In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the St. Mary’s University faculty has stepped up to deliver quality education to students from a distance. 

COVID-19 left more than a few people with openings on their summer calendars. That gave some students, faculty, and staff at the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering an idea.

The advance shows practical pathways for designing paints that, if used on rooftops and other parts of a building, could significantly reduce cooling costs beyond what standard white ‘cool-roof’ paints can achieve. 

Four university teams were finalists for a project that aims to change the way apartment buildings, schools and homes store energy and are kept cool.

Aquatherm pipe allows a four-month project to be completed over a five-week winter break.

As the necessity for a quality collegiate education grows in a competitive global marketplace, the arms race among universities to provide first-class facilities and amenities that will attract students and faculty to campus continues to escalate. 

Five-story, 126,000-square-foot, LEED Gold building features numerous structural and mechanical innovations, including a thermally activated, bubble-deck slab, providing radiant cooling, as well as radiant heating on six levels.