Jialei Shen

I’m an Assistant Professor in Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), with a joint appointment in Environmental Health Sciences in the School of Public Health. I joined UAB in Fall 2024. Prior to my current role, I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). I earned my PhD in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Syracuse University in 2023.

My research focuses on air quality, public health, and sustainability within urban and built environments, with the goal of developing engineering solutions that promote healthy and sustainable buildings and communities. My primary research topics include building energy and environment, indoor air quality, environmental health, airborne pathogens, air cleaning technologies, urban environments, building simulation, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and HVAC systems. I have authored over 20 peer-reviewed publications and has been involved in several modeling software/website developments. I’m also serving as Youth Editor for the journal Building Simulation.

I’m seeking two PhD students to join my research group at UAB starting in Spring 2025 or Fall 2025. If you are interested in joining my team, please reach out to me.