Spring 2018 Global Change Fellow

Statement of purpose:

At the global scale, United States is the second largest energy-related greenhouse gas emitter, and therefore to help mitigate climate change, US energy sector needs to transform into cleaner solutions, which is a big socio-economic challenge. In additions, the inherent uncertainties in the social, political and economic aspects of planning for the energy sector, adds more complexities to the field. On the other hand, new technologies deemed to be part of the solution to climate change, have some characteristics which can significantly change the operation of the energy sector. That said, the energy sectors in the developing world are evolving from the conventional routines to more sustainable patterns at a very high pace, and in order for the US to be part of this, there should be appropriate tools to shed lights on the pathway the country needs to take. I am going towards developing such a tool in my PhD.

Description of research:

I am working on my PhD thesis under the supervision of Dr. Joseph DeCarolis at the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering. The ultimate goal is to develop energy optimization models of the US energy system apply methods of uncertainty assessment in a high-performance computing (HPC) framework. These models can inform real policy issues in the US energy sector. This research will address Science Themes 1: Climate and Other Appropriate Projections to Use for Resource Management.