{"id":14159,"date":"2025-02-20T19:43:44","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T19:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/utorii.com\/?page_id=14159"},"modified":"2026-04-09T13:14:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:14:57","slug":"buildings","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/utorii.com\/buildings\/","title":{"rendered":"Buildings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Advanced manufacturing for affordable building construction<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Launched in 2025, the University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute\u2019s fifth Convergent Research Initiative (CRI) is leveraging UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory\u2019s joint expertise to provide more economical, energy-efficient building solutions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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With construction costs at record highs and a nationwide shortage of over five million affordable homes, this joint UT-ORNL initiative aims to transform the building industry through cutting-edge research in robotics, automation, advanced materials and streamlined construction processes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UT and ORNL will hire 20 additional joint researchers and 25 graduate students over the next five years, who will partner with others from UT, ORNL, the community and industry to drive innovation, boost productivity and establish Tennessee as a tech hub for building technologies. Through strategically hiring talented junior researchers, holistic and team mentoring, and providing necessary facilities, space, and other resources, the CRI will evolve into a ecosystem for convergent research to accomplish its vision and mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CRI Leadership Team<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Diana Hun<\/a><\/strong>, ORNL Section Head, Building Materials, Systems, and Integration Section of the Buildings and Transportation Science Division<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Mingzhou Jin<\/a><\/strong>, University of Tennessee John D. Tickle Professor, Department Head and ISSE Director<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Brian Post<\/a><\/strong>, ORNL Group Leader for Manufacturing Systems Design Group<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Hairong Qi<\/a><\/strong>, University of Tennessee Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Gonzalez Family Professor<\/p>\n<\/div>

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CRI Research staff<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Yifang Liu<\/a>, ORNL R&D Associate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E. Bryn Pitt<\/a>, ORNL R&D Staff Member<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dai Quoc Tran<\/a>, ORNL R&D Associate <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Muhammad Waseem<\/a>, Research Assistant Professor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fan Yang<\/a>, Research Assistant Professor<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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OPEN POSITIONS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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uT-ORII R&D Associate – Advanced Construction Stystems (ORNL)<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Electrical Engineering and Computer Science – Research Assistant\/Associate\/Full Professor (Research faculty at utk)<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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APPLY<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Industrial Engineering – Research Assistant\/Associate\/Full Professor (Research faculty at utk)<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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APPLY<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Architecture for Advanced manufacturing for affordable building construction – Research Assistant\/Associate\/Full Professor (Research faculty at utk)<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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In the News<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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UT-ORII: BUILDING\u2019S CRI TOURS CLAYTON HOMES\u2019 APPALACHIA PLANT<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14159","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utorii.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utorii.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utorii.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utorii.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utorii.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14159"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/utorii.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15307,"href":"https:\/\/utorii.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14159\/revisions\/15307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utorii.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}