2019 40 Under 40: Saranya Gunasingh, LEED AP BD+C, International Associate AIA; 33

Senior Energy Engineer/Project Manager, Slipstream, Chicago BArch Architecture, Anna University, Chennai, India MS Sustainable Design, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh

By Jack Smith and Amara Rozgus May 16, 2019

Gunasingh is a senior energy engineer and project manager with Slipstream. She is an expert in energy simulation analysis for designing high-performance buildings and in conducting field research for innovative, emerging building technologies and control systems. She has served as an energy consultant on several high-rise projects in Chicago and New York City and has demonstrated energy consumption and carbon emissions reductions in several new construction projects. Gunasingh has presented at several national and international conferences. Her recent work on evaluating retro-commissioning programs for persistence in energy savings is one of the most comprehensive field studies conducted on the topic and won the Association of Energy Service Professionals 2019 Outstanding Achievement in Market Research and Evaluation award. She is the lead author of a book chapter on climate resilience and the design of smart buildings (“Smart Cities: Foundations, Principles and Applications,” Wiley). When she moved to Chicago in 2012, she discovered that the Midwestern states had not established an International Building Performance Simulation Association chapter. She connected with four Chicago industry professionals to start a local chapter. In 2013, CHIBPSA was born and has 140 members now. She served on CHIBPSA’s founding board of directors and as the chief information officer for two years. Thanks to her father, Gunasingh developed a passion for reading at an early age. Now, she reads to her two toddlers daily, hoping to pass that passion on to them. She is a foodie and likes to create new recipes, combining Indian flavors with other cuisines. Gunasingh enjoys traveling and has traveled extensively throughout India. Since moving to the U.S. and discovering Amtrak cross-country trains, she and her husband have been working their way down the list of every Amtrak system. 


Author Bio: Jack Smith is a Content Manager at CFE Media. Amara Rozgus is Editor-in-Chief of Consulting-Specifying Engineer.