Author: vsuarez7

The Office of Sustainability recently sat down with Dr. Rounaq Basu, assistant professor in the School of City and Regional Planning, to learn more about his innovative work addressing extreme heat and mobility. Dr. Basu brings a global and interdisciplinary perspective to Georgia Tech, shaped by his experiences in Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, New England, and now the City of Atlanta.

He recently launched the NO-HEAT (Neutralizing Onerous Heat Effects on Active Transportation) Initiative, where students in his research group – REMAP (Resilient and Equitable Mobility Analytics and Planning) – use high-resolution climate modeling, active transportation data analysis, and community engagement to understand how heat affects people who walk and bike, especially those with limited transportation options.

We’re excited about the potential for integrating Dr. Basu’s work into a living learning lab on campus where students, staff, and researchers can collaborate to design cooler, safer, and more accessible mobility environments. In addition, Dr. Basu is partnering with Georgia Tech’s Parking and Transportation Services department to develop student-led projects focused on key transportation, micromobility, and parking initiatives—further enriching students’ experiential learning opportunities and guiding innovation in campus mobility. Learn more about his research and vision in this interview conducted by Jennifer Chirico, Associate VP of Sustainability, and Jairo Garcia, Lecturer and Resilience Specialist, in the Office of Sustainability.

Can you start by telling us a little about yourself, background, and what drew you to Georgia Tech? 

I began my academic career as a civil engineering major with a focus on transportation, which led to grad school for a dual degree in transportation engineering and urban planning. During that period, I spent some time in Latin America working with local agencies and communities to see the effects of emerging transportation technologies and services on people’s lives. I had the opportunity to work in Mexico, where I analyzed the effects of putting in a new metro line, and in Brazil, where I explored the possibility of improving commute times for lower income communities using on-demand microtransit.

After I completed my PhD and postdoc, I worked in the public sector at the Boston Region MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) and managed the Multimodal Planning and Design team. I led a successful grant application that allowed us to look at how extreme heat affects people who walk and bike, thereby bridging climate science with transportation planning. After this experience, I moved to Atlanta in December 2024 to join the Georgia Tech community and am now working with the Atlanta Department of Transportation and Propel ATL on a similar project that extends my work in Boston to the City of Atlanta.

We are excited to learn about your new research with the  NO-HEAT  (Neutralizing Onerous Heat Effects on Active Transportation) project. Can you tell us how you got involved with it and how it works?  

The NO-HEAT Initiative spun off my earlier research as a PhD student and as a postdoc. We have created an urban microclimate modeling workflow that helps us estimate how hot people feel when standing outside. Although this model was proposed over a decade ago by European researchers, we haven’t seen this being used much in the U.S. In our project, we improved the resolution of previous estimates and made significant improvements to the computational efficiency of the workflow, allowing us to estimate how hot people feel for every hour of a summer day at a 1-meter resolution. When we combine these estimates of perceived thermal comfort with active transportation activity, we obtain heat risk through which we can identify high-risk locations that can be prioritized for targeted heat mitigation interventions.

We also examined cumulative heat exposure for people walking and biking, including variations across different sociodemographic groups based on age, gender, income, etc. This helps us understand which groups are most at risk of extreme heat stress when outdoors, especially while walking or biking.

Building on these data, we’ve then gone out to high-risk locations and conducted walk and bike audits with community partners. During the audits, we collected heat and air quality data using sensors while also asking residents about their lived experiences navigating these high-risk locations. We are currently in the process of implementing pilot heat mitigation interventions at a few high-risk locations in Metro Boston, following which we will assess the effectiveness of these interventions.

We are also extending our models and analysis to multiple cities in the U.S., which will inform a navigation app that will provide recommendations based on the coolest and greenest routes. We are hoping to launch this app in advance of the FIFA World Cup so that it can be used by both residents and visitors for this mega-event.

You describe extreme heat as “˜the silent killer,’ and as “the leading cause of weather-related fatalities in the United States.” How does this apply to our campus?  

I’ve found that people are much more reactive to pictures and stories than warnings, so when you look at hurricanes or tornadoes, for example, the pictures make you feel the gravity of the event and the extent of damage. This drives not just empathy and concern, but also donations and investment. We don’t see this to the same extent with extreme heat, but heat is something we all experience. When you look at public health data, heat drives more emergency room visits than other extreme weather events. In a way, extreme heat is very bipartisan because everyone is affected by extreme heat, with some being more susceptible than others. It’s worse for folks with other health conditions, such as asthma or diabetes, that can increase vulnerability to heat. Despite knowing all this and observing the same patterns play out every summer, we don’t see the same level of intent in planning proactively for extreme heat that we do with other extreme weather events.

On the GT campus, there is room for us to be more intentional about how we design public spaces, for example, Tech Square or Tech Green, which are beautiful, but most people stop using them when it gets hot. Having a bus shelter is certainly better than not having any shelter, but bus shelters are mostly made of metal and heat up more. These could be redesigned with more greenery and shade, or with more heat-resistant materials. There are many public spaces that are open to the sun and don’t have much shade, which limits their usability during the summer. We need to have more spaces on campus that are not just grass to help the GT community feel more comfortable to hang out at and safer to get around without driving.

How could your work be used on campus, serving as a living learning lab with students and staff? 

First, we need to start by identifying high-risk locations on campus. We can do this using the urban microclimate model we’ve developed in our research group and collecting field data with sensors with the help of volunteers. We can then look at mobility data to count how many people are walking and biking and identify the highest risk locations and then zoom into them while thinking of heat mitigation interventions. Second, we could assess locations in relation to landscaping staff routes and determine mitigation measures that would help keep our landscaping staff cool and comfortable while they go about their work. Third, we need to take a broad look at commuting patterns across the GT community. With the help of commuter surveys, behavioral nudges, and well-designed commuting programs, I believe we will be able to provide GT students and staff with better alternatives to driving and reduce our carbon footprint on campus.

Before we wrap up, do you have any final words you’d like to share with us? 

If we can improve current conditions to make it more comfortable and safer to walk and bike, this will encourage more people to move away from driving and use other modes of transportation to get to campus. Additionally, these improvements would also help those who are already walking and biking enjoy the benefits. In short, improvements to public spaces and non-auto commuting options have the potential to benefit everyone on campus. I look forward to working with the Office of Sustainability to create a more sustainable and safe campus for everyone.

The Office of Sustainability had the chance to speak with Tarek Rakha, Associate Professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture and Director of the High Performance Building Lab. He is currently on leave as a Regents Innovator to commercialize his research through Lamar.ai, a company he co-founded. Lamar.ai leverages drone technology and AI to revolutionize building diagnostics, offering a faster, cheaper, and more accurate alternative to traditional inspection methods.d Resilience Specialist, in the Office of Sustainability

Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself and your background and how you ended up in Atlanta?

I’m originally from Cairo, Egypt, where I trained as an architect. I completed my bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Cairo University and later pursued a Ph.D. in Building Technology at MIT, after initially starting at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. My doctoral work focused on urban systems — including thermal comfort, mobility, and how these factors influence decisions in the built environment. I began my academic career at Syracuse University, where I first explored the idea of using drones for thermal mapping in 2015. In 2019, I joined Georgia Tech, where I led the High Performance Building Lab and received a major research award from the U.S. Department of Energy called AIRBEM (Aerial Intelligence for Retrofit Building Energy Modeling). That project significantly advanced our technology and ultimately led me to co-found Lamar.ai, where I now serve as CEO while on leave as a Regents Innovator.

Can you tell us more about the drones and your company?

At Lamar.ai, we describe what we do as being the ‘MRI for buildings.’ We use drones to capture both visible-light and infrared images of building exteriors. These images are analyzed with computer vision algorithms we’ve developed over the past decade to detect and diagnose issues such as air infiltration or exfiltration, thermal bridging, water intrusion, and physical damage like cracks. All of this data is mapped onto 3D models, creating a comprehensive visual representation of a building’s condition. Our platform offers three core services: Lamar Detect, which identifies anomalies quickly and cost-effectively; Lamar Diagnose, which provides work orders and solutions; and Lamar Audit, which calculates return on investment and energy savings. Our system is 5–10 times cheaper, up to 10 times faster, and about 50% more accurate than traditional methods — and much safer because no one needs to physically climb buildings. We’ve deployed this technology across North America, the UK, and the UAE, supporting both existing buildings and new construction projects.

How do you envision projects like this working at Georgia Tech?

Georgia Tech’s campus is large and complex, with many buildings that have deferred maintenance needs, especially related to energy performance. Our platform could provide a scalable solution by conducting campus-wide assessments — for example, inspecting 25–30% of buildings each year. This would allow Georgia Tech to prioritize which buildings need immediate attention, whether that’s weatherization, roof replacement, or targeted repairs. We can even detect early signs of mold or HVAC system issues and verify contractor work after repairs are completed. Importantly, our approach is also far more cost-effective: a traditional building enclosure investigation might cost $25,000, but we can conduct the same assessment for around $3,000. By leveraging this technology, Georgia Tech could significantly reduce costs, proactively plan capital investments, and improve building performance across campus.

Is there an opportunity to involve students and faculty in this work?

Absolutely. There are multiple ways to integrate Lamar.ai into educational programs. Students could participate in data collection by learning to operate drones, which would be especially relevant for aerospace engineering courses. On the analytics side, computer science and electrical engineering students could work on refining our AI models or annotating data. Architecture and design students could use the insights from our platform as part of design studios or competitions, similar to what we’re doing with the University at Buffalo’s ‘Resilient Campus’ competition, which focuses on sustainability-driven design proposals. These opportunities not only provide hands-on experience but also help bridge research, education, and real-world impact.

What are the broader sustainability benefits of this technology?

Our work has direct implications for sustainability. By detecting and addressing building inefficiencies, we can significantly reduce energy use, improve occupant comfort, and enhance structural safety. All of this translates into measurable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, which aligns closely with Georgia Tech’s Climate Action Plan. Additionally, because our decisions are based on real data rather than assumptions, they are more cost-effective and targeted, leading to better resource allocation and a higher return on investment. Ultimately, this technology supports not just sustainability goals but also operational efficiency, occupant health, and long-term building resilience.

Do you have any final thoughts to share?

We’re at a pivotal moment in sustainability and climate action. The challenges we face globally are significant, but the technology now available to us makes it possible to address them more effectively and affordably than ever before. By leveraging data-driven tools like Lamar.ai, we can make informed decisions that not only improve building safety and performance but also reduce environmental impact. My hope is that Georgia Tech — where this idea was born — will fully embrace this technology as part of its sustainability strategy, setting an example for institutions around the world.