Juneseok Lee

Juneseok Lee

Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering | Founder, iBWS — Intelligent Building Water Systems | ASCE Fellow

Dr. Juneseok Lee


iBWS — Intelligent Building Water Systems

Founder of iBWS | Autonomous Digital Twins for Building Water Systems

Dr. Juneseok Lee is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Manhattan University (on sabbatical, 2025–2026) and the founder of iBWS — Intelligent Building Water Systems — a digital twin framework for autonomous building water infrastructure management. His work integrates physics-based simulation, AI/ML, and multi-objective optimization to transform premise plumbing from reactive management into predictive, closed-loop autonomous control.

Research Impact

  • 2,000+ citations across 130+ publications
  • 7 books on water infrastructure, analytics, and sustainability
  • Multiple Best Paper Awards from ASCE and AWWA
  • $1.3M+ in research funding from NSF, EPA, and industry partners

iBWS: Intelligent Building Water Systems

Dr. Lee founded iBWS — a 10-year research program developing autonomous digital twins for building-scale water infrastructure. Building water systems cause 8,000–18,000 Legionella-related hospitalizations annually in the U.S. and remain the least-monitored segment of drinking water infrastructure. iBWS addresses this through six validated components:

  • BIM2WNTR — automated BIM-to-hydraulic model generation (R²>0.99, under 10 seconds)
  • Pump optimization — 45.6% energy savings via 54,000 HPC simulations (NSGA-II)
  • Thermal risk modeling — Legionella risk assessment across building zones
  • Hydraulic transient analysis — pressure surge quantification across 96 scenarios
  • One Water simulation — coupled potable-drainage analysis
  • iBWSS — multi-objective water sustainability optimization (62% self-sufficiency, 12 U.S. cities)

R.A.I.S.E. Education Initiative

As an extension of iBWS, Dr. Lee founded R.A.I.S.E. (Resilience, AI, Infrastructure, Systems, and Education), an NSF IUSE-funded initiative integrating systems thinking and data analytics into undergraduate civil engineering education.

Current Research Focus

  • Autonomous digital twins for building water systems (iBWS)
  • Physics-based AI agents for real-time hydraulic decision-making
  • Legionella risk management through thermal modeling and sensor integration
  • Multi-objective optimization for water-energy-sustainability systems
  • AI/ML for drinking water infrastructure analytics

Recognition

  • Fellow, ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers)
  • Fellow, EWRI (Environmental & Water Resources Institute)
  • 2021 EWRI Service to the Profession Award
  • Associate Editor: ASCE Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
  • Associate Editor: AWWA Water Science
  • ABET Program Evaluator
  • Licensed Professional Engineer (California)
  • Board Certified Water Resources Engineer (BC.WRE)
  • California Water Service Company Chair Professor

Connect

“My mission is to make building water systems intelligent — autonomous systems that protect public health, conserve resources, and operate without human intervention.”