About Our Authors

Joseph Lstiburek

Joseph Lstiburek is the founding principal of Building Science Corporation.  Dr. Lstiburek’s work ranges widely, from providing expert witness testimony to overseeing research and development projects, to writing for the ASHRAE Journal and buildingscience.com.  Dr. Lstiburek’s commitment to advancing the building industry has had a lasting impact on building codes and practices throughout the world, particularly in the areas of air barriers, vapor barriers, and vented and unvented roof assemblies.

Betsy Pettit

Betsy Pettit is a Principal of Building Science Corporation and is a registered architect with over 35 years of professional experience in the design and renovation of residential, commercial, and institutional buildings.  With a particular passion for and commitment to environmentally responsible design, Ms. Pettit managed Building Science Corporation’s role in the Department of Energy’s Building America project for the past twenty years, which has involved the design of over 2,000 high performance houses throughout the United States.

John Straube

John Straube is a principal at RDH and a professor of building science in the Civil Engineering Department and School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo. Energy-efficient, healthy, durable and sustainable building designs are a general goal of his research, which is often supported by advanced computer simulation, laboratory testing and full-scale natural exposure performance monitoring. Dr. Straube has consulted to many major building product manufacturers, government agencies (CMHC, NRC/IRC,UN, NRCan, DOE, EPA), and a range of design professionals and building owners.

Armin Rudd

Armin Rudd is both an engineering consultant and researcher. He conducts research and development, analysis, design, and inspection of building mechanical systems and building enclosures. His main activities focus on the overall production homebuilding industry and on commercial and residential building moisture and indoor air quality investigations. Mr. Rudd has experience as a subject expert in arbitration and court. Highlights of Mr.

Christopher Schumacher

Chris Schumacher is recognized as an expert in the field of building monitoring, as well as enclosure and building systems testing. He has led the design, installation and analysis of monitoring systems for a variety of research programs and demonstration projects, both in the lab and in field locations around the globe. Chris' formal education in architecture and engineering is balanced by almost two decades of experience in design, computer simulation, physical testing, and forensic investigation.

Kohta Ueno

Kohta Ueno’s work at BSC includes forensic field investigations of building failures and consulting work for new and retrofit construction in the design of building enclosure and mechanical systems.  Mr. Ueno also frequently performs computer modeling (using WUFI, THERM, and HEAT3) as well as field testing and verification, HVAC design, and residential energy analysis and simulations.

Andrew Äsk

Andrew C. Äsk is an independent HVAC consulting engineer in Cape Coral, Florida. He is a life member of ASHRAE and has been a licensed professional engineer since 1969.

He received an undergraduate degree in Engineering Operations from Iowa State University and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Akron School of Law.