BOSS

Building Occupants Signal Synthesis

Building Occupants Signal Synthesis Lab
We believe the communication between human and buildings are through their signals.

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 27, 2026

Yao Xiao Receives NEC 2026 Student Travel Award 

Yao Xiao has been selected as a Student Travel Award winner for the 6th International Neuroergonomics Conference (NEC 2026), themed “Neuroscience of the Everyday…
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May 1, 2026

Shichao Liu Awarded the Romeo L. Moruzzi Young Faculty Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Education

Shichao Liu won the Romeo L. Moruzzi Young Faculty Award 2026. This award in his memory has been presented annually since 1999 to recognize…
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February 27, 2026

Rachel Hurley Places Second at the WPI 3-Minute Thesis Competition

Rachel Hurley, a third year PhD student, was awarded second place for this year’s WPI 3-minute thesis competition for her…
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February 5, 2026

DEPRESS: Dataset on Emotions, Performance, Responses, Environment, and Satisfaction during COVID-19

We have recently published our data collected from the COVID-19 pandemic in Nature Scientific Data. This study collected longitudinal data…
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August 27, 2025

Boss Lab Welcomes Touhid Islam

Before joining the BOSS Lab, Touhid graduated from the Montana State University with a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. He…
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August 19, 2025 / Publication

Impact of Mask-Wearing-Related CO2 Exposure on Performance – A Global Survey

We are excited to announce our newest publication “Impact of Mask-Wearing-Related CO2 Exposure on Performance – A Global Survey.” The primary…
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June 27, 2025 / People, Recognition

Professor Liu received the Distinguished Service Award from ASHRAE

Professor Shichao Liu received the Distinguished Service Award from ASHRAE at the ASHRAE Annual meeting in Phoenix 2025. This award…
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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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