Andrea Martínez Arias, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Geografía, Universidad de Concepción, Chile. Her research centers on existing building retrofit and its potential for transformation to high performance. Within this area, her focus is the study of strategies to reduce energy consumption while improving living conditions for occupants. In the realms of applied research, Martínez always seeks new projects leading to new tools and strategies using real data of building performance. Currently, Andrea is the principal investigator of the government-funded project for diagnosis and retrofit strategies for school buildings in the Biobío region in Chile.
Martínez obtained her doctoral and Master of Building Science degree thanks to a Fulbright-Conicyt scholarship and awarded an Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC) Medal. She received her professional architectural degree at Universidad de Chile, with the awards Mario Recordón, Mejor Proyecto de título, and Facultad de Arquitectura.
Her experience in academia is complemented by her background in practice in Chile and the US. Martínez is WELL and LEED AP BD+C and O+M.