UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State Department of Architectural Engineering doctoral candidate Hyeunguk "Henry" Ahn recently received a Best Paper Award in the doctoral candidates group at the 2019 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Winter Conference, held Jan. 12-16 in Atlanta, for his paper titled “Economic Feasibility of Combined Cooling, Heating and Power (CCHP) Systems.”

“As a last-year Ph.D. student, this award means a lot to me because it is proof of my academic efforts that I have put forth during my Ph.D. program,” Ahn said. “I am so grateful that my academic achievement is being recognized by professionals in the field. After winning this award, I feel more motivated and responsible to become a better researcher.”

CCHP systems are getting attention as they are among the few of the distributed energy resources utilized from a small-building level to a micro-grid level.

“Because a CCHP system provides electrical, cooling and heating energy from a single energy source near end-users, it can improve energy efficiency and reliability while reducing environmental impacts,” Ahn explains.   

Ahn is advised by James Freihaut, professor of architectural engineering, and co-advised by Donghyun Rim, assistant professor of architectural engineering.

“I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Dr. Freihaut for his unconditional support and supervision. Dr. Rim also deserves my appreciation for his constructive guidance and feedback for academic writing. Without their support, I would not be able to make this academic achievement,” Ahn said.

Ahn, a member of the Penn State University Park Student Branch of ASHRAE, is also a recipient of the ASHRAE Graduate Grant-in-Aid award for the 2018-2019 academic year.