IHBE Director Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg has accepted a new position as Dean of the College of Architecture at the University of Nebraska and will begin the new role January 2023. We wish him well on his new journey, as he leaves with a legacy of significant work that IHBE will continue to build upon.
During Kevin’s time at the University of Oregon, we launched the Institute for Health in the Built Environment (IHBE) to leverage design research from innovative labs, centers and institutes within the College of Design and synthesize their transdisciplinary work into a network that could readily collaborate with external labs and industry, including through the Build Health industry consortium. These founding labs drew on decades of innovative work, including the Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory (ESBL), with four decades of pioneering research in passive systems and daylighting to reduce energy use in buildings, as well as a long history of architectural project design assistance and integrated project delivery; the Biology and the Built Environment Center (BioBE), which began investigating building indoor microbiomes in 2009, was launched with the support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and was well-positioned to provide international leadership on airborne disease transmission and mitigation for safer indoor spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic; and Baker Lighting Lab, with three decades of developing lighting expertise.
As director of IHBE, ESBL and BioBE, Kevin continued the University of Oregon ethos of pioneering research and broad collaboration by positioning the Institute to be a nexus for issues of health in the built environment for external research labs and government agencies in the State of Oregon and beyond, considering health at the scales of individuals in buildings, communities, and planet. During this time, the Institute has expanded its research collaboration within Oregon to include the TallWood Design Institute, NetZED Lab, Oregon State University, Oregon Health & Science University and Portland State University, in addition to a network of national and international organizations.
“I have been incredibly blessed by my time at the University of Oregon and have been so fortunate to collaborate with the exceptional team members associated with ESBL, BioBE and our extended network through IHBE,” said Van Den Wymelenberg. “I am confident that these teams will continue to thrive during and long beyond the leadership transition. These are institutions that will continue to transform architecture, and welcome radical interdisciplinary research and creative practice.”
We wish Kevin all the best in his future endeavors and look forward to continuing the terrific work within the labs that Kevin guided during his time at the University of Oregon.
