Dr. Mohamad T. Araji, PhD, OEA, LEED AP

Dr. Mohamad T. Araji is an Associate Professor and Director of Architectural Engineering program at the University of Waterloo. He leads the Symbiosis Lab, an interdisciplinary research team focused on advancing net-zero solutions and engineering workflows to transform building infrastructure and energy systems. The lab is recognized as an incubator for innovation, driving the development of novel technologies and integrated building performance. Dr. Araji’s work spans modelling and simulation procedures, monitoring and experimental validation, and the creation of specialized engineering tools.

Dr. Araji has been recognized with prestigious awards, including the 2024 Engineering Research Excellence Award, the 2020 Teaching Scholar Award and the 2017 Carl R. Nelson Teaching Excellence Award, highlighting his significant contributions to the field. Among his distinguished achievements around the world, Dr. Araji was honoured with the 2014 TÜV Süd Stiftung Visiting Professorship as the outstanding scientist of the year by the Technical University of Munich. During this time, he also held a concurrent appointment as Guest Scientist at the Oskar von Miller Forum in Munich. Prior to his appointment at Waterloo, Dr. Araji was a tenured Associate Professor of Environmental Design at the University of Manitoba. He held other academic appointments at the Lebanese American University in Beirut and Abu Dhabi University. A portion of his earlier research was carried out at the Smart Energy Design Assistance Center and the Building Research Council at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research program has received support from several funding agencies, including the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF), Mitacs, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories.

Dr. Araji’s renowned collaborations with industry leaders have contributed to several landmark international projects, including the Chicago De-Carbonization Plan, the tallest building in the world — Jeddah Tower, and the world’s first large-scale positive energy building — Masdar Headquarters. Many of these projects, as well as several award-winning competition entries in his professional portfolio, incorporate cutting-edge technologies to create high-performance strategies with minimal ecological impact.

As a keynote speaker, Dr. Araji has conducted extensive lectures across Canada, the USA, Europe, and the Middle East. His work has been widely published and cited in highly acclaimed scientific journals, contributing to areas such as enclosure systems, renewable energy, materials behaviour, environmental degradation, aging infrastructures, thermal and energy modelling, aerial audits, hyperspectral data interpretation, and machine learning applications. Dr. Araji is a founding co-chair and member of the Built Environment Education in Washington, D.C. He is also a LEED Accredited Professional and an active member of the U.S. Green Building Council, and holds licenses and professional registrations from numerous architectural and engineering organizations worldwide.

• Enclosure Systems

• Renewable Energy Resources

• Materials Behaviour

• Environmental Degradation

• Aging Infrastructure

• Decarbonization & Net-zero Solutions

• Thermal & Energy Modelling

• UAV Urban Audits

• Non-Destructive Testing

• Image Processing & Hyperspectral Data Interpretation

• AE 325 - Project 1 Studio
  • Taught in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026
• AE 601 - Comprehensive Building Design Studio
  • Taught in 2026
• ARCH 473 - Technical Report
  • Taught in 2021
• ARCH 493 - Design Studio/Comprehensive Building Design
  • Taught in 2021, 2024
• ARCH 691 - Design Studio - Comprehensive Building Design
  • Taught in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Araji, M. T. & Waqas, A. (2026). High dynamic range imaging for visual comfort prediction in building entryways using luminance mapping and deep regression modeling. Journal of Building Engineering, 60, 116224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2026.116224

• Elkholy, M. A., Hassan, M. A., Kassem, M. A., & Araji, M. T. (2026). Cost-optimal control of bidirectional heat and power exchange between a green active building and district utilities. Energy Conversion and Management, 357, 121476. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2026.121476

• Hassan, M. A., & Araji, M. T. (2026). Techno-economic analysis of utility-scale photovoltaic plants with hydraulic hydro gravity storage for self-sufficient cities. Energy Conversion and Management, 356, 121361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2026.121361

• Alrbai, M., Shboul, B., Al-Ghussain, L., Hassan, M. A., Al-Dahidi, S., & Araji, M. T. (2026). Renewable Pathways for Decarbonizing Wastewater Treatment Plants Worldwide. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 14(23), 10848–10867. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.6c04920

• Lee, J. J. S., Rohail M., Nguyen T., Galloway J., Fontes do Rêgo, E. M., Araji M. T., Walbridge S. (2025). An experimental and analytical study of the fatigue and fracture behaviour of ER70S-6 steel wire arc additively manufactured material. Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 328, 111552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfracmech.2025.111552

• Hassan, M. A., & Araji, M. T. (2025). Integrated solar water and air heating: A control-based study for thermally active buildings. Energy and Buildings, 345, 116135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2025.116135

• Araji, M. T., & Waqas, A. (2025). Integrated deep learning and image processing method for modeling energy loss due to shadows in solar arrays. Solar Energy, 297, 113623. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2025.113623

• Hassan, M. A., & Araji, M. T. (2025). Building bridges: Unlocking cost savings through peer-to-peer trading between heat prosumers. Energy and Buildings, 347, 116327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2025.116327

• Hassan, M. A., & Araji, M. T. (2025). Building geometry-aware lifecycle optimization of hybrid renewable energy systems with solid gravity storage. Applied Energy, 402, 126879. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.126879

• Garboushian, R. A., Sigouin, Y., Elmalky, A. M., & Araji, M. T. Adaptive reuse strategies in urban centers: Experimental validation using neural networks and real building data. Journal of Building Simulation, 18, 2417–2433. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-025-1310-2

• Ismail, O. A., Hussain, S., Ali, A. M., Tawfik, M. W., Fiacco, F., Hassan, M. A., & Araji, M. T. (2025). Sex-and age-related differences in thermal sensitivity to radiant cooling in sleeping pods. Energy and Buildings, 116185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2025.11618

• Al-Ghussain, L., Hassan, M. A., Lu, Z., Alrbai, M., Al-Dahidi, S., Wang, M., & Araji, M. T. (2025). Renewable hydrogen horizon: Geospatial techno-economic feasibility and life cycle greenhouse gas analysis in the Middle East and North Africa. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 146, 149933. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2025.06.123

• Waqas, A., Araji, M. T., & Sherif, S. S. (2025). A Novel Method for Monitoring Material Behaviour in Urban Buildings using Aerial Multi-Modality Imaging. Building and Environment, 113300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.113300

• Anwer, M. H., Hassan, M. A., Kassem, M. A., & Araji, M. T. (2025). Sustainable design and control of a multi-sourced radiant heating system: Non-linear optimization under thermal comfort constraints. Energy Conversion and Management, 326, 119458. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2024.119458

• Jiang, M., & Araji, M. T. (2025). A Framework for Energy and Thermal Performance Modeling in Net-Zero Urban Clusters. Technology| Architecture+ Design, 9(1), 116–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/24751448.2025.2475720

• Gupta, K., & Araji, M. T. (2025). Chlorella vulgaris on ceramic tiles as porous substrate bioreactors: Growth kinetics assessment using image processing and scanning electron microscopy. Algal Research, 85, 103822. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.algal.2024.103822

• Elbakhshwan, A. E., Hassan, M. A., Kassem, M. A., & Araji, M. T. (2024). Thermal comfort-constrained nonlinear operational optimization of a solar-absorption-radiant cooling system. Energy Conversion and Management, 322, 119204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2024.119204

• Elmalky, A. M., & Araji, M. T. (2024). Kinetics model with experimental validation for optimal microalgae generation in double-skin façades. Energy, 311, 133335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2024.133335

• Fouad, A., Galal, A., Dessoki, K., Eldakamawy, M. H., Hassan, M. A., & Araji, M. T. (2024). Influence of geometric design variables on the performance of a novel V-shaped cavity receiver. Renewable Energy, 120790. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2024.120790

• Araji, M. T., Waqas, A., & Ali, R. (2024). Utilizing deep learning towards real-time snow cover detection and energy loss estimation for solar modules. Applied Energy, 375, 124201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.124201

• Hassan, M. A., & Araji, M. T. (2024). Hierarchical optimization of district heating plants by integrating evolutionary and non-linear programming algorithms. Applied Energy, 373, 123935. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.123935

• Waqas, A., & Araji, M. T. (2024). Deep Learning-based Segmentation of Thermal Images for Heat Loss Detection in Building Façade. Technology| Architecture+ Design, 8(2), 370–379. https://doi.org/10.1080/24751448.2024.2405415

• Elmalky, A. M., & Araji, M. T. (2024). Neural Networks for Monitoring Microalgae Biomass in Building Façades. Technology| Architecture+ Design, 8(1), 60–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/24751448.2024.2313441

• Abdel-Mawla, M. A., Hassan, M. A., Khalil, A., & Araji, M. T. (2024). Optimizing the characteristic cooling curves of PCM-integrated thermally active buildings: Experimental and numerical investigations. Journal of Energy Storage, 89, 111748. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2024.111748

• Elmalky, A. M., & Araji, M. T. (2024). Optimization models for photosynthetic bioenergy generation in building façades. Renewable Energy, 120607. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2024.120607

• Abd Elfadeel, S. M., Fouad, A., Galal, A., Hassan, M. A., Almehmadi, F. A., Araji, M. T., & Alharbi, B. (2024). A novel approach to clean polygeneration using a triple-function compound parabolic solar collector. Energy Conversion and Management, 308, 118403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2024.118403

• Araji, M. T., Elmalky, A. M., & Yao, M. G. (2024). Experimental validation of ventilated double-skin façades aided by neural networks and thermal modelling for heating demand reduction. Building and Environment, 256, 111500. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2024.11150

• Waqas, A., & Araji, M. T. (2024). Machine learning-aided thermography for autonomous heat loss detection in buildings. Energy Conversion and Management, 304, 118243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2024.118243

• Elmalky, A. M., & Araji, M. T. (2023). Computational procedure of solar irradiation: A new approach for high performance façades with experimental validation. Energy and Buildings, 298, 113491. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2023.113491

• Zhang, X., & Araji, M. T. (2023). Snow loss modeling for solar modules using image processing and deep learning. Sustainable Energy, Grids and Networks, 34, 101036. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.segan.2023.101036

• Elmalky, A. M., & Araji, M. T. (2023). Multi-objective problem of optimizing heat transfer and energy production in algal bioreactive façades. Energy, 268, 126650. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2023.126650

• Jiang, M., & Araji, M. T. (2023). Multivariate optimization towards energy balance with geometric constraints of building design and urban space intensity. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments, 57, 103124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2023.103124

• Elmalky, A. M., & Araji, M. T. (2023). A new trigonometric model for solar radiation and shading factor: Varying profiles of building façades and urban eccentricities. Energy and Buildings, 282, 112803. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2023.112803

• Elmalky, A. M., & Araji, M. T. (2022). Computational fluid dynamics using finite volume method: A numerical model for Double Skin Façades with renewable energy source in cold climates. Journal of Building Engineering, 60, 105231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2022.105231

• Saad, M. M., & Araji, M. T. (2021). Co-model for urban density permutations and building form optimization with high-performance energy criteria. Journal of Building Engineering, 43, 103109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2021.103109

• Araji, M. T., & Shahid, I. (2018). Symbiosis optimization of building envelopes and micro-algae photobioreactors. Journal of Building Engineering, 18, 58–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2018.02.008

• Araji, M. T., Ray, S. D., & Leung, L. (2017). Pilot-study on airborne PM2.5 filtration with particle accelerated collision technology in office environments. Sustainable Cities and Society, 28, 101–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2016.08.023

• Araji, M. T., & Shahid, I. (2017). A Mathematical Model Toward Energy Optimization with Building-Integrated Photovoltaics. Technology| Architecture+ Design, 1(1), 83–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/24751448.2017.1292797

• Araji, M. T., & Shakour, S. A. (2013). Realizing the environmental impact of soft materials: criteria for utilization and design specification. Materials and Design, 43, 560–571. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2012.07.053

• Araji, M. T., Darragh, S. P., & Boyer, J. L. (2012). Paradigm in sustainability and environmental design: lighting utilization contributing to surplus-energy office buildings. LEUKOS, 9(1), 25–45. https://doi.org/10.1582/LEUKOS.2012.09.01.002

• Araji, M. T., & Boubekri, M. (2011). A novel way of utilising Radiance-Matlab visualisation for facade design optimisation. Lighting Research and Technology, 43(1), 103–118. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477153510373035

• Araji, M. T., & Boubekri, M. (2008). Window sizing procedures based on vertical illuminance and degree of discomfort glare in buildings interiors. Architectural Science Review, 51(3), 252–262. https://doi.org/10.3763/asre.2008.5130

• Araji, M. T., Boubekri, M., & Chalfoun, N. V. (2007). An examination of visual comfort in transitional spaces. Architectural Science Review, 50(4), 349–356. https://doi.org/10.3763/asre.2007.5042

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