, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) member, registered professional engineer, and principal with more than 19 years experience at Grenald Waldron Associates. Her expertise in project design, management, and marketing reflect her design philosophy that all lighting impacts quality of life. She is also committed to the appropriate selection of energy efficient lighting with proven sustainability. She is a fellow of the Illuminating Engineering Society, former chair of the National Energy Management Committee, and a professional member of the International Association of Lighting Designers.
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