UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- William P. "Bill" Bahnfleth, professor of architectural engineering, was recently installed as president of ASHRAE.
ASHRAE, formerly the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, is an international building science and technology society with more than 54,000 members around the world.
Bahnfleth, who serves as director of Penn State's Indoor Environment Center, is a fellow of ASHRAE and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
As ASHRAE president, he chairs the society's board of directors and executive committee.
Bahnfleth's presidential theme, "Shaping the Next," focuses on what he characterizes as "embracing our responsibility to 'Our World' -- fellow humans and the earth, to make buildings safe, healthy, productive, comfortable environments in harmony with nature." To do this, he believes "We must develop 'Ourselves' -- the human resource of the professional community and transform 'Our Work' -- what we do, how we do it and what we do it with, by becoming more global in outlook, broader scope and more collaborative in approach."
His father, Donald R. Bahnfleth, is an ASHRAE fellow, life member and former president, marking the first father/son presidency in the organization's history.
Bahnfleth's research includes ground-coupled heat transfer; variable primary flow chilled water systems; performance measurement of stratified chilled water storage tanks; optimization of diffusers for chilled water tanks; measurement of envelope air leakage of tall buildings; ultraviolet germicidal irradiation for air and surface disinfection in heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems; user-friendly multizone airflow and contaminant dispersion models; and metrics for predicting the impact of measures to mitigate risk from airborne indoor contaminant releases.
He has written more than 125 articles and technical papers and authored or edited a dozen books and book chapters.
Bahnfleth's ASHRAE service includes advising the organization's Penn State student branch and performing as an ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer. He has chaired ASHRAE’s Technology Council, Members Council, Technical Activities Committee and Technical Committee 6.9 Thermal Storage. Bahnfleth has served on numerous committees including the CLIMA 2013 Advisory Committee, the Building Performance Alliance Ad Hoc Committee, and the Building Safety and Security Position Document Committee.