Juliana M. Felkner studied Architecture and Spatial Planning at the University of Kansas and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden and Environmental Management at Aalborg University, Denmark. She then worked for Ateliers Jean Nouvel in Paris before moving to Zurich to conduct her Ph.D. research at the ETH Zurich in the Chair of Structural Design and the Chair of Structural Mechanics

Her research, work, and teaching address the societal and environmental challenges that come with increasing urbanization of the world. As up to 40% of global GHG emissions are attributed to the built environment, she focuses her research on strategies to deliver on climate change goals set forth by the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Through modeling required reductions of operational and embodied carbon from the built environment, using life-cycle assessment, grid mix forecasting, energy modeling, and based on climate scenarios up to the year 2100, she presents decarbonization pathways for urban environments