Faculty Directory

Hu, Ming

Hu, Ming

Associate Professor
Maryland Energy Innovation Institute
Brain and Behavior Institute
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Website(s):

Ming Hu is an Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, University of Maryland, USA. She teaches technology courses which focus on the integration of architectural design with structural, materials, and building performance assessment.

She has an extensive background in high-performance building design and life cycle assessment and has engaged in applied building technology research for over 14 years. Her research activities centers on questions of how, and why, sustainable building design and construction affect energy/resource conservation, environmental and human health, and to understand how the (smart) technologies might be employed to reduce the impact from buildings.

Professor Hu has published in over fifty research paper, and has lectured widely in North America, Europe, and Asian. She is a visiting research fellow at the Tampere University in Finland as a Fulbright recipient (2020-21). Her first book, titled Net Zero Building: Predicated and Unintended Consequences, was released in April 2019 through Routledge. Her second book: Healthy Built Environment and Smart technologies was published in September 2020.  

She is the board member of the Architecture Research Center Consortium (ARCC), and the Building Technology Educator Society (BTES).She also served on the National Committee of the International Code Council and on the Maryland Green Building Council.

ARCH 462 – MATERIAL AND METHOD OF BUILDING CONSTRUCTION (Fall 2016, 2017, 2018)

Building Construction methods and materials are examined through case studies to explore the means and techniques applied to the material execution of buildings and BIM (Building Information Modelling). Focus on an understanding of the organization of the design and construction process and awareness of building and zoning codes, material systems and types, as well as sustainable practice.

ARCH 464 – ARCHITECTURE STRUCTURE I (Fall 2016, 2017, 2018)

This course covers the basic principles of architectural structures, including the influence of geometric, sectional, and material properties related to flexure and shear in beam and framed systems; vector mechanics with application to analysis of trusses, catenaries, and arches; diagrammatic analysis of beams for bending moment, shear, and deflection as well as the study of structural framing systems for vertical and lateral loads.

ARCH 465 – ARCHITECTURE STRUCTURE II (Spring 2017, 2018)

This is the second course addressing architectural structures in the architecture program. The subject matter will progress from the material presented in ARCH 464 by investigating the design and analysis of structural systems through load tracing, holistic structural behaviour, the properties and design potentials of various materials, and the relationship between the superstructure and the exterior envelope.

ARCH 688A: Carbon Neutral Development Through Net Zero and Net Impact Building Design  (Spring 2017, 2019, Summer 2018)

Knowledge about the relations between built environment development and global and local challenges, such as climate change, resource depletion, environmental impact, justice and health, is of key importance to move towards sustainable development and resilient built environment. This course takes a trans-disciplinary approach to understanding built environment questions. Urban possibilities and challenges are analyzed by using a systems approach where energy, ecological, social, and economic aspects are integrated through a technologic-ecological perspective. Linkages between and perspectives from engineering, science, social-sciences, and practice are emphasized throughout the course. The course will examine the value and limitations of a series of real world case studies. Students will also have face-to-face collaboration opportunities with international students abroad.

Six Clark School Faculty Receive 2024 DURIP Awards

DURIP awards support university research in technical areas of interest to the Department of Defense.

‘Priming’ helps the brain understand language even with poor-quality speech signals

New research published in PNAS shows word representations may provide some objective measures of speech comprehension.

'Eye-Opening' Study Sheds Light on Circadian Pacemaker

BBI-supported researchers studied synaptic changes in an animal model before and after it developed vision, which plays a key role in circadian rhythm.

Neural and computational mechanisms underlying musical enculturation

Shihab Shamma will combine computational and brain research techniques to elucidate the mechanisms behind enculturation.

UMD Researchers to Untangle Language Problems for Tongue-Tied Stroke Survivors

$3.1M NIH Award Allows UMD Speech Clinician, Psychologist to Study Debilitating Form of Aphasia

MSAL’s work on serotonin characterization and detection results in two journal covers

Research is leading to better detection models and portable sensing devices.

A Fish-Eye View of Neural Development

Juan Angueyra’s research capitalizes on genetic tools and advanced imaging located at UMD.

Neighborhood Features Impact Mental Health for Better and Worse

UMD-led study finds that risks for depression, other physical maledies connected to one's built environment.

Training Can Improve Older Adults’ Ability to Discriminate Rapid Changes in Sound

Findings support subsequent studies on hearing loss-reversing interventions

The BBI Welcomes New Faculty Hires

Investigators joining UMD bring cross-disciplinary expertise with diverse applications in aging and development research.

$7.9 Million in NIH Awards Propel UMD Aging Research

New multidisciplinary collaborations take on challenges like Alzheimer’s disease prevention.

New robust and scalable computational methodology developed by UMD researchers helps identify directed connectivity within the brain

‘NLGC’ can be used with magnetoencephalography to better understand the neural mechanisms behind sensory processing.

Brain Study Ventures Into Fear of the Unknown

UMD-Led Team Awarded $3.9M to Understand How Risk and Ambiguity Influence Anxiety

Uncovering the mysteries of networking in the brain

UMD researchers are sorting out how our brains’ neurons organize as we take in, decide and act on information.

Wearable Tech and Brain Imaging Innovate Treatments for Paranoia

BBI investigators use smartphone data and wrist-worn sleep monitors to inform better treatments for paranoia.

Cummings Awarded $2.7M to Study Impacts of Aging on the Brain

The award will be spread across four years, supporting his team’s ongoing work that uses machine learning techniques to interpret “multiomics” data.

Brain Freeze: Cryo-FIB-SEM Coming Soon to College Park

The new Brain and Behavior Institute core will expand campus FIB-SEM applications to include biological tissue.

2022 BBI Seed Grant Awards to Fuel Innovation in Aging and Development Research

The five interdisciplinary projects funded by the BBI offer cutting-edge approaches to translational neuroscience.

$1.7M Grant to Support UMCP, UMB Clinical and Translational Research Collaborations

The MPower award will help researchers access resources for clinical and translational training, engage in pilot research, and strengthen bioinformatics infrastructure.

Internal predictive model characterizes brain's neural activity during listening and imagining music

Two "Music of Silence" papers by Shamma, Di Liberto and Marion have implications for computational models of sensory perception.

Juntti Receives $1.9M Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award

The award from the NIH will support his pioneering research to understand how biology influences behavior.

How tech can fill gaps in mental health care

$1.2M in NSF funding supports researchers’ work to connect patients, clinicians more effectively.

A new way to monitor mental health conditions

With machine learning, Carol Espy-Wilson is developing a phone app that can measure depression symptoms using speech and video cues.

Student Researchers Recognized with Wylie Dissertation Fellowships

Fourteen Clark School students pursuing their Ph.D.s in engineering have been awarded Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowships by the University of Maryland Graduate School.

BBI Advanced Genomic Technologies Core Launches

For the first time ever at UMD, researchers can access cutting-edge single-cell DNA and RNA sequencing technologies.

Nikolas Francis on the Neurophysiology of Listening

New Brain and Behavior Institute and Department of Biology faculty hire brings wide-ranging expertise to collaborative neuroscience endeavors at UMD.

The Internet of Bio-Nano Things

Researchers aim to bridge the gap between microelectronics and biological systems to create next-generation wearables.

Five UMCP-UMB Collaborations Awarded MPower BHHP Grants

The bi-campus projects will address the brain in health and disease, nervous system injury.

El-Sayed to Direct New BBI Advanced Genomic Technologies Core

The state-of-the-art core will feature single-cell genomic technologies for applications in the nervous and immune systems as well as cancer.

Bridging Cultures and Supporting Collaborations

Q&A with Brain and Behavior Institute Founding Director Betsy Quinlan

Green Is Good for You—and Your Career

Architecture, Psychology Researchers Explore Workplace Performance Benefits of Sustainable Buildings

Welcoming Nate Underland as Associate Director of the BBI

In the new role, Nate will oversee the institute’s operations and communications.

Huang, Stroka Labs Collaborate to Advance Understanding of Blood-Brain Barrier

BIOE assistant professors aim to develop techniques to target drugs to the central nervous system.

Researchers Aim to Advance Understanding of Alzheimer's Disease Progression

UMD,FDA researchers work to develop a technique to quickly measure the amount of amyloid plaque in the brain

Emerging from the fog: Little understood post-stroke cognitive issues verified

For the first time, researchers measure the physical evidence of diminished neural processing within the brain after a stroke.

Symptoms all in your head—or in your gut? Maybe a little of both.

UMD researchers are building an ingestible capsule that can monitor and model gut microbiome serotonin activity and help demystify the “gut-brain axis.”

One Size Does Not Fit All

To advance inclusive medical therapies and diversity in fundamental science, one Maryland engineer leads by example.

Never Fear, the Maryland Threat Countdown is Here

UMD psychologists pioneer new tools for understanding the brain bases of fear and anxiety.

Cornelia Fermüller is PI for 'NeuroPacNet,' a $1.75M NSF funding award

The resulting "network of networks" will further the scientific grand challenge of developing neuromorphic artificial intelligence.

Sci-Fi Social Distancing?

Researchers tackle complexities of autonomous robots as a coronavirus solution.

BBI Launches QED ("Quarantine EDucation") Virtual Seminar Series

The series's inaugural presentation offers concrete strategies for parenting during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clark School faculty 'AIM-HI' to address major health challenges

The new UMB-UMCP program has announced its first grants for projects combining AI and medicine.

Spurring research group creativity in the time of COVID-19

Student-faculty teams that write review articles for journals reap multiple benefits.

BBI Researchers Among Those Selected for UMD Coronavirus Research Seed Funds

Mental health was an important topic among the projects awarded.

Protection Collections Abound for Local Health Care Workers

Campus units donate masks, gloves, and other much-needed supplies.

Hu, Bernat Featured in Society for Women Engineers magazine

Their BBI Seed Grant-funded project examines the mental health implications of architectural design elements.

UMD STEM Students Take the Stage in The Nutcracker

More than a dozen Ballet Company M dancers hail from science and engineering backgrounds

Brain and Behavior Initiative Hosts 3rd Annual Seed Grant Symposium

Researchers from across UMD convene to discuss the latest projects funded by BBI

Ghodssi Receives Senior Faculty Outstanding Research Award

The award recognizes exceptionally influential research accomplishments by Clark School faculty.

BBI Announces FY19 Seed Grant Awards

Awarded proposals feature researchers from seven colleges and schools as well as three centers and institutes

UMD auditory cortex research featured in Nature Neuroscience

Study reveals how the brain nimbly and rapidly change responses to incoming sensory stimuli depending upon the cognitive context of the moment.

Brain and Behavior Initiative (BBI) hosts Second Annual Seed Grant Symposium

The University’s Brain and Behavior Initiative (BBI) hosted its Second Annual Seed Grant Symposium on November 14, 2018 at Adele’s in the Stamp Student Union.

BBI Sponsors Animal Communication and Human Language Conference

Conference featured scientific leaders in the fields of animal communication and human language.

Brain and Behavior Initiative partners with Arena Stage

Free night out for students to see the play Smart People, courtesy of BBI and the UMD Division of Research.

Kanold study shows autism may begin early in brain development

Brains of mice with autism-like symptoms develop neural defects when first circuits take shape.

It’s not your ears, it’s your brain

UMD neuroscience research shows older adults’ brain processing contributes to diminished speech comprehension, even with normal hearing.

Moving matters: Ethnocentric behavior decreases when societal mobility rises

 Ethnocentrism results when members of one group view members of another group as undifferentiated and interchangeable.

Brain and Behavior Initiative brings together researchers from across the University of Maryland

'BBI' will help Maryland take advantage of this rapidly growing, promising field.

Arthur Popper talks about the not-so-silent world of the ocean

The oceans are not silent. In fact, they are louder than ever. And that, scientists believe, is a problem.

Ratner, Newman demonstrate benefits of word repetition to infants

Repeat after me! Parents who repeat words to 7-month-olds have toddlers with larger vocabularies 

Alumnus Matteo Mischiati is lead author of sensorimotor control study in Nature

Research shows dragonflies use predictive control strategies, not just simple reactions, to capture prey.

Resnik, Vaughn-Cooke interviewed about mental health tracking in Newsweek

Technological tools to flag problems could have a huge impact on serious mental illness.

Lisa Taneyhill to study cell "glue" important in disease

Taneyhill's $1.9M NIH grant will fund research into how two different cell types migrate and adhere to each other to form cranial ganglia.

Losert lab designs 'RoboClam' that bests digging machines

Undersea robot more efficient than commercial digging devices

Kanold study in Neuron: A short stay in darkness may heal hearing woes

Simulated blindness gives adult mice sharper hearing, researchers find

Quinlan finds crucial on-off switch in visual development

A new discovery by a University of Maryland-led research team offers hope for treating “lazy eye.”

NY Times asks Carl Lejuez why smokers still smoke

Carl Lejuez, Ph.D., Director for the Center for Addictions, Personality, and Emotions Research (CAPER) in the Department of Psychology, was recently featured in the New York Times' piece 'Why Smokers Still Smoke'. Dr. Lejuez's research has explored multiple factors involved in addictions, including risk tolerances and decision making processes.