Cassie Thiel, a postdoctoral researcher at the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation at the University of Pittsburgh, will present "Sustainability Engineering: From Green Buildings to Green Surgeries" in a seminar at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12, in Bell Engineering room 2286.

In her presentation, Thiel will discuss how to streamline current consumption while simultaneously ensuring achievement of future requirements. She will highlight two green building projects which analyze the use phase of a structure. The first is a dynamic life cycle assessment of a Living Building, and the second is a comparative longitudinal assessment of the effectiveness of green design in a hospital.

She will also discuss the emerging field of healthcare sustainability research, focusing on projects in gynecology/obstetrics and ophthalmology, as well as emerging interventions being tested in cataract and hand surgeries.

Thiel was a 2014-15 Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellow. Her research utilizes life cycle assessment and principles of industrial ecology to analyze and improve the environmental performance of infrastructure systems, hospital design, healthcare practice and medical technologies. Her graduate training was supported by a National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship.

Thiel received a bachelor's degree from Michigan Technological University and a doctorate from the University of Pittsburg, both in civil engineering.