Faculty

This page lists all BCT Faculty members. Associates and Emeritus Faculty are listed on separate pages.

Faculty: Diana Andrea Brito Picciotto | Peggi Clouston | L. Carl Fiocchi | Ho-Sung Kim | Michael McNally | Fernando Romero | Alexander Schreyer

Adjunct and Part-Time Faculty: Kent Hicks | Katelyn Hudson | Ben Leinfelder | Munkaila Musah

Diana Andrea Brito Picciotto

Dr. Brito’s research focuses on energy-efficient buildings and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) applied to both buildings and materials. Her vision is to advance current LCA methodologies by introducing higher-resolution approaches and gaining a deeper understanding of emissions’ continuous impact on the atmosphere (cumulative effects over time), through dynamic LCA. Additionally, her research interests include establishing Carbon (GHGs) benchmarks through LCA studies at a portfolio level.

Before joining UMass Amherst, Dr. Brito collaborated on several research projects with UMass Amherst faculty and industry partners in Mexico and the New England Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) community. Her work spanned building-integrated renewable energy, low-carbon/high-performance building envelopes, and the use of real buildings (living labs) for data collection and subsequent hygrothermal analysis. She applies advanced data management and visualization techniques to efficiently process and analyze large datasets.

Dr. Brito earned her Ph.D. in Sustainable Building Systems from UMass Amherst. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Energy Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Chiapas and a Master of Science in Renewable Energy from the Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán. Currently, Dr. Brito is a Lecturer in the Building and Construction Technology (BCT) Program at UMass Amherst, where she teaches and mentors students on topics related to Energy and Carbon in buildings.

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Peggi L. Clouston

Dr. Clouston teaches courses in material mechanics, bio-based laminates, and structural timber design to students in construction, architecture and engineering. With over 80 publications, her research focuses on the structural behavior and efficient use of advanced composite materials made from wood, bamboo and straw. Some of the technologies studied and developed in her lab include: laminated bamboo lumber, mass timber t-beams, and hybrid cross-laminated timber-concrete systems – a key innovation used in the J.W. Olver Design Building floors. Recent research showed the structural viability of utilizing low-value trees grown in the northeastern United States as raw material for cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels. This led to the commercialization of Eastern Hemlock CLT and the first ever implementation of northeastern-sourced CLT in buildings. The work has the broader benefits of incentivizing local wood use as a low-carbon, climate-smart building material option while bolstering local forest-based businesses. 

Dr. Clouston is co-author of several books, most notably the recently released textbook “Mass Timber: Materials, Design, and Construction” published by John Wiley & Sons. She is also a registered professional engineer (EGBC) and serves as Associate Editor of the ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. In 2016, she led the design, engineering, and construction of a large student design/build project that culminated in the construction of a Massive Timber Dome (30ft x 30ft) on the plaza of the UMass Fine Arts Center.

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L. Carl Fiocchi

Professor Fiocchi’s interest and research are concerned with high performance energy efficient buildings with special emphasis on the building envelope and mechanical systems of both residential and commercial structures. He has led the initiative to establish the UMass DesignBuild program which produces a small low carbon net positive Residence or Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) each year which is donated to the city of Holyoke where it contributes to addressing the affordable housing crisis in an underserved community. His experience in construction, coupled with the imminent threat of climate change, provided the impetus for these efforts. Modernist architecture and its subset Brutalism, as it relates to the above, has been a continued focus of his work.

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Ho-Sung Kim

Prof. Kim teaches courses in construction management, renewable energy systems, and LEED certification. He serves as the faculty advisor for the UMass Student Chapter of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and faculty coach for their competition team. He received a Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with an emphasis on technology and the environment and is a LEED Accredited Professional (AP).

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Michael T. McNally

Prior to joining UMass, Mr. McNally worked for the Massachusetts State Police, where he most recently supervised the Commonwealth Critical Infrastructure Program, which was tasked with enhancing security, resiliency, and protection of critical infrastructure and key resources. He also led many complex forensic investigations and taught courses at the State Police Academy.

Two overseas deployments as a United States Marine in the mid-2000s formed his interest in building design, resiliency, and energy efficiency. This experience also promoted his belief in the value of collaboration, communication, and leadership.

A builder and avid woodworker, Professor McNally’s research interests include indoor air quality, digital design, mass timber products, housing availability and affordability, and certification programs such as LEED and Passive House. Professor McNally teaches courses in energy-efficient building, and communications in construction.

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Fernando Romero

Prof. Romero has been working globally as a Construction Project and Program Director. The knowledge acquired over his career of more than 30 years, opened doors for him to have an international career in the area of project management working in several countries, including Japan, China, South Korea, Austria, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, Suriname, Venezuela, Peru, and Brazil. While his professional career permitted him to manage projects covering the full scope of construction and with a value of more than $18.5 billion, he also possesses wide-ranging academic experience in teaching construction. He was previously an Instructor in the Construction Management Department at SIUE (Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville) where he taught several courses such as Construction Management and Senior Assessment, International Construction, Building Construction Materials & Methods, Civil Construction Material and Methods, Project Control, Project Management, and Introduction to Construction Management. Prof. Romero has also served as a coach for student competitions in construction.

Prof. Romero is co-author of a book on megaprojects (in Portuguese) and has published extensively about capital projects.

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Alexander C. Schreyer

Alexander C. Schreyer is Senior Lecturer II, Interim Department Head of Environmental Conservation (ECO), and Program Director of Building and Construction Technology (BCT) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In his leadership roles, he oversees a large department with responsibilities spanning strategic and academic planning, personnel, facilities, and resource stewardship. As BCT Program Director he has shaped the program’s growth since 2013 through innovative curriculum development, industry partnerships, and a sustained focus on student success.

A key contributor to UMass Amherst’s $52 million John W. Olver Design Building — a landmark mass timber facility integrating research, teaching, and practice across three colleges — Schreyer also established Trimble’s first worldwide Technology Lab on campus, a gifted space advancing digital building and geospatial education.

His expertise bridges structural engineering, wood science, and digital design technologies, with particular depth in mass timber structural systems, building materials and construction methods, and technology applications in architecture, engineering, and construction. He teaches courses in Building Information Modeling (BIM), 3D design, wood properties, and construction materials, and has mentored students from undergraduate advising through graduate supervision.

Schreyer is author or co-author of three major textbooks published by John Wiley & Sons: Architectural Design with SketchUp (3rd ed., 2023), Fundamentals of Residential Construction (5th ed., 2022, with Allen and Thallon), and the recent Mass Timber: Materials, Design, and Construction (2026, with Clouston). He is also the creator of ten open-source SketchUp extensions widely used in AEC professional practice and education. His research centers on digital fabrication and design, structural optimization, and the behavior of wood-based structural systems — with a particular focus on innovative connection systems.

Active in university governance, Schreyer has served on many personnel, campus visioning, and infrastructure committees. He holds an M.A.Sc. in Wood Science from the University of British Columbia, Canada, and a Dipl.-Ing. (B.S. equiv.) in Civil Engineering from Rhein-Main University of Applied Sciences in Germany.

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Adjunct and Part-Time Faculty

Kent Hicks, CPHC

Mr. Hicks is the principal of East Branch Studio, a design-build firm specializing in healthy net-zero homes, passive house, and energy retrofits.

Mr. Hicks is also one of the five DesignBuild program faculty where in addition to those responsibilities he advises on bio-based/natural materials and their implementation in the construction process.

Additionally, Mr. Hicks is focused on environmental and climate equity in collaboration with non-profit organizations working locally and globally- supporting education, employment, and community engagement; while lowering carbon emissions and planning for climate resiliency.

Curriculum Vitae

Katelyn Hudson

Dr. Hudson’s professional and academic interests focus on energy-efficient buildings and their impacts on occupant wellbeing. Prior to joining UMass, she taught at Vermont Technical College, and Bond University in architectural engineering, construction management, and landscape horticulture departments. Additionally, she works as a designer for an architectural design firm in Vermont, specializing in ‘just big enough’ homes. Dr. Hudson earned a professional Doctor of Architecture from the University of Hawaii focusing on the overlap of biophilic design, environmental psychology, and feng shui for residential building in Northern New England. Her PhD from Bond University built upon her previous research exploring the integration of biophilic design in the built environment of Antarctica.

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Ben Leinfelder

Mr. Leinfelder has a varied background with expertise in fields from performing and visual arts to software and ecological informatics. After running a small residential renovation firm in the Pacific Northwest for several years, he decided to pursue architecture in order to augment his construction experience. While working on his M.Arch at UMass Amherst, Ben was heavily involved in the nascent DesignBuild program and ultimately became the construction manager for the 2024 project. Mr. Leinfelder continues to dedicate his professional life to integrating design work with the actual work of building and bridge the divide between architects and constructors.

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