UMass to Host 2019 Building Technology Educators’ Society Conference

Image

Amherst, Mass. – Beginning Thursday, June 20, the University of Massachusetts Amherst Department of Architecture, along with the Building and Technology Program at UMass and the Five College Consortium, will host the bi-annual Building Technology Educators’ Society (BTES) Conference.

The 2019 theme, “Integration and Innovation,” is deeply embodied in the host site, the award-winning John W. Olver Design Building on the UMass campus. Named one of the Best Buildings of 2017 by the Wall Street Journal, the 87,000 square foot building counted a number of superlatives at its opening, among them, the most technologically advanced cross- laminated timber building in the country.

The four-day conference consists of blind peer-reviewed paper publication, paper sessions, BTES award presentations, member meetings, resource sharing, workshops and a plenary talk on the timber technology in the Olver Design Building, led by UMass faculty, Peggi Clouston and Alex Schreyer.

Educators from the United States and Canada will attend the event, which includes an opening keynote address by Yugon Kim, a founding partner at IKD, director of TSKP Studio Boston, and faculty member at the Rhode Island School of Design. The keynote address is scheduled for 5 – 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 20 in room 170 of the Olver Design Building.

Michelle Addington, dean of the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture, will deliver closing keynote address from 5 - 8:30 p.m. on Friday, June 21 in Old Chapel at UMass.

The event was organized with assistance from Caryn Brause, Department of Architecture; Peggi Clouston, Department of Environmental Conservation; and Naomi Darling, Five College assistant professor of sustainable architecture.

The Building Technology Educators' Society serves the community of academics and professionals who are involved most directly with the construction and structure of the built environment.

The mission of BTES is to promote and publish the best pedagogic practices, relevant research, scholarship, and other creative activity to facilitate student learning, advance innovation, and enhance the status of building technology disciplines in the profession at large.