This is episode 2 of 3 for a Deep Dive Series on Advancing Prefabrication! 

We're taking a trip to space for this episode! Join Devon as he talks with Dr. Naveen Kumar Muthumanickam, a research engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, as they talk about how building industrialized products on Mars can help solve the affordable housing solution on Earth. 

Dr. Naveen Kumar Muthumanickam is a research engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, specializing utilizing data driven design, industrialized and robotic construction techniques for rapid volume production of energy-efficient buildings, and automated retrofitting of existing build stock. He received his doctoral degree in architecture along with a concurrent specialization in architectural engineering from Penn State University. He was part of the Penn State team at the finals of the NASA 3D Printed Mars Habitat Centennial Challenge and worked on the building information modeling-based optimization and digital twin simulation for robotic concrete 3D printing. His doctoral research focused on leveraging a range of techniques like generative modeling and machine learning-based metamodels for multidisciplinary design optimization of buildings, specifically for autonomous robotic construction. He is originally from Chennai, India, with a bachelor’s degree in architecture, and he holds an M.S. in architectural science and building technology from the University of Michigan. During his Ph.D., Naveen has held multiple appointments with construction technology firms Autodesk and Higharc, Inc, working on software development for data driven design, simulation, and construction.

Read another extensive bio on Dr. Naveen Kumar Muthumanickam here! 

NREL Industrialized & Robotic Construction Team Website

Watch a webinar about data driven design for autonomous robotic construction!