Congratulations to Dr. Flechas on a successful PhD defense!
We are delighted to congratulate Dr. Flechas on the successful defense of their doctoral dissertation at Colorado School of Mines on Thursday, April 9th. This milestone marks the culmination of years of rigorous research, fieldwork, and collaboration — and we could not be more proud.
Dr. Flechas’s dissertation, “Understanding and Harnessing the Dynamic Thermal Characteristics of Cross-Laminated Timber Buildings: From Field Measurements to Energy Models,” tackles a timely and consequential question in sustainable construction: how do cross-laminated timber (CLT) buildings behave thermally in real-world conditions, and how can that behavior be accurately captured in energy models?
CLT is increasingly recognized as a promising low-carbon alternative to conventional building materials. By bridging empirical field measurements with computational energy modeling, Dr. Flechas’s research provides the building science community with deeper insight into how CLT structures store, release, and respond to thermal energy over time — knowledge that is essential for designing high-performance, energy-efficient buildings of the future.
Throughout his doctoral journey, Dr. Flechas was an active member of the AMBER Lab research group at Colorado School of Mines, and was recognized as a GEM Fellow — a distinction awarded to exceptional graduate students from underrepresented communities pursuing advanced STEM degrees.
Please join us in extending our warmest congratulations to Dr. Flechas. We look forward to seeing the continued impact of this important work on the fields of sustainable building design and energy modeling.