Student Researchers

Carbon Neutrality, Negative Emission Technologies, CleanTech, Energy

My research interests are in the general area of Data Science application in Environmental Systems. Specifically, my current interests are on computational modeling to predict the unknown life cycle inventory datasets and high-resolution urban air quality mapping.

My research interest is the universal scaling law of national development.

Dominic’s research explores the institutional barriers of energy poverty recognition and response in the United States whilst considering the spatial, racial/ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic patterns of residential energy affordability, consumption, and efficiency. More narrowly, his doctoral research aims to provide clarity for structuring more effective policy interventions and to improve decision making for assisting energy-vulnerable households, those likely to fall into energy poverty and struggle/unable to pay their energy bills resulting in energy utility shut-offs and forgoing basic necessities. Dominic is developing a multidimensional energy vulnerability index to better understand factors that contribute to household energy poverty in the U.S. Additionally, Dominic’s research uses LCA and LCC methods to better understand the effect of household appliance replacements on overall energy affordability of low-income households.

Publications

Miller, W. A., Boudreaux, P., Pallin, S., Biswas, K., Gehl, T., Atchley, J., ... & Shah, A. (2016). A field study setup of four homes having non-ventilated and semi-conditioned sealed attics. Journal of Green Building, 11(3), 1-20.

Microbiology, biogeochemistry, microplastics, bioremediation, water quality

Grant is interested in performing techno-economic assessments of carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies along with developing a more comprehensive framework for evaluating the costs of the various environmental impacts of these technologies. He is also interested in how complex systems modeling might be able to inform the deployment of carbon negative processes. Finally, he is intrigued by the ability of sustainable technologies, systems, and policies to reduce global catastrophic and existential risks.

Climate Justice, Government and Policy, Tropical Conservation Ecology, Marine Biology

Circular Economy & Design, Carbon Neutrality, Environmental Justice

consumption-based accounting, life cycle assessment, environmental justice, climate change, industrial ecology

Data Science, sustainable systems, Transportation/Mobility System, Life Cycle Assessment

Julia’s areas of interest include food sustainability, food chemistry, renewable energy, economics, environmental policy, and social justice. She is applying to University of Michigan Chemical Engineering for admission in 2022.

Karl researches energy justice at the intersection of energy, health and housing policy. He is especially interested in access to energy efficiency and renewable energy for low-income and multi-family households.

Sustainable Supply Chain, Transportation/Mobility System, Life Cycle Assessment

Max's research interests include the expansion of renewable energy systems in developing countries, and solar energy technologies.

Nate's research involves material flow analysis for the supply chain of major automotive materials. Other research interests he'd like to pursue include sustainable energy infrastructure and sustainable business practice integration, particularly in the tourism industry.

urban climate change adaptation/resilience, climate justice, urban agriculture, spatial analytic methods and visualization

Grid Decarbonisation, Carbon Capture and Sequestration, Negative Emissions Technologies, Energy Infrastructure Systems, Environmental Justice

Stefania Almazán-Casali is an environmental social scientist. Her research focuses on understanding the interactions between human decision-making, power dynamics, and natural resource use. She follows a mixed-methods approach to provide insights on the key motivations and conditions guiding the distribution and governance of natural resources. Her approach combines surveys, behavioral experiments, and modelling tools such as agent-based models.

Stefania has international experience researching waste attitudes in Liberia, West Africa; water access in a small community  in the Peruvian Andes; and sustainable forest management in Eastern Europe. She is particularly interested in issues surrounding the collaborative management of water resources. Her upcoming research explores the effects of climate change perceptions on water allocation and investment decisions in a river-basin committee in South-East Brazil.

Nutrient recovery through urine separation, Life Cycle Assessment, Water Systems, Circular Economy

Stephen is working on assessing a new form of recycling: Pee-cycling. Instead of adding nutrient heavy urine to the wastewater treatment system and intensively treating the nitrogen and phosphorus as a waste, the project looks to create fertilizer with it instead. He is developing life cycle models to analyze the environmental trade-offs of this approach with the conventional wastewater treatment system.

Energy flow cycle; Remote sensing image visualization; Hydrological cycle; Sustainable development; GIS mapping

Sustainable Energy Systems; Energy Markets and Policies; Life Cycle Assessment; Circular Economy; Transportation/Mobility System