Research Interests:

Dr. Porter is an Assistant Research Scientist with the Agricultural & Biological Engineering Department of the University of Florida. He has been a registered professional engineer in Florida (Lic. # 37999) since 1987 and has worked as an engineer for more than 25 years. He holds Bachelors and Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering and received his PhD in Agricultural and Biological Engineering in 2003. Currently, in addition to teaching undergraduate classes, Dr. Porter is performing research on the behavior of crawl spaces in hot-humid climates Dr. Porter authored several chapters of Energy Efficient Building Construction in Florida, a required reference for General Contractors. He developed new training material related to the Florida Building Code, HVAC and IEQ issues and has presented this material to contractors throughout the state. Dr. Porter has been responsible for many demonstration projects including the day-to-day management of the Building Products Test Facility. This unique facility allows for the evaluation of many simultaneous experiments involving both standard and new residential construction techniques and materials. Other projects have been related to energy-efficient water and wastewater pumping for municipalities and utilities. Previously Dr. Porter has worked in a wide variety of industries including aerospace and engineering consulting. As a consultant he provided energy conservation expertise to citrus processing plants. His work in the aerospace industry included thermal analysis of flight and ground support hardware for the International Space Station.