John Cays

John Cays is Professor of Practice in the New Jersey School of Architecture at NJIT’s Hillier College of Architecture and Design. John holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of the Arts and Master of Architecture degree from Princeton University. He is a recognized sustainable design professional and lectures internationally on the subject of Life Cycle Assessment in Architecture. John co-founded GRADE Architects, an architecture and interior design firm in NYC. Prior to that John was a project manager at Robert A.M. Stern Architects.

John has been active in various academic and professional associations, including serving as North East Regional Director for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture from 2014 – 2017 and as a Director on the National Architectural Accrediting Board from 2017 – 2020. He served as the Hillier College Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2005 to 2024. He currently serves on the SIGGRAPH Education Committee and is a current Board member of the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment. John was the 2021 recipient of the ACLCA Education LCA Leadership Award. He is the Author of An Environmental Life Cycle Approach to Design: LCA for Designers and the Design Market published by Springer Nature.

In 2021, he established and has continually  organized and co-chaired the international Environmental Life Cycle Assessment in Design (eLCAd) symposium. This annual event, hosted jointly by NJIT and ACLCA, bridges two distinct professions and cultures to drive a quantitative approach to environmentally, economically, and socially responsive design in the built environment.

John has taught in the College of Architecture and Design since 2002.

His past and current courses include:

Arch 595: Advanced Studio II

Arch 561: Synthesis Seminar

Arch 622: Environmental Life Cycle in Design

Arch 621: Net Zero Building Design

Arch 650/483: Circular Building Economy

Arch 337: Building Information Modeling

Arch 583: ST - Sustainable Architecture

Arch 483: ST - Contract Documents

Arch 163:  Intro to Design I

Arch 164: Intro to Design II

Arch 155: Modes of Design Communication I

Arch 156: Modes of Design Communication II

Arch 593/661: Independent Study - LCA in Design

Arch 310: Co-Op Work Experience I

Arch 410: Co-Op Work Experience II

Arch 510: Co-Op Work Experience III

Arch 680: Co-Op Work Experience I

Arch 681: Co-Op Work Experience II

Arch 682: Co-Op Work Experience III

INT 321: Methods and Materials

AD 490: ST - LCA in Design

AD 150: Color and Composition

AD 112: Modes of Design Communication - Digital Media

Grant Proposals Awarded or Selected:

New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development Talent Development Centers: Building and Implementing Career Pathways in Key Industries, (Awarded 2017) Spak, Gail (PI); Cays, John (Co-Director), Washington, David (Co-Director),  $1,200,000. Competitive Submission Process (May 2017 – August 2019). 35% effort in creating the proposal and 20% in administering the grant over three years.

EPA-R-OCSPP-OPPT-FY2023-001, for the Reducing Embodied Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Construction Materials and Products. (Selected 2024) Steckel, Debbie (PI) Resurreccion, Eleazer (Co-PI), Pawar, Lavanya (Co-PI) Feraldi, Rebe (Co-PI), Cays, John (Co-PI), Wang, Endong (Co-PI), Halsted, Michelle (Co- PI) EPA-R-OCSPP-OPPT-FY2023-001, for the Reducing Embodied Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Construction Materials and Products. The goal of this proposal is to establish an ACLCA Program to align with the goals of the 2022 federal Inflation Reduction Act that will advance and strengthen the development and implementation of EPDs in a credible manner to support the reduction of embodied GHG emissions in construction materials and products. $10M (2024) 30% effort.

Office hours: 

Wednesday 10:00 AM to noon