Professor and Interim Department Chair, Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment, College of Fine and Applied Arts
Dr. Ok-Youn Yu is a civil engineer whose primary research focuses on developing new tools to help farmers save on energy costs while extending their production and growing seasons. He has received more than $300,000 in grants from the State of North Carolina and the Environmental Protection Agency for on-site projects that convert biomass — such as crop residues, manure or other agricultural waste — into energy and soil amendment. These technologies reduce the use of fossil fuels.
Yu is the principal researcher on Appalachian’s NEXUS Project, whose interdisciplinary scientists have reinvented the conventional heated greenhouse into a more inexpensive, efficient and renewable structure using solar thermal, biochar, anaerobic digestion and compost heating. In the first half of 2018, one farm participating in the NEXUS Project realized an energy savings of more than 50 percent. Similar biomass projects have improved soil quality and increased crop yield by managing animal waste through biochar and anaerobic digestion.
“For us, it’s about community,” Yu said. “Our goal is to enhance access to fresh produce and support local farmers while developing sustainable growing techniques.”
Yu teaches in Appalachian State University’s Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment. He also serves as interim chair of the department. He has been a leader in the university’s IDEXlab, a nontraditional curriculum program in which building sciences students receive course credit for planing, designing, building and commissioning real projects for real clients.
Areas of Expertise
-Sustainable energy system development: biomass greenhouse heating and landfill gas monitoring systems
-Infrastructure sustainability: remote health monitoring and natural hazard mitigation
-Building energy performance management and 4D CAD
-Project risk management: life cycle assessment, Bayesian probability and optimal modeling
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About Dr. Ok-Youn Yu
Dr. Ok-Youn Yu is a civil engineer whose primary research focuses on developing new tools to help farmers save on energy costs while extending their production and growing seasons. He has received more than $300,000 in grants from the State of North Carolina and the Environmental Protection Agency for on-site projects that convert biomass — such as crop residues, manure or other agricultural waste — into energy and soil amendment. These technologies reduce the use of fossil fuels.
Yu is the principal researcher on Appalachian’s NEXUS Project, whose interdisciplinary scientists have reinvented the conventional heated greenhouse into a more inexpensive, efficient and renewable structure using solar thermal, biochar, anaerobic digestion and compost heating. In the first half of 2018, one farm participating in the NEXUS Project realized an energy savings of more than 50 percent. Similar biomass projects have improved soil quality and increased crop yield by managing animal waste through biochar and anaerobic digestion.
“For us, it’s about community,” Yu said. “Our goal is to enhance access to fresh produce and support local farmers while developing sustainable growing techniques.”
Yu teaches in Appalachian State University’s Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment. He also serves as interim chair of the department. He has been a leader in the university’s IDEXlab, a nontraditional curriculum program in which building sciences students receive course credit for planing, designing, building and commissioning real projects for real clients.
Areas of Expertise
-Sustainable energy system development: biomass greenhouse heating and landfill gas monitoring systems
-Infrastructure sustainability: remote health monitoring and natural hazard mitigation
-Building energy performance management and 4D CAD
-Project risk management: life cycle assessment, Bayesian probability and optimal modeling
| Present | Faculty Member, Appalachian State University ‐ College of Fine and Applied Arts | |
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| Present | Associate Professor and Assistant Chair, Appalachian State University ‐ Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment | |
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Disciplines
Research Interests
Sustainable energy system development: biomass greenhouse heating and landfill gas monitoring systems, Infrastructure sustainability: remote health monitoring and natural hazard mitigation, Building energy performance management and 4D CAD, and Project risk management: life cycle assessment, Bayesian probability and optimal modeling
Honors and Awards
- Outstanding Scholarship/Creative Activity Award, Appalachian State University, 2016
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency P3 Award, 2015
- Korean American Scholarship Foundation Award, 2008
Courses
- TEC 3534 (Fall 2011): Residential Construction Management
- TEC 3531 (Fall 2010): Applied Residential Construction Management
- TEC 2739 (previously TEC 3039): Materials Science
- TEC 2758: Survey, Soils and Foundations
| 2009 | Ph.D., Texas A&M University ‐ Zachry Department of Civil Engineering | |
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| 2005 | M.S., Texas A&M University ‐ Department of Construction Science | |
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| 1999 | B.S., KonKuk University, Seoul, Korea ‐ Department of Civil Engineering | |
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Links
Contact Information
yuo@appstate.edu
828-262-2527
Office Address: Katherine Harper Hall 23