PhD, LIPID Lab, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (2017)
SMArchS, Building Technology Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2011)
BArch, Cornell University (2008)
Dr. Rockcastle is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Oregon, Director of the Baker Lighting Lab, Co-Director of the Institute for Health in the Built Environment, Hans Fischer Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies (TUM), and co-founder of OCULIGHT dynamics, a company offering specialized daylight design support to promote healthy indoor occupation. She explores topics at the intersection of architectural design, environmental dynamics, human perception, and daylight performance with a focus on well-being. Siobhan’s current work uses simulation and virtual reality to model and design experiential lighting environments. She was awarded the 2021 ARCC New Researcher Award and was on the organizing committee of two SimAUD symposia as Scientific Chair in 2018 and General Chair in 2019. She received her PhD in 2017 from the LIPID lab in the Doctoral Program in Architecture and Sciences of the City (EDAR) at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Lausanne, Switzerland (EPFL). Her doctoral dissertation was awarded a ‘special distinction’ as one of 9 dissertations short-listed for the Top Thesis Prize from across all EPFL doctoral programs in 2017. During her time at UO, funding to support Siobhan's research has been awarded from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (through the DOE), Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, AIA Upjohn, Nuckolls Fund, ARS-Tallwood Design Institute, and private-sector funding.
Siobhan earned her professional BArch from Cornell University in 2008, graduating with the Alpha Rho Chi Medal and her SMArchS degree in Building Technology from MIT in 2011, graduating with a top thesis award from the department of architecture. She was a teaching associate at Cornell in 2008 and received a teaching fellowship at Northeastern University in 2011. She was awarded with a 'Teaching Excellence Award' by the College of Design (UO) in 2024 and was on a winning AIA COTE Top Ten Student Award, also in 2024. Her professional work experience includes positions at KVA matX in Boston Snøhetta NY, MSR design in Minneapolis, Epiphyte lab in Ithaca, and Gensler NY. She consults on lighting design integration and environmental performance for a number of architectural and urban-scale projects in Switzerland and the USA. As a continuation of her work at MIT, Siobhan’s PhD research proposed new metrics that predict the impacts of daylight and spatial composition on perception and emotion in architecture. She has co-authored more than 30 peer-reviewed research papers and was awarded the ‘Best Paper’ at SimAUD 2012 and again at SimAUD 2020.
