The College of Engineering and Computer Science is proud to name Bing Dong as the Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. This endowed professorship is made possible by a 1998 gift from the late Fritz Traugott H’98 and his wife Frances.
A prolific researcher with a strong track record of securing external funding, Professor Dong is the Associate Director of Grid-Interactive Buildings at the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, oversees the Built Environment Science and Technology (BEST) Lab, and teaches courses on HVAC system design, machine learning for mechanical engineering, and control systems.
Dong holds a dozen patents and has published more than 130 peer-reviewed papers with approximately 11,500 citations. Since joining Syracuse University in 2019, he has served as the Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-PI on over 20 projects, totaling more than $15 million in funding.
Dong’s research sits at the intersection of building performance, human behavior, and urban infrastructure. Using physics-informed machine learning, optimization, and AI-enabled controls, his goal is to improve energy efficiency while ensuring the productivity and comfort of building occupants.
Since earning his Ph.D. in Building Performance and Diagnostics from Carnegie Mellon University, Dong has been a leader in the field of building science. He received a 2023 World Fellowship from the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA), Syracuse University’s first such fellow and one of only two U.S. members in the biennial cohort. Dong also received a 2023 Distinguished Service Award from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), in which he was the only New York state honoree. He is the recipient of the NSF CAREER award and several best paper awards from international journals.
“Bing’s innovative research and commitment to improving energy systems is exactly what Fritz and Frances Traugott had intended when they established the endowed professorship,” says Engineering and Computer Science Dean J. Cole Smith. “Their vision and commitment to this important work is supporting breakthroughs from Bing and his research team.”
“Bing has been integral to our work at the Syracuse Center of Excellence,” says Professor Jianshun “Jensen” Zhang, CoE’s Executive Director. “In collaboration with our academic and industry partners, he is advancing research across multi-scales of the built environment and developing cutting edge technologies for improving energy efficiency, environmental quality and human health.”
Fritz Traugott came to Syracuse University through a Marshall Plan work-study initiative for young engineers. He retired in 1990 after a long career with Robson & Woese Inc., a Syracuse-based consulting engineering firm. In establishing the Traugott Professorship, Fritz and Frances Traugott specifically wished to support energy systems engineering research in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, making Dong’s work an ideal match.
“It is truly a great honor to be the Traugott endowed professor,” says Dong. “I will continue Mr. Traugott’s vision of conducting research and education in energy system engineering.”