Jason Zhou is a current junior at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, IL studying Architectural Engineering and minoring in Sustainability. He is originally from New Hampshire. His passion lies in building science, building energy modeling, green buildings, and sustainability to contribute to the creation of high-performing, green, and healthy buildings for both occupants and the environment. With that, his career goal is to become a Building Performance Analyst with a P.E. license, BEMP certification, LEED AP, and AAEES (American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists®) Board Certification. Jason is currently the IBPSA-USA Student Director and is an active member of the EPSI (Emerging Professionals and Students of IBPSA-USA) Organizing Committee, and CHIBPSA (Chicago chapter) Auxiliary Board.
How long have you been a member of IBPSA-USA?
I joined IBPSA-USA in August 2021 when I started college.
Why did you join IBPSA-USA?
I found out about IBPSA-USA since it was listed on my department’s website and one of the professors is a member. I joined IBPSA-USA because IBPSA-USA is a dedicated professional organization for energy modeling.
What’s your favorite part of being a member of IBPSA-USA?
My favorite part of being a member of IBPSA-USA is the small community size. This allows everyone to be tight-knit and collaborate well both in-person and online.
Can you describe the volunteer work you do with IBPSA-USA?
I’m super involved in IBPSA-USA! I serve as the current Student Director, member of the EPSI (Emerging Professionals and Students of IBPSA-USA) Organizing Committee, and CHIBPSA (Chicago chapter) Auxiliary Board member. I also was an event organizer for the 2024 Career Fair.
Read more about the 2024 Career Fair here!
How did you get involved with this volunteer work?
I initially wanted to only attend local Chicago chapter meetups and the virtual webinars hosted by IBPSA-USA. Ajit Naik, an active member of the IBPSA-USA Chicago chapter, involved me when creating the CHIBPSA Auxiliary Board. From this experience, I started interacting more with IBPSA-USA nationally, and soon pursued an opportunity to engage as the IBPSA-USA Student Director. Thanks to the support from fellow IBPSA-USA members, including Jayati Chaabra, I had the chance to get involved in the planning of larger events too, such as the 2024 Career Fair.
To someone who is interested in participating in IBPSA-USA, do you have any words of encouragement?
Participation in IBPSA-USA is very easy because of the small community. I encourage everyone to join a committee and local chapter to network with fellow members. Even if you do not do building performance simulation work (energy modeling, LCA, daylight analysis, CFD, load calculations, etc.) full-time or regularly, still consider joining IBPSA-USA.
If you do simulation work on a full-time basis and are not a member, what are you waiting for? We’d love to grow the community and have every modeler join.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to enter the field of building performance simulation?
Building performance simulation is a niche sector of the architecture, engineering, and construction industry that is ever-growing, so if you love data analysis, green buildings, and combining architecture and engineering, consider a career in the sector.
