Siobhan Rockcastle and Mark Fretz meet with regional lab directors in Seattle

On August 5th, Siobhan and Mark traveled to Seattle to attend a workshop with other regional lab directors from the University of Washington, Washington State University, Montana State University, and University of Idaho.  The agenda included a lab tour of Northlake Commons, a LEED platinum mass timber project in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle. This integrated design lab (IDL) network receives funding from NEEA’s Better Bricks program and helps our institute stay coordinated with research efforts that promote energy efficiency in high-performance buildings.

Siobhan presents paper at Healthy Buildings 2025 in Reykjavik

In early June, Siobhan Rockcastle traveled to Reykjavik, Iceland to present a paper titled, “Evaluating the role of glazing area, orientation, and latitude on circadian health potential in a residential space.”  This paper was co-authored by Siobhan Rockcastle (UO), Alen Mahic (UO), and Jens Christoffersen (Velux) and received funding from Velux.  To read the pre-print, please check here.

pre-print article on the effects of evening light exposure on cognitive performance

An article titled “Non-linear effects of evening light exposure on cognitive performance” was published as a pre-print through bioRxiv on March 17th, 2025. This article was co-authored by researchers from the University of Queensland (Amelie Reitmeyer, Kelly Johnstone, Cassandra Madigan, and Margaret Cook), TU Munich (Bilge Kobas, Michael Kammermeier, Carolina Rivera Luque, Thomas Auer, Manual Spitschan), and the University of Oregon (Siobhan Rockcastle). The article illustrates a non-linear dose-response relationship between evening light exposure and cognitive performance and is the first of several articles that will disseminate the findings from an experiment that was funded, in-part, by Siobhan’s Hans Fischer Fellowship.

To read our pre-print article, please check here.

Rockcastle and Ahn awarded an ARS Tallwood Design Institute grant

Siobhan Rockcastle and Kyuho Ahn have been awarded an Agricultural Research Services (ARS) Tallwood Design Institute grant through the USDA for the proposal titled, ‘Surface matters: Exploring the impact of finishes on human factors that limit the market adoption of mass timber.’ This $40,000 grant supports a human factors study on the perceptual impacts of surface finishes in mass timber buildings, with a focus on lighting and acoustic performance and coordination with electrical, mechanical, and fire suppression systems.

Sofia Gonzales and Siobhan Rockcastle receive an AIA COTE Top Ten Student award

Sofia Gonzales’s project, titled ‘WAVE: Widely Accessible Vocation Education Center’ was selected as one of ten winner for this year’s AIA COTE Top Student competition. This project emerged in response to Siobhan Rockcastle’s terminal design studio, called ‘Future Career Center.’ This studio asked students to design a 50,000 SF center for career technical education (CTE) at David Douglas High School (DDHS) in east Portland. In addition to the site and program brief, the students were asked to use the COTE framework for excellence as a basis for evaluating the environmental and social standards of their project. The studio was supported by Octavio Gutierrez and BRIC Architecture, who are currently designing a center on the DDHS campus in response to a 2022 bond measure. Kelly Kottlowski, a former UO grad (M.Arch ’23), also supported the studio as a teaching assistant. Learn more about the winning proposal here: https://www.acsa-arch.org/competitions/2024-cote-competition/winners/#toggle-id-9

University of Oregon and Quinn Evans win an AIA Upjohn grant

Siobhan Rockcastle (UO) joins Denise Gravelle (Quinn Evans) and Julia Siple (Quinn Evans) as PI on a winning proposal, titled “A Research-Informed Guide to Circadian Lighting Design in Existing Buildings.” This research will produce a user-friendly design guide for professionals seeking to implement circadian health goals in existing buildings. For more information, visit: https://www.quinnevans.com/news/quinn-evans-awarded-grant-from-aia-upjohn-research-initiative