Adams Edwin Rackes

Dr. Adams Rackes is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering. Dr. Rackes’ expertise is in building science and healthy and sustainable buildings, including ventilation, air quality, HVAC systems, energy efficiency, electrical systems, occupant health and wellness, and benefit-cost analysis. Their research has focused on decision-making and computational tools for improving the design and operation of sustainable buildings. As a teaching professor, Dr. Rackes is driven by several motivations: curiosity about how things work, desire to improve the daily lives of all people, and deep commitment to sustainability and justice. These inform a dedication to shaping the critical thinking skills, passions, and agency of students who will be next generation engineers and future leaders.

Prior to becoming a teaching professor in September 2023, Dr. Rackes worked as a research scientist at Drexel, conducting experiments on airborne virus transmission, surveys on indoor air quality and thermal comfort, and outreach to school communities on ventilation and air quality. Before that, Dr. Rackes was co-founder of a startup business implementing automated fault detection and energy efficiency diagnostics in commercial buildings, and a stay-at-home parent. Dr. Rackes’ doctoral dissertation, also completed at Drexel, focused on understanding and optimizing the tradeoffs of commercial building ventilation’s impact on energy consumption, positive indoor air quality outcomes (improved work performance and reduced illness), and negative indoor air quality outcomes (disease burden increased exposure to outdoor pollutants). As a graduate student, Dr. Rackes was a recipient of both a Fulbright Study/Research Award (Brazil) and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Before becoming an engineer, Dr. Rackes worked as a welder and steel fabricator.