By Molly A. Seltzer

Forrest Meggers has been promoted to associate professor of architecture and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and joins the Andlinger Center’s executive committee as of July 1, 2021.

Meggers’ research focuses on studying and developing systems to optimize thermal comfort while minimizing energy use, including geothermal, desiccant dehumidification, and radiant systems for heating and cooling. Meggers is co-director of the Program in Architecture and Engineering, and the Ph.D. track in computation and energy at the School of Architecture. He runs the C.H.A.O.S. lab, which stands for Cooling and Heating for Architecturally Optimized Systems, and specializes in leveraging the architectural design of buildings and its surfaces to optimize thermal comfort and energy use. He and his research team developed a novel insulated, and therefore condensation-free, membrane that demonstrated radiant cooling can increase comfort, maximize fresh air delivery, and lower energy demand in a suite of environment, including very hot areas. They successfully tested the technology in one of the most humid countries in the world, Singapore.

Meggers co-founded two startups, Hearth Labs to develop radiant sensors, and Aquaseek in collaboration with partners working on sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting in Italy. Prior to joining Princeton in 2013, he was an assistant professor in the School of Design and Environment at the National University of Singapore. Meggers earned a Sc.D. with a specialization in building systems from ETH Zurich. He earned an M.S. in environmental engineering and B.S.E. in mechanical engineering from the University of Iowa. His work and commentary have been featured in National Geographic , Scientific American, the Washington Post and other outlets.