Cocoziello Institute of Real Estate Innovation

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Cocoziello Institute of Real Estate Innovation

We connect industry leaders with Penn State’s interdisciplinary expertise to drive innovation in real estate.

We advance solutions that improve the built environment, enhance well-being, and support sustainable development.

09/18/2026

The Cocoziello Institute of Real Estate Innovation is all about identifying and solving the biggest challenges in the built environment

If you are new here and are asking, "what is the "built environment"?

It's a term we use a lot, so let's break it down! The built environment is every space we design, build, and interact with, think homes, schools, and hospitals, to roads, bridges, offices, parks, and the infrastructure that keeps our communities running.

We're focused on solving the built environment's biggest challenges, because where we live, work, learn, and connect shapes everything.

09/11/2026

This week, we welcomed Lance Shaner (Shaner Hotels), Nate Durkin (Cutting Edge Crane & Cutting Edge Tree Professionals, and Cameron Woodring (Sprouting Troops LLC) to the Cocoziello Institute for a visit!

Our guests toured faculty labs, robots included, and heard a presentation from Director Scarlett Miller on everything the Institute is working on. Great conversations followed about where computational systems, data, and real-world infrastructure intersect, especially as digital twins continue to scale across campuses and physical systems.

Thank you all for visiting, we look forward to continuing the conversation! 🤝

Thank you to Guido Cervone, Director of State Institute for Computational and Data Sciences for also being there to contribute more background about the interdisciplinary research being done at Penn State University.

If you are interested in becoming involved with the Cocoziello Institute, please reach out here: https://cocoziello.psu.edu/work-with-us/

09/10/2026

⏰ Fall Kick-Off Weekend is almost here — and time to RSVP is running out!

Join us for Industry Challenge Day, The Exchange, and our family-friendly Tailgate & Watch Party — complete with free food, tailgate games, and glitter tattoos! Don't miss your spot — RSVP now before it's too late!

Industry Challenge Day RSVP:https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=RY30fNs9iUOpwcEVUm61LrrCZOkgHgxEqonIwhjkRB9UQkZYQzlMWVRZVjNXTUlSQUUzRVNDNUxFWC4u

Tailgate RSVP: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=RY30fNs9iUOpwcEVUm61LgmNWx4lqetGheHRXcC1Br9UN1REUEpGMjRFVjBTUlYzWVpSODdWRFlQUC4u

09/09/2026

On September 3, the Cocoziello Institute hosted its inaugural Innovation Table for the 2026–2027 academic year!

Innovation Tables are invitation-only events bringing Penn State faculty together for interdisciplinary working lunches focused on sparking new collaborations and developing external research grant applications around a specific research area or funding opportunity.

Led by Dr. Jennifer Wagner, Associate Director of the Cocoziello Institute, and Dr. Darren Pagan, Faculty Advisory Council member and research area lead for Next Generation Built Materials, this first session explored how building materials and sensor technology might inspire new collaborative research.

Participants identified challenges and intersections across their fields, laying the groundwork for future competitive proposals, whether through federal funding or industry partnerships. More than a traditional presentation, the Innovation Table created space for open conversation and real relationship-building.

Thank you to everyone who participated: Darren Pagan, Jennifer K. Wagner, Rebecca Napolitano, Aron Laszka, Maziar Montazerian, Huanyu (Larry) Cheng, Yuqing Wang, and Guha Manogharan!

We look forward to supporting more collaborations like this one. 🏗️

09/02/2026

This week, we're proud to spotlight Dr. Nan Zhu, a member of the Cocoziello Institute's Faculty Advisory Council!

Dr. Zhu is an Associate Professor of Risk Management and the Elliott Fellow in Actuarial Science at Penn State's Smeal College of Business. His research focuses on longevity risk, insurance markets, and insurance contract theory, and more recently, risk assessment in the built environment.

Dr. Zhu has been involved with the Institute since its formation and was officially appointed to the inaugural Faculty Advisory Council in January 2026, representing the risk research area. What drew him in? The Institute's interdisciplinary vision, bringing together expertise from across the University to tackle real-world challenges that don't fit neatly into a single discipline.

Since joining, he's collaborated with colleagues in Architectural Engineering on projects combining risk management and the built environment, including a Learning Factory capstone project and a newly funded Cocoziello seed grant for the 2026–27 academic year.

Thank you, Dr. Zhu, for helping build new bridges across disciplines and advancing research that connects business, risk, and the future of the built environment!

08/28/2026

🍦 Thank you to everyone who came out to our Ice Cream Social this week!
It was such a SWEET way to kick off the semester with great conversations, familiar faces, and a few new ones too. A special shoutout to our Student Advisory Council members who helped lead the event and made it such a success in collaboration with our faculty and staff.
We're excited to see what this year has in store for the Cocoziello Institute and the built environment. Here's to a great semester ahead!
Want to learn more about what we do? Visit us at cocoziello.psu.edu 🏗️

08/27/2026

We are not going to sugarcoat it, this was a SWEET start to our semester 🍦 thanks to everyone who came out for our ice cream social. Here’s to a great year ahead!

08/24/2026

Welcome back, Penn State! 🎉
Whether you're a returning member of our Cocoziello Institute community or just discovering us for the first time, we're so excited to kick off another year together. From groundbreaking research to hands-on industry experience, this year is packed with opportunities to explore the future of real estate and the built environment.
Here's to a great semester ahead! We can't wait to see what we build together. 🏗️
Start off the semester with the Cocoziello Institute with an ice cream social this Wednesday, September 26th from 1-3 PM in the Engineering Quad, by the Applied Science building!

08/21/2026

Welcome back to our final Fun Fact Friday of the summer!

🏙️ Did You Know?

Cities can actually be warmer than the areas around them! ☀️

It's called the urban heat island effect.

Buildings, roads and parking lots absorb and hold onto heat, while cities often have fewer trees and green spaces to provide natural cooling. The result? Urban areas are typically about 1–7°F warmer during the day than surrounding areas.

But thoughtful design can help.

🌳 Planting more trees
🌿 Adding green roofs
🏢 Using cool and energy-efficient building designs
🛣️ Incorporating cooler, more permeable surfaces

can all help reduce the effects of urban heat islands.

💡 Why it matters: Building a more resilient future means thinking about not only how buildings perform, but how entire communities interact with their environment.

Address

120 S Burrowes Street
State College, PA
16801

Website

https://cocoziello.psu.edu/

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