This archive report was first published on 2 October 2019.
Esther Obonyo, a Kenyan academician and associate professor of engineering design at Penn State's College of Engineering, has been appointed director of the Global Building Network (GBN) on October 2, 2019.
Obonyo, a University of Nairobi alumna, was named to the position on Friday, aiming to create an international framework that will make buildings more sustainable, efficient, and healthier to live and work in.
"The silos and fragmentation within the built environment that continue to have a negative impact on the sectors' productivity across the globe have a lot of similarities with the state of agriculture in Pennsylvania before programs such as the Penn State Ag Extension emerged," Obonyo told Penn State News.
Obonyo and her team will seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings and improve the quality of air in built environments, which will help reduce the incidence of diseases, especially respiratory infections.
Obonyo graduated from the University of Nairobi with a bachelor's degree in Building Economics in 1998 and has worked as a construction engineer, project manager, and innovations analyst in several engineering and construction companies in Kenya, the UK, and the US.
She holds an MA in Architecture from University of Nottingham and a Doctor of Engineering from Loughborough University.
