The School of Architecture and Planning at CUA offers a Master of Science in Net Zero (MSNetZ) Design Degree that is unparalleled, and I am honored to be appointed by Dean Ferguson to be its Director.

As leaders of Christian thought and education in the Catholic community, our nation and the world, we are challenged to embrace the natural environment as a precious resource entrusted to our stewardship by “seeking to discover and impart the truth through excellence in teaching and research, all in service to the Church, the nation and the world.” This unique perspective to current conversations about the environment distinguishes us from those of secular institutions, marking a trajectory towards the future of net zero design. Thus we offer a program that fosters a duty to God to build and exemplify environmental ethics as the preservation of creation: a symbiotic relationship between the preservation of human dignity, the environment, and society.

In summary, our MSNetZ Program provides a highly-tuned educational base of ANALYTICS which informs DESIGN that can be EVALUATED throughout its lifetime. These three categories make our MSNetZ unique because they consider the ENTIRE realm of Net Zero Design beginning with ethics and continuing to metrics to inform aesthetics.

Courses focused on analytics explore why resilience is important to the overall goal of mitigating climate change and build the ethical foundation for net-zero design - Performance metrics and ethics are studied. Design-based courses teach the Integrated Design Process of a Net-Zero Building including renewable resource incorporation, carbon assessment, and the methodology of performance-based iterations. Evaluation courses demonstrate how a Net-Zero-Designed building performs once it has substantially been occupied. The curriculum concludes with a net-zero studio and a thesis which is entered into the AIA COTE Top Ten Student Competition - I am proud to say that our students have won twice in the past three years and we look forward to many more.