Gabriel Flechas is a recipient of the IBUILD and GEM fellowships. After completing the coursework for his MS in Mechanical Engineering at Colorado School of Mines he continued on with the AMBER lab to work on his PhD. His research is focused on harnessing and utilizing the thermal mass and moisture buffering in cross-laminated timber (CLT) buildings to reduce energy use and peak demand. He is working to quantify these effects through OpenStudio building energy models and field studies. Gabriel holds a BS in Business Administration – Finance and an AS in Engineering from Union College (NE). In his free time he enjoys learning new things, making coffee, and enjoying books, podcasts, or audio books of all kinds!