Environmental Testing Laboratory Results in National Comfort Index

An Environmental Testing Laboratory is built in the basement of the Architecture South building, where temperature, humidity, air movement, lighting and wall projections can be adjusted in a controlled environment for teaching and research. By 1989, Professor David Scheatzle’s research in this space leads to a comfort index based on six factors (including ambient temperature, humidity, air motion and mean radiant temperature) rather than the single variable of ambient temperature. Scheatzle's comfort index is still referenced in ASHRAE Standard 55.