Ermias Beyene

Ermias is a PhD student in Interdisciplinary Design and Media at Northeastern University, based in the EcoBuilt Lab. His research focuses on indoor heat vulnerability in the Global South, aiming at making indoor thermal risk visible where building performance data is scarce. The work involves characterizing the geometry, construction, and occupancy of residential buildings through literature-based datasets, field measurements, interviews, and thermal simulation to close the gap between modeled and observed thermal performance.

He holds an MSc in Human Settlements from KU Leuven and a BSc in Architecture from EiABC, Addis Ababa University. Before his PhD, he taught at Debre Berhan University in Ethiopia while co-leading Tukuls to Dachas, a research-based rural urbanization initiative. He also interned with UN-Habitat’s People-Centered Smart Cities program, contributed to experimental housing research including the Holcim Award-winning SICU project, and advised on national housing and urban development policy in Ethiopia.

He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow, a member of IBPSA, and a recipient of a CAMD Research Dissemination Grant.