14 July 2008

NUS researcher is first Singaporean to win Ralph G Nevins Award

Do you know that air-conditioning can affect office productivity? NUS researcher, Dr Henry Cahyadi Willem has found out that room temperature and ventilation affects workers’ alertness, concentration, numerical skills, proofreading, and creative thinking.  Depending on the nature of the tasks, room temperature may need to be altered for someone to perform optimally, he said.

	CLASS ACT: Dr Henry Cahyadi Willem receives the Ralph G Nevins Award.

A post-doctoral fellow from the Department of Building, School of Design and Environment (SDE), Dr Willem has become the first Singaporean to win the prestigious Ralph G Nevins Physiology and Human Environment Award (21 June). Bestowed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the Award is presented to young researchers who have made significant achievements in the field of bioenvironmental engineering and its effect on comfort and health.

“Tasks requiring concentration endurance, for example, would benefit from room air temperature that corresponds to cool thermal sensation,” said Dr Willem.

The findings have strong implications on the development of advanced systems to control air-conditioning to a personalised level of comfort where individual well-being and performance is enhanced to an optimum while simultaneously conserving energy.

The study is conducted in collaboration with Department of Community, Occupational and Family Medicine.