BOSS

Building Occupants Signal Synthesis

Synergize and Innovate: Connecting Disciplines for Boundless Discovery and Inventions

 

What is Our Mission?

Our mission is to promote the wellbeing of both buildings and their occupants through a multidisciplinary approach. Our definition for wellbeing is Sustainability, Resilience, and Circularity for buildings, and Comfort, Health, and Happiness for occupants.

Why Building Occupants Signal Synthesis?

We strongly believe that the advancement of sensing and artificial intelligence dramatically promotes our understanding of how buildings perform in this changing climate, from various perspectives of the wellbeing of buildings. All the data obtained from buildings, no matter of energy flow or environmental quality, are sort of signals in the generic context. Apparently, occupants’ demands for wellbeing are requested through their signals such as behaviors like actions or speech, bio-signals like heartbeats, and even body odors. When the signals from both buildings and occupants are synthesized, we can ultimately obtain a clearer picture of the network of these two complex systems and their interaction to enhance the wellbeing of both.  

Why WPI?  

We believe that a multidisciplinary approach is the only way to fulfill our mission. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has developed several cross-cutting research areas including, Robotics, Internet of Things, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing, and Health. All of these areas can be strong pillars to support us to succeed.  

News & Activities

May 7, 2025 / Publication

A MATLAB-based Tool for Converting fNIRS Time-Series Data to Homer3-Compatible Formats

We are thrilled to announce our latest technical note: “A MATLAB-based Tool for Converting fNIRS Time-Series Data to Homer3-Compatible Formats”,…
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May 6, 2025 / People, Recognition

Rachel Hurley Awarded ASHRAE Grant in Aid

Rachel Hurley was selected as a recipient of an ASHRAE Graduate Student Grant-In-Aid. The award aims to support students with…
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April 15, 2025

Cross-modal interaction between temperature and light color temperature on reading comprehension

I’m excited to share our latest paper published in Building and Environment, where we explore how room temperature and light…
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January 23, 2025 / People

Yao Xiao Joins BOSS Lab

We are happy to welcome Yao Xiao as the newest BOSS lab PhD student member. Yao received her masters degree…
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January 7, 2025 / Outreach, People, Recognition, Research

Rachel Hurley Receives Emerging Research Conference Travel Award

Rachel Hurley (2nd year PhD student) was among select students to receive a full travel award for the Emerging Research…
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November 27, 2024 / People, Project, Recognition, Research

Professor Shichao Liu Receives National Science Foundation Grant focused on AI-driven AR tools in Architectural Design

Professor Liu has received a $399,978 National Science Foundation grant for a three-year project aimed at integrating Augmented Reality (AR)…
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July 16, 2024 / Outreach, Research

BOSS Lab Presents at 2024 Indoor Air Conference

Xingtong Guo, Rachel Hurley, and Professor Shichao Liu presented their research at the 18th Indoor Air Conference. We shared six…
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June 18, 2024

Professor Liu attends the NSF IUSE PI SUMMIT 2024

Prof. Shichao Liu attended the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) PI Summit 2024. The event is focused on enhancing…
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June 5, 2024 / People, Recognition

Rachel Hurley is elected as the student representative for the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate. 

On June 4, 2024, Rachel Hurley was elected as the student representative for the International Society of Indoor Air Quality…
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