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BUDS

BUDS Lab is a scientific research group that leverages data sources from the built and urban environments to improve the energy efficiency and conservation, comfort, safety and satisfaction of humans. Check us out on LinkedIn{:target="_blank"}, GitHub{:target="_blank"}, and ResearchGate{:target="_blank"}!

BUDS lab

As of Sept. 2025, the BUDS Lab has a new home in the College of Integrative Studies{:target="_blank"} at Singapore Management University (SMU){:target="_blank"}. From Jun. 2017 to Aug. 2025, we were at the College of Design and Engineering{:target="_blank"} in the National University of Singapore (NUS){:target="_blank"} where several collaborators and group members remain.

Check out other labs with whom we collaborate: Urban Analytics Lab (UAL){:target="_blank"}, Integrated Data, Energy Analysis + Simulation (IDEAS) Lab{:target="_blank"}, Building Informatics and Operations Research (BIOR) Lab{:target="_blank"}, and City Syntax Lab{:target="_blank"}.

Projects

Cool, Quiet City Competition The Cool, Quiet City Competition{:target="_blank"} -- This Kaggle Community competition asks participants to predict smart watch-reported heat and noise using the city-scale collection of 9,808 smartwatch-driven micro-survey responses that were collected alongside 2,659,764 physiological and environmental measurements from 98 people using the open-source Cozie Apple platform{:target="_blank"} combined with geolocation-driven urban digital twin metrics from the Urbanity Python package{:target="_blank"}. This competition is a city-scale digital twin collaboration with Asst. Prof. Filip Biljecki{:target="_blank"} and Assoc. Prof. Adrian Chong{:target="_blank"} from NUS.

The HEATS Project The HEATS Project{:target="_blank"} -- HEATS (Heat Exposure, AcTivity, and Sleep) is a three-year, multi-institutional project focused on improving sleep outcomes for people exposed to heat. Funded by the Singapore National Research Foundation, the project develops technological and behavioral solutions to minimize heat exposure for improved sleep using the Cozie Apple platform. It is a collaboration with Prof. Stefano Schiavon{:target="_blank"} and Dr. Hui Zhang{:target="_blank"} from UC Berkeley, Assoc. Prof. Jason Lee{:target="_blank"} and Dr. June Lo{:target="_blank"} at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and Dr. Tom Parkinson{:target="_blank"} from the University of Sydney.

Project Cozie Apple Cozie Apple Watch{:target="_blank"} -- The Apple Watch version of the Cozie platform allows researchers to collect physiological, environmental and subjective data for built environment characterization. This open-source project is led by Dr. Mario Frei{:target="_blank"} and Yun Xuan Chua{:target="_blank"} and is a collaboration with Dr. Federico Tartarini{:target="_blank"} from the University of Sydney and Prof. Stefano Schiavon{:target="_blank"} from the UC Berkeley Center for the Built Environment{:target="_blank"}.

BEAM Project The Cool NUS BEAM Project{:target="_blank"} -- The BEAM Project focuses on making NUS campus climate-resilient through comprehensive sensing technologies and applying mitigation modeling and infrastructural measures to improve outdoor thermal comfort. It is a collaboration between the NUS University Campus Infrastructure (UCI) and the NUS College of Design and Engineering (CDE) that uses a “BEAM” approach - Baselining, Evaluating, Action, Monitoring. This NUS project is led by Prof. Wong Nyuk Hien{:target="_blank"} and is a collaboration with Dr. Marcel Ignatius{:target="_blank"} and Asst. Prof. Filip Biljecki{:target="_blank"}.

edX Data Science for Construction, Architecture and Engineering YouTube-based Course{:target="_blank"} -- The BUDS Lab hosted the first online data science course focused specifically on data analytics from the various phases of the building life cycle - design, construction, and operations. The course was first offered on the edX platform from 2020-2024 and the content has been shifted to YouTube. This is an introductory course that adds Python{:target="_blank"}, the Pandas Data Analytics library{:target="_blank"} and various visualization and machine learning techniques to the toolbox of architects, engineers, operations, and other industry professionals. Over 45,000 participants have taken this course since April 2020.

BDG2 The Building Data Genome Project 2 (BDG2){:target="_blank"} -- The BDG2 Project is an open data set made up of 3,053 energy meters from 1,636 buildings. The data set is two full years (2016 and 2017) of hourly frequency measurements from electricity, heating and cooling water, steam, and irrigation meters. A subset of the data was used in the Great Energy Predictor III (GEPIII) competition{:target="_blank"} hosted by the ASHRAE organization in late 2019.

ASHRAE Kaggle The ASHRAE Great Energy Predictor III (GEPIII) Competition on Kaggle{:target="_blank"} -- The BUDS Lab was the leading technical organizer of the biggest building energy-related machine learning competition ever held with over 3,614 teams who submitted 39,402 predictions. The competition included data from 2,380 energy meters collected from 1,448 buildings in 16 sites and had US$25,000 in prize money for the top five winners. The competition ran from Oct.-Dec. 2019 and was sponsored by ASHRAE{:target="_blank"} and hosted on the Kaggle{:target="_blank"} platform. This competition is a resurrection of prediction challenges hosted by ASHRAE in the mid-1990's{:target="_blank"}

SpaceMatch SpaceMatch{:target="_blank"} -- SpaceMatch is the Uber® of flexible workspaces -- an AI-enhanced spatial recommendation engine that matches building occupants to suitable workspaces based on comfort preferences. A live demonstration was implemented in the SDE4 building at NUS and is the focus of a team within the NUS GRIP Program{:target="_blank"} in early 2021.

Past Projects

  • Project Cozie Fitbit{:target="_blank"} -- A Fitbit-based{:target="_blank"} clockface application that collects momentary assessments of thermal, aural, lighting, and other subjective comfort parameters. This open-source platform is being developed for researchers anywhere in the world to use a methodological component. Stopped technically supporting in 2024
  • The Internet-of-Buildings (IoB) Project{:target="_blank"} -- The IoB project focuses on the technology and data convergence of the various researchers in the NUS Dept. of the Built Environment. This project is a collaboration with Assoc. Prof. Daniel Wong and it ties together several projects from within the department. Completed in Dec. 2023
  • Crowdsourcing Comfort: The Learning Trail{:target="_blank"} -- An NUS Project in collaboration with the Dean's Office at the NUS School of Design and Environment. A progressive web application that collects subtle momentary thermal and environmental comfort assessments while occupants learn about the sustainability features of the new Net Zero Energy SDE4 Building. Completed in Dec. 2021
  • Building Data Genome Project{:target="_blank"} -- A collaboration with the Princeton CHAOS Lab{:target="_blank"} and an open data set of hundreds of non-residential buildings from around the world with various temporal data mining techniques implemented. Superseded by BDG2 in Sept. 2020
  • Project BuzzNET -- Machine learning for mosquito detection and prevention led by former Fulbrighter Ananya Joshi. Completed in June 2020
  • IoT@NUS Project - Smart Devices and Energy Savings in Buildings -- An NUS Project in collaboration with an NUS Spin-off SenSING{:target="_blank"} and Assoc. Prof. Sekhar Kondepudi to develop Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology for building energy and indoor environmental performance. Completed in Sept. 2019
  • Data-Driven Buildings -- A website for data science tutorials for building performance analysts. Not supported since Jan. 2019

People

Lab Leader

Prof. Dr. Clayton Miller Dr. Clayton Miller (ResearchGate{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(Scopus{:target="_blank"})(Google Scholar{:target="_blank"})(ORCID{:target="_blank"})(GitHub{:target="_blank"})(Kaggle{:target="_blank"}) is an Associate Professor of Urban Informatics{:target="_blank"} at SMU, Fellow at the SMU Urban Institute{:target="_blank"}, and Co-Founder and Scientific Advisor of Spacematch Pte. Ltd.{:target="_blank"}. He holds a Doctor of Sciences (Dr. sc. ETH Zurich) from the ETH Zürich{:target="_blank"}, an MSc. (Building) from NUS{:target="_blank"}, and a BSc./Masters of Architectural Engineering (MAE) from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln (UNL){:target="_blank"}. He was formerly a Doctoral Fellow at the Institute of Technology in Architecture{:target="_blank"}, a U.S. Fulbright Student Scholar to Singapore{:target="_blank"}, and Walter Scott Jr. Scholar{:target="_blank"}.

Researchers/Visitors/Collaborators

Ben Gottkehaskamp Ben Gottkehaskamp (ResearchGate{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(GitHub{:target="_blank"}) is a collaborator as part of his Ph.D. studies at the Technical University of Munich (TUM){:target="_blank"} with Prof. Thomas Auer{:target="_blank"}. Ben holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the Jade University of Applied Sciences{:target="_blank"} and Master of Science in Resource Efficient and Sustainable Building at TUM. His work is focused on outdoor comfort using the Cozie platform with subjective and physiological feedback as well as spatial data.

Bianca Picchetti Bianca Picchetti (ResearchGate{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(GitHub{:target="_blank"}) is a data science consultant who supports several BUDS Lab analytics projects. She holds a Degree in Chemistry and a Master's Degree in Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery from the University of Buenos Aires{:target="_blank"}. Bianca supports the data analysis process for the Building Data Genome 2 Project{:target="_blank"} and the GEPIII competition{:target="_blank"}.

Cherry Kim Cherry Kim (LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(Google Scholar{:target="_blank"})(GitHub{:target="_blank"})(Website{:target="_blank"}) is a collaborator through her NUS Ph.D. work in the IDEAS Lab{:target="_blank"} under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Adrian Chong{:target="_blank"}. Cherry holds a Bachelor and Master of Science from Yonsei University{:target="_blank"}.

Connor Aucremanne Connor Aucremanne (LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(Google Scholar{:target="_blank"})(ORCID{:target="_blank"}) is a collaborator through his NUS Ph.D. work in the Building Informatics and Operations Research (BIOR) Lab{:target="_blank"} under the supervision of Asst. Prof. Maomao Hu{:target="_blank"}. Connor holds a Bachelor's of Science from the University of Florida{:target="_blank"} and a Master of Science from University College London{:target="_blank"}. He is interested in model-based reinforcement learning and physics-informed optimization to enable coordinated control for community energy flexibility.

Jean You Jean You (LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(Website{:target="_blank"}) is a collaborator through her NUS Ph.D. work in the Sea-City Interface Project at the ETH Zurich Future Cities Global Lab{:target="_blank"} under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Rudi Stouffs{:target="_blank"}. Jean holds a Bachelor's of Architecture from Cornell University{:target="_blank"} and a Master of Architecture from Harvard GSD{:target="_blank"}. She is interested in helping cities incorporate climate risks into spatial planning and design.

Dr. Mario Frei Dr. Mario Frei (ResearchGate{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(Scopus{:target="_blank"})(ORCID{:target="_blank"}) is a Senior Postdoctoral Scholar at the Berkeley Education Alliance for Research in Singapore (BEARS){:target="_blank"}, leads the technical dimension of parts of the HEATS Project{:target="_blank"}, and co-leads the Cozie Apple Watch project{:target="_blank"}. He holds a Doctor of Sciences (Dr. sc. ETH Zurich) in Architectural and Building Sciences/Technology and a Bachelor's (BSc.) and Masters of Science (MSc.) in Mechanical Engineering from the ETH Zürich{:target="_blank"}.

Pradeep Alva Dr. Pradeep Alva (LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(Google Scholar{:target="_blank"})(ResearchGate{:target="_blank"}) is a collaborator through his NUS Ph.D. work and now Post-Doctoral role at the Future Resilient Systems (FRS) Lab{:target="_blank"} under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Rudi Stouffs{:target="_blank"}. Pradeep holds a Bachelor's of Architecture from the B.M.S. College of Engineering{:target="_blank"} and a Masters and Ph.D. from the Department of Architecture at NUS. He is focused on the topic of Urban Digital Twins and developing the GHG App{:target="_blank"} to serve as a user-experience dashboard for decision makers.

Wenhao Zhang Wenhao Zhang (Website{:target="_blank"})(Google Scholar{:target="_blank"})(Github{:target="_blank"})(ResearchGate{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"}) is a Ph.D. Researcher at NUS focused on the HEATS Project. He is under the official supervision of Assoc. Prof. Adrian Chong in the IDEAS Lab{:target="_blank"}, but is still a major part of the BUDS team. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Architectural Environment Engineering at the University of Nottingham, Ningbo{:target="_blank"} and a Master of Engineering from University College London{:target="_blank"}. Wenhao is working on the application of reinforcement learning towards the improvement of sleep environments.

Yun Xuan Chua Yun Xuan Chua (ResearchGate{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"}) is a Research Associate and Project Manager in NUS focused on the HEATS Project. She is now hosted at the Human Potential Translational Research Programme{:target="_blank"} under the direction of Assoc. Prof. Jason Lee{:target="_blank"}, but is still a major BUDS lab team member. She is a graduate of the Infrastructure & Project Management (IPM) program{:target="_blank"} and has Master's of Science from NUS. Yun Xuan is a co-manager of the Cozie Apple Watch project{:target="_blank"} and is an expert in human subject research project deployments.

Alumni

  • Dr. Chun Fu (ResearchGate{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(GitHub{:target="_blank"})(ORCID{:target="_blank"})(Kaggle{:target="_blank"}) - Ph.D. Researcher at NUS (2020-2024)
  • Felix Rehmann (LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(ResearchGate{:target="_blank"}) - Visiting Researcher at NUS as part of his Ph.D. work at TU Berlin{:target="_blank"} (2024)
  • Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sobah Abbas Petersen (LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(Website{:target="_blank"}) - Visitor at NUS while an Associate Professor at NTNU{:target="_blank"} (2024)
  • Vu Nguyen (LinkedIn{:target="_blank"}) - Visiting Researcher at NUS while doing his Master Thesis work at the ETH Zürich{:target="_blank"} (2024)
  • Yi Ting Teo (ResearchGate{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"}) - Project Manager in NUS (2019-2024)
  • Dr. Matias Quintana (ResearchGate{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(GitHub{:target="_blank"}) - Ph.D. Scholar at NUS (2018-2022) and Research Fellow (2022-2023)
  • Dr. Hussain Kazmi (Website{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"}) - Visiting Post-Doctoral Scholar at NUS from KU Leuven{:target="_blank"} (2023)
  • Charlene Tan (ResearchGate{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"}) - Student Researcher at NUS (2021-2023)
  • Dr. Mahmoud Abdelrahman (ResearchGate{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(GitHub{:target="_blank"}) - Ph.D. Student and Research Associate at NUS (2018-2022)
  • Irvin Tang (ResearchGate{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(GitHub{:target="_blank"}) - Ph.D and Master's Student at NUS (2018-2022)
  • Ananya Joshi (ResearchGate{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(GitHub{:target="_blank"}) - Fulbright Student Fellow to Singapore at NUS (2019-2020)
  • Dr. Prageeth Jayathissa (ResearchGate{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(GitHub{:target="_blank"})(ORCID{:target="_blank"}) - Research Fellow at NUS (2018-2019)
  • Dr. Jayashree Chadalawada (ResearchGate{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(GitHub{:target="_blank"}) - Research Fellow at NUS (2017-2019)
  • Tapeesh Sood (ResearchGate{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(GitHub{:target="_blank"}) - Research Assistant/Associate at NUS (2017-2019)

  • Kairat Talantbekov (LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(GitHub{:target="_blank"}) - Coding Consultant (2018)

  • Dongkyu Lee (ResearchGate{:target="_blank"})(LinkedIn{:target="_blank"})(GitHub{:target="_blank"}) - Research Assistant at NUS (2018)

Publications

Current and in-progress publications found on ResearchGate{:target="_blank"} or Google Scholar{:target="_blank"}

Join the BUDS Lab!

Do any (or all) of these situations describe you?

  • You're an architect, mechanical or electrical engineer, energy simulator, urban planner, or any other type of building industry professional who has an intense curiosity in how huge amounts of temporal, spatial, and meta data about buildings and cities will change the way we design, operate, and inhabit these entities.
  • You're a data scientist, statistician, programmer, or electronics engineer who has a strong curiosity in how IoT, web technologies, and visual analytics can be applied to buildings and cities.
  • You've considered getting a Master's or Ph.D. degree while learning more about data science. Or you simply want to take a leave of absence, apply for a Fulbright (or other research) grant, explore some cool stuff, etc. for six months or more.

If so, please (contact Clayton via email) to discuss upcoming projects. Research funding, scholarships, stipends, and grant affiliation are available. Previous projects that exemplify curiosity in any of the above points are desirable.

Leadership Lessons from a Dancing Guy{:target="_blank"}

Everything is a Remix{:target="_blank"}

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