Civil Engineering Ph.D. student Chunxu Huang has received a 2024-2025 ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers) Grant-in-Aid Award, a $10,000 award given to outstanding graduate students conducting research in High Performance Buildings or HVAC fields. The evaluation criteria for this prestigious award include academic performance, the quality and significance of the student's research, and the likelihood of future involvement within ASHRAE.

Chunxu's research is focused on the development of a new laboratory test methodology for rapid aging of HVAC air filters with representative urban aerosols at high concentrations. The study incorporates a novel aerosol generation technique by utilizing evaporation-condensation of salt vapor to produce high concentration sub-micron particles similar to that found in outdoor urban environments. The new laboratory test methodology is a cost- effective way to realistically evaluate the long-term evolution of HVAC filter performance of in-situ aging in a short period of time.