He obtained his Ph.D. in Construction Engineering from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Before joining UTC, he worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin. His research interests include sustainable construction, building energy performance evaluation, thermal detection, decision making, and environmental assessment. He has teaching experience at both undergraduate and graduate levels in both U.S. and China. He has been on the review board of multiple journals and the technical committee of several international conferences.