TRANCIK - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Associate at the Institute for Data
Ajinkya Shrish Kamat is a postdoctoral associate at the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS) at MIT. His research mainly centers on understanding how technology innovation capabilities are built, in industry and in higher education & research institutions, how these capabilities contribute to economic growth and development, and their policy implications. At IDSS, Ajinkya's research focuses specifically on modeling energy technology systems to inform decarbonization efforts. Before joining MIT, Ajinkya was a postdoctoral research fellow jointly at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs of Harvard Kennedy School and at the Harvard's Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Ajinkya received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Virginia, M.Sc. in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, India, and B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Mumbai, India.
Amy Kaczur is our group administrator at the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society. Prior to coming to MIT in January 2017, she worked administratively in education, the visual arts, and culinary industries. Her accomplishments include: helped to achieve Green Business Certification for US Foods, Los Angeles; cooperatively established processes and advocacy in the newly created Dean of Faculty's office at School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (now part of Tufts University); and developed media workshops and technical demonstrations at University of California, Irvine. In her free time, Amy also produces video art grounded in environmental concerns. Amy is a graduate of Tufts University and UC, Irvine.
Ava Waitz works at Trancik Lab through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. She is considering majors in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Material Science Engineering. Her research contributes to life cycle analysis of current energy technologies. Specifically she is focusing on fugitive methane emissions along the natural gas supply chain.
Beomjun Kim is currently in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS) at MIT. His research interests include a wide range of decision-making, including control, optimization, data science, and economics, with their application to transportation, infrastructure, and management.
Caitlin Keegan is an undergraduate student majoring in Mechanical Engineering and minoring in Energy Studies with a concentration in Economics at MIT. Her research focused on identifying opportunities for mitigating short-lived climate pollutant emissions from personal vehicles.
Christiane Adcock is an undergraduate student majoring in Mechanical Engineering and minoring in Computer Science with a concentration in Economics at MIT. Her research focused on evaluating light-duty vehicle technologies against climate change mitigation targets.
Christina Karapataki graduated with a master's degree from the Technology and Policy Program at MIT, working with the Trancik Lab from 2010-2011. She received her B.A. and M.Eng. in chemical engineering from the University of Cambridge, where she studied as a Scholar of the Cambridge European Trust. She previously worked with the MIT Energy Initiative on water demand forecasting (2008) and with ExxonMobil as a business analyst for the European natural gas market. She also worked with Baringa Partners as a consultant for EDF Energy. Christina is the recipient of the Salters' Graduate Prize 2010 from the Salters' Institute of Industrial Chemistry, UK.
Christos Makriyannis was a postdoctoral associate at the Institute of Data, Systems and Society (IDSS) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his B.S. and M.S. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Connecticut and his Ph.D. in Economics from Clark University. His research at Clark focused on the valuation of ecosystem services and climate change adaptation policies, including economic applications to environmental decision-making. In his research at the IDSS, he seeks to understand the effect of information and incentives on consumers' preferences for low-carbon energy technologies.
Dan Cross-Call completed a master's degree in the Technology and Policy Program at MIT. He worked with the Trancik Lab during 2011-2012 on evaluating emerging energy technologies. Prior to MIT, Dan worked as an electricity market consultant in the Energy & Environment practice of Charles River Associates, where he specialized in asset valuations and regulatory analysis of wholesale electricity markets and installed capacity markets. Dan also previously worked as an educator for a community development project in rural Ghana, supported in this work by a Richard Lombard Public Service Fellowship. Dan received his B.A. from Dartmouth College in economics and environmental studies.
Daniel Brown is an MIT undergraduate majoring in electrical engineering and computer science. His research is focused on analyzing and evaluating demand side management strategies to mitigate supply gaps in renewable power systems and lower costs for consumers and utilities.
Job Titles:
- Associate at the Institute for Data
Aliza Khurram is a postdoctoral associate at the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS) at MIT. She received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in 2020, her S.M. in the same field from MIT in 2017, and her B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from Bates College in 2015. Her research is geared towards devising infrastructure development strategies for hydrogen-fueled mobility services and understanding the costs and benefits of distributed vs. centralized energy storage systems.
Bela Nagy was a postdoctoral fellow at the Santa Fe Institute. He has bachelor's degrees in mathematics and computer science, and a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of British Columbia. More information on Bela's interests and past experience can be found here: Nagy's SFI webpage.
Job Titles:
- Associate at the Institute for Data
Christine Gschwendtner is a postdoctoral associate at the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS), focusing on the spatial-temporal heterogeneity of human-technology interactions. She is particularly interested in the intersection of the energy, mobility, and building sectors in the context of climate change and digitalization. She is currently working on demand-side management solutions for increasing electrification and decarbonization across sectors. Her interdisciplinary research connects engineering, data science, urban design, and social science, using a variety of methods, e.g., agent-based modeling, geospatial data analyses, choice experiments, surveys, and interviews. Before joining MIT, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University and received her PhD from ETH Zurich in sustainable energy systems. She holds a Master of Science in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering from the Technical University of Munich with an academic year abroad at the Engineering Department of the University of Cambridge.
David Parra was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS). He is a senior researcher and teaching fellow at the University of Geneva (Switzerland). He received his B.S. in mechanical engineering, M.S. in energy technologies and Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham (UK) for his experimental and modeling work on optimal energy storage for low carbon communities. His research focuses on how to facilitate the integration of renewables with energy storage and other flexible solutions. He has expertise in building models that can provide insights for techno-economic and environmental targets to increase the social impact of low carbon technologies.
Job Titles:
- Associate at the Institute for Data
Farhad Angizeh is a postdoctoral associate at the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS). His research interests include energy systems planning and operation, distributed and renewable energy sources modeling and integration, and demand-side management and load flexibility. He is also researching the electrification of transportation and other energy services, the integration of renewables, and demand flexibility in power systems. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Rutgers University, and prior to that, he earned his M.Sc. in Energy Systems Engineering from the Sharif University of Technology and his B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic). His works were recognized by the Best Paper Award of the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) Innovative Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT) Conference in 2021.
Geoffrey Supran is a postdoctoral associate working with Prof. Jessika Trancik at the Institute for Data, Systems and Society at MIT. He is also a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Naomi Oreskes in the Department of History of Science at Harvard University. He received his Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering at MIT. He also received an MIT Graduate Certificate in Science, Technology and Policy for research assessing the lifecycle costs and carbon emissions of cars against targets for climate change mitigation. As an undergraduate, Geoffrey read Natural Sciences (physics) at Trinity College, University of Cambridge. Geoffrey helped lead the MIT hub of an international fossil fuel divestment movement, which precipitated MIT's first Institute climate action plan.
Gonçalo Pereira was a postdoctoral associate at the Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS) at MIT. He received a B.S. in mechanical engineering, an M.S. in systems modeling and control and a Ph.D. for his work on residential energy consumption and energy storage from Instituto Superior Técnico (Portugal). During his Ph.D. he cooperated with several companies contributing to their R&D and as an external consultant. Before joining MIT, he worked as the Chief Science Officer at WATT-IS, an energy analytics start-up company. His research interests are in energy storage, consumption patterns and the development of commercial products and services.
Job Titles:
- Associate at the Institute for Data
Göksin Kavlak is a postdoctoral associate at the Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS) at MIT. She received her Ph.D. from IDSS at MIT, M.S. in environmental sciences from Yale University, and her B.S. in industrial engineering from Bogazici University, Istanbul. Her research interests are in building frameworks to analyze the cost evolution of renewable energy technologies, especially solar photovoltaics. She has also worked on evaluating the scalability of solar photovoltaics based on their material requirements. She was the recipient of the UTC-MIT Energy Fellowship for 2012-2013, sponsored by the MIT Energy Initiative.
Hamed Ghoddusi was a postdoctoral associate at the Trancik Lab at MIT. He is now an Assistant Professor of Finance at the School of Business, Stevens Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. in Finance from Vienna Graduate School of Finance (VGSF) and holds degrees in economics, management science, and industrial engineering (OR) from the Institute for Advanced Studies (Vienna) and Sharif University of Technology (Tehran). His research interests are in modeling of energy and environmental systems and their interaction with public policy, macro economy, and financial markets. His works are centered around two major themes of risks and investment decisions in energy and water systems. He has been a visiting scholar/consultant at Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), UT Austin, UC Berkeley, UNDP, and UNIDO.
James McNerney was a research scientist at the Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS) at MIT. Previously he was a Leading Technology and Policy Fellow at IDSS. Before coming to MIT, he received bachelor degrees in physics and mathematics from Boston University, and was a graduate fellow at the Santa Fe Institute and Boston University, where he completed his Ph.D. in physics on the topic of price evolution of technologies. His research focuses in two areas: evaluating energy technologies to address economic and environmental challenges, and using data and models to better understand how technologies evolve.
Joel Jean has a Ph.D. from the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. His research with Vladimir Bulović in the MIT Organic and Nanostructured Electronics Laboratory (ONE Lab) focused on device physics and design of lightweight, flexible, and low-cost solar cells based on colloidal quantum dots and molecular semiconductors. Joel received his S.M. in Electrical Engineering from MIT and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering with distinction from Stanford University. He is a co-author of the MIT Future of Solar Energy Study and a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and the MIT Energy Fellowship. Joel has worked with the Trancik Lab on analyzing the potential impact of international emissions reduction pledges on solar PV and wind technology improvement and cost reductions.
Joshua Mueller completed his Ph.D. at the Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS) at MIT. He received his S.M. in Technology and Policy from MIT in June 2015. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 2004 with a B.S. in Physics and a minor in French, and read Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Brasenose College, Oxford, earning a B.A. in 2006. His current research is on techno-economic modeling of energy storage systems with a focus on the value that storage brings to renewable-storage hybrid systems and the performance factors that most influence that value. He is a recipient of the 2004 John and Fannie Hertz Foundation Fellowship.
Juhyun (Joe) Song was a graduate student in a combined PhD-MBA program at MIT. He defended his PhD thesis in Department of Chemical Engineering on mathematical modeling of electrochemical energy systems. For the MBA portion, Juhyun studied the socioeconomic environment around renewable energy systems. After graduating from MIT, he moved to Argonne National Laboratory as a Postdoctoral Appointee. His past experience includes a Senior Researcher position at Samsung SDI, and internships at Tesla and BMW group. Juhyun has a B.S., summa cum laude, in Chemical and Biological Engineering from Seoul National University.
Leah Stokes is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). She received her PhD in Public Policy and Masters in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her research examines renewable energy politics across North America, using qualitative and quantitative methods. She also researches international environmental negotiations, particularly on mercury and climate change, as well as environmental behavior change campaigns. To date, her research has been published in The American Journal of Political Science, Energy Policy, Environmental Science & Technology and Global Environmental Politics. Leah has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Martin Family Fund, and the MIT Energy Initiative. Prior to academia, Leah worked at the Parliament of Canada, Resources for the Future and the Initiative for Policy Dialogue. She holds a BSc from the University of Toronto and an MPA from Columbia University.
Magdalena Klemun was a postdoctoral associate at the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS) at MIT. Her research interests are in understanding how the economic and environmental performance of technologies evolves in response to different innovation efforts, with an emphasis on the cost evolution of photovoltaic systems and nuclear power plants, and on the environmental performance evolution of natural gas technologies. Magdalena received her Ph.D. from IDSS at MIT, M.S. in Earth Resources Engineering from Columbia University, where she studied as a Fulbright Scholar, and her B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology from Vienna University of Technology. In between her studies, she worked as an Analyst for GTM Research, a clean energy market research and consulting company.
Mandira Roy is a research affiliate at the Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS) and was a fellow in its Advanced Studies Program at MIT. She has a PhD and an MBA from the University of British Columbia and MS and BS in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology. Previously, she has taught in the areas of financial and managerial accounting and the economics of information at the University of Southern California, University of California-Los Angeles and Rutgers University. Her past research focused on the valuation and contracting roles of information in economic decisions and their impact on stakeholder incentives and welfare. Her current research is on the dynamic choice of energy technology portfolios for climate change mitigation and the economic impact of mitigation policies.
Marco Miotti completed his Ph.D. at the Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS) at MIT. He received his S.M. in Environmental Engineering and his B.S. in Environmental Sciences from ETH Zurich. Before coming to MIT, he worked on projects related to industrial ecology and technology assessment in Germany, China, Colombia, and Switzerland. His research focuses on evaluating the emissions reduction potential and adoption potential of light-duty vehicle technologies against climate change policy goals from the perspective of the consumer as the decision maker.
Job Titles:
- Associate at the Institute for Data
Micah S. Ziegler is a postdoctoral associate at the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS). His research focuses on evaluating emerging and established energy technologies. Micah earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.S. in Chemistry from Yale University, with an emphasis on energy and environmental applications. In between his studies, he worked in the Climate and Energy Program at the World Resources Institute (WRI). At WRI, he explored how to improve mutual trust and confidence among parties developing international climate change policy and researched carbon dioxide capture and storage, electricity transmission, and international technology policy. Micah was also a Luce Scholar assigned to the Business Environment Council in Hong Kong, where he helped advise businesses on how to measure and manage their environmental sustainability. He has studied environmental issues in Ecuador and interned for the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and The Nature Conservancy.
Morgan Edwards was a postdoctoral associate at the Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS) at MIT. She received her Ph.D. from IDSS at MIT, her S.M. in Technology and Policy from MIT and her B.S. in Environmental Science from UNC Chapel Hill, with a second major in Economics and a minor in physics. Before coming to MIT, she worked on alternative energy and energy efficiency projects in Thailand, Russia, and the United States. Her research focuses on developing tools to assess the performance of energy technologies in the face of changing climate and environmental constraints. Morgan is a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and MIT Presidential Fellowship.
Job Titles:
- Researcher at the MIT Energy Initiative
Patrick Brown is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the MIT Energy Initiative, exploring technical and regulatory strategies for integrating high levels of renewable energy and energy storage onto the electric grid. He completed his Ph.D. in physics at MIT with Professor Vladimir Bulović, where his thesis research explored the use of colloidal nanocrystals as light-absorbing active materials in thin film solar cells. Patrick received his B.S. in physics and chemistry from the University of Notre Dame and interned at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Patrick received a Graduate Certificate in Science, Technology, and Policy for his work with the Trancik lab, which has focused on the implications of the rates of technological advancement in solar and wind technologies for international climate policy.
Job Titles:
- Associate at the Institute for Data
Sankaran Ramakrishnan is a postdoctoral associate at the Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS) at MIT. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University for his research in efficiency maximization of energy conversion systems through reduction in thermodynamic irreversibility. Before joining MIT, he was the chief researcher at OceanLab (now Apium Inc.), a startup developing swarm robotics technology. There his work was on controlling groups of robots through information-sharing modeled on energy dissipation. His research interests are in understanding how and what information exchanged/gathered in distributed energy systems could result in system-wide reduction in energy consumption, emissions, and optimize energy storage.
Job Titles:
- Associate at the Institute for Data
Shantanu T. Chakraborty is a postdoctoral associate at the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS) and the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS). His research focuses on macro-scale modeling of integrated energy systems through the lens of Modern Optimization, Machine Learning, and Risk Analysis to address the complexity of the energy transition. A former Marie Skłodowska-Curie Early-Stage Researcher, Shantanu earned his Ph.D. in Engineering and Economics of Power Systems from the Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands). During his doctoral term, he also undertook research visits at the Politechnico di Torino (Italy) and EnergyVille (Belgium). Shantanu holds a M.Sc. in Energy Science, Technology, and Policy with a specialization in Power Systems Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Beyond academia, Shantanu accrued industrial experience across the energy supply chain. At Bloom Energy, he honed his skills in predictive maintenance of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells as an Advanced Process Control Engineer. As an Energy Data Scientist at Tendril Networks, he leveraged advanced statistical analysis to devise tailored energy efficiency recommendations to utility customers in the US and Japan. In his capacity as a Managing Consultant at Guidehouse Consulting, he led the organization's Hydrogen Research Service, and was instrumental in supporting key initiatives including the European Hydrogen Backbone.
Victor Ocaña was a postdoctoral associate at the Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS) at MIT. He received his physics diploma from the University of Zaragoza (Spain) and his PhD in Earth Science from the Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology and the University of Hamburg (Germany), on optimal GHG emissions paths and the value of information. After a long hiatus away from science, he returned as a research scientist with Prof. Hans von Storch at the Helmhotz Zentrum Geesthacht (Germany) before coming to MIT. He then worked as a postdoctoral associate in EAPS (Earth, Atmosphere and Planetary Sciences) at MIT, where he studied sea level variability and modeling of ice sheets.
Job Titles:
- Associate at the Institute for Data
Wei Wei is a postdoctoral associate at the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS) at MIT. She received her Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering from MIT in 2022, her M.S. in the same field from MIT in 2017, and her B.Eng. in Engineering Systems and Design with a focus on Economics and Operations Research from Singapore University of Technology and Design in 2015. In between her studies, she worked on microgrid optimization with renewable integration at ENGIE in France. Her research builds data-informed models to examine technology innovations and infrastructure planning that enable low-carbon transportation and energy systems. Her doctoral research focuses on modeling travel behavior and technology performance to inform charging infrastructure expansion and power grid upgrades for enabling personal vehicle electrification. She has worked on projects related to vehicle electrification and renewable integration in the US, Japan, Indonesia, Portugal, Denmark, and France. She is a recipient of the Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship for Sustainable Transport and Energy Efficiency from the World Resources Institute.
William Braff earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT in 2014. He was co-advised by Professor Cullen Buie (Mechanical Engineering), and Professor Martin Bazant (Chemical Engineering), and his thesis investigated a hydrogen bromine laminar flow battery for grid-scale energy storage. From 2011 - 2015, William worked with the Trancik Lab on a project to evaluate the impact of energy storage technologies on the economic value of solar and wind energy. He is currently an Engineering Program Manager at Apple.
Zachary Needell completed his Ph.D. at the Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Transportation at MIT. He received his M.S. in Transportation Engineering from MIT and his B.S. in Physics from Haverford College in 2011, where he did his thesis research on the deformation patterns of granular materials under stress. Before coming to MIT, he worked at the Smithsonian Center for Earth and Planetary Studies researching Martian sediments and climate history. His research interests are in how infrastructure and technology affect the decisions people make about their personal transportation, and how those individual choices affect long term environmental, economic, and social trends.
Ethan McGarrigle is an undergraduate student majoring in Chemical Engineering and minoring in Energy Studies with a concentration in Economics at MIT. His research focused on evaluating the potential for mitigating hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) emissions, focusing on end-of-life practices of HFC-use equipment.
Eva Anderson received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and minor in Energy Studies from MIT in 2022. She completed her undergraduate thesis in the Trancik lab, focusing on hydrogen production and storage cost targets for deeply decarbonized electricity systems.
Frederik Boe Hüttel is a visiting PhD student at the Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS) at MIT. His PhD is done at the Machine Learning for Smart Mobility lab at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) under the supervision of Francisco Camara Pereira. Frederik holds a BSc Eng. in Software Technology, focusing on the applications of machine learning models and an MSc Eng. in applied mathematical modelling, focusing on Machine Learning and Statistical Analysis. His main research interests include machine learning for demand modelling under uncertainty, which he applies to create intelligent and sustainable transportation systems. The main focus of Frederik's PhD research is on the intersection between power systems and transportation modelling for electric vehicle infrastructure expansion.
Helen Chen is an MIT undergraduate studying Computer Science and Chemical Engineering. Her research in the Trancik Lab focuses on building and maintaining carboncounter.com, which is used to evaluate personal vehicles against emission reduction targets.
Heshuang Zeng graduated in 2011 from the Master in City Planning Program at MIT. She received her bachelor's degree in architecture (2007) and her master's degree in city design and planning (2009) from Tsinghua University. Her research focused on optimally incorporating renewable energy technologies in urban sustainable development. She is currently working at the World Resources Institute.
Kelly Wu is an MIT undergraduate studying chemical engineering and interested in both the technical and social spheres of transitioning energy systems. Previously, she has worked on chemical industry graph networks through the Manthiram lab and coded for the MIT Energy Initiative's SESAME lifecycle energy emissions tool. She has also interned at a renewables investment bank, oil major, and Spanish renewables developer. Her research in the Trancik lab focuses on determining hydrogen cost targets for an electricity grid consisting of renewables and hydrogen storage.
Lauren Aguilar is an MIT undergraduate studying mathematics and climate system science and engineering. Her research in the Trancik Lab focuses on investigating the load stress imposed on distribution grids due to increasing electrification efforts such as the adoption of electric vehicles and heat pumps.
Libby Aiello was working at the Trancik Lab through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. She is an undergraduate majoring in Computer Science and minoring in both Data Science and Economics. Her research focuses on predicting energy consumption for personal vehicular travel.
Linda Jing was an undergraduate in Materials Science and Engineering and minoring in Energy Studies with a concentration in Economics at MIT. Her research is focused on evaluating the materials constraints for energy storage.
Loewen Cavill is an MIT undergraduate studying mechanical engineering, computer science, and data science. She previously explored how to manufacturer thinner photovoltaic cells in order to increase material efficiency. Her research at the Trancik Lab focused on modeling energy storage requirements based on complex supply and demand profiles.
Max DiGiacomo-Castillo is a rising junior at Stanford. His research focuses on blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Recently, he has focused on the sustainability of cryptocurrency mining and other blockchain projects.
Michael T. Chang received his Master of Science from the Technology and Policy Program at MIT. He helped develop a model of the energy consumed by personal vehicle travel using real-world driving data. His Master's thesis used this model to assess the appropriateness of performance targets for the energy capacity of electric vehicle batteries set by the government and industry groups. His research interests are in applying data-driven methods to understanding the development of emerging technologies and assessing policy. Prior to MIT, he graduated with high honors from the University of California at Berkeley with a Bachelor of Science in Computational Engineering Science and a minor in Mechanical Engineering.
Michelle Vaccaro joined the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS) as a PhD student in September 2021. Her research focuses on human-AI collaboration, and she is particularly interested in combining expert knowledge and data-driven models to forecast technological change. Before coming to MIT, Michelle worked at Goldman Sachs in foreign exchange strategy and structuring. She earned her Bachelor's degree in 2019 from Harvard College, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with highest departmental honors in Computer Science. Her research has been generously supported by the Bose Fellowship and Accenture Fellowship.
Nicholas Pape is an undergraduate student at MIT majoring in Mathematics and minoring in Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and Political Science. His research is focused on analyzing the gaps in the wind and solar resources where energy storage technologies are needed as backing mechanisms for wind and solar energy shortages.
Philip Eash-Gates received his master's degree from the Technology & Policy Program at MIT. He received his B.S. in Engineering Science from Trinity University. Before joining MIT, he worked as the Energy Manager for the City of San Antonio and as the Director of Projects for CVAL Innovations, an energy engineering startup. Previous work experience includes development of building energy conservation codes, management of community-based sustainability programs, and implementation of innovative energy projects. His research interests include methods to accelerate the improvement of new and evolving energy technologies to meet societal and environmental challenges.
Jessika Trancik: Jessika Trancik is a Professor in the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research examines the dynamic costs, performance, and environmental impacts of energy systems to inform climate policy and accelerate beneficial and equitable technology innovation. Her projects focus on all energy services including electricity, transportation, heating, and industrial processes. This work spans solar energy, wind energy, energy storage, low-carbon fuels, electric vehicles, and nuclear fission among other technologies. Prof. Trancik received her B.S. from Cornell University and her Ph.D. from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. She is currently an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and was formerly at Columbia University's Earth Institute, and at WSP International/UNOPS (now Interpeace) in Geneva.
Sai Sameer Pusapaty worked at Trancik Lab by taking part in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. His work focuses on predicting the future average fuel economy of the U.S. light-duty vehicle fleet given uncertainties in technological development and consumer preferences. By studying past trends in various vehicle attributes, he hopes to develop statistical models to determine whether the future light-duty vehicle fleet will be able to meet current climate policy targets.
Seth Blum is a Masters student in the Technology and Policy Program. His research focuses on the impacts and costs of heating electrification under extreme weather events and varying technology adoption and cost scenarios. Seth earned his B.A. in Mathematics and International and Area Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to MIT, Seth was a Mediator and Program Associate at Meridian Institute, where he managed the creation and growth of Lacuna Fund, a philanthropy to support training datasets leading to more equitable machine learning use cases in NLP, precision agriculture, and power systems. He also worked at the Clinton Health Access Initiative to assess market ‘pull' mechanisms to support innovative cooling technologies in emerging economies and as a freelance strategy and facilitation consultant to large philanthropies, NGOs, and national governments.
Shannon Hwang is a PhD student in the Social and Engineering Systems (SES) program at MIT's Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS). She received her MEng. and B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and minor in Energy Studies from MIT, and interned at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory prior to starting graduate school. Her research explores methods for reliably providing energy under variability and uncertainty in deeply decarbonized energy systems.
Shylesh Muralidharan was a Systems Design and Management graduate student at MIT. He received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Pondicherry University and an MBA from Mumbai University, and he has worked in technology consulting for smart grid programs. His interests are in new energy systems and sustainability. He is currently working on a technical and economic evaluation of ocean thermal energy conversion in the context of climate change concerns and water scarcity.