This year, the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) ventured into new territory by providing research and education travel grants to 19 graduate students from across the Institute. The short-term pilot program was created and implemented by the Energy Education Task Force to support graduate students performing field studies or presenting their research results at conferences around the world. The grants allowed students to carry out vital research for theses, to build new scholarly and professional networks, and to bring new insights on global energy challenges and opportunities back to MIT. Given the success of the pilot program, MITEI has established Energy Education Without Borders, an ongoing program to support student travel for energy research and education.
Student research and education travel grants, 2011–2012
| Name | Destination | Event/purpose | Title or area of research/interest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anna Agarwal Civil and Environmental Engineering |
Perth, Australia | International Association of Energy Economics Conference | Commercial policy and risk management in large energy projects |
| Elena Alschuler Urban Studies and Planning |
San Francisco, California | Field research | Evaluation of Duke Energy’s smart metering pilot program, providing real-time energy information for office buildings in Charlotte, North Carolina |
| D. Kwabena Bediako Chemistry |
Lucca, Italy | Gordon Research Conference on Renewable Energy: Solar Fuels | Electrocatalytic water splitting for solar energy storage |
| J. Cressica Brazier Urban Studies and Planning |
Shenzhen and Jinan, China | Field research | Energy and urban form, urban design policy, participatory technology, and real estate development and urbanization in China |
| David Cohen-Tanugi Materials Science and Engineering |
Barcelona, Spain | Conference on Desalination for the Environment, Water, and Energy | Designing novel nanomaterials for highly energy-efficient water purification |
| Florence Guiraud Architecture |
New Orleans, Louisiana | Field research | Energy flows: Empowering New Orleans—developing alternative energy-harvesting systems |
| Samantha Gunter Electrical Engineering and Computer Science |
Washington, DC | 2012 IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference | Charging stations in microgrids |
| Jason Jackson Urban Studies and Planning |
New Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune, India | Field research | Data gathering for analysis of the political economy of foreign direct investment in India |
| Jouya Jadidian Electrical Engineering and Computer Science |
San Diego, California | 2012 IEEE International Power Modulator and High Voltage Conference | Positive and negative streamer initiation and propagation in dielectric liquids |
| Rhonda Jordan Engineering Systems Division |
Nairobi, Kenya | International Conference on Power Systems Operation | Incorporating electricity demand dynamics into capacity expansion and electrification planning models in developing countries: the case of Tanzania |
| Alex Kalmikov Mechanical Engineering |
Seattle, Washington | American Wind Energy Association Wind Resource and Project Energy Assessment Workshop | Project analysis for the MIT Wind Energy student team and the MIT Bates Wind Energy Assessment Project |
| Nancy Kim Architecture |
Blue Fields, Nicaragua | Field research and presentations | Construction and implementation of a biodigestor |
| Bin Lu Electrical Engineering and Computer Science |
Bruges, Belgium | IEEE International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices and ICs | High-performance GaN-based power transistor |
| Matthew Orosz Civil and Environmental Engineering |
Nottingham, United Kingdom | SCORE International Conference | Comparative analysis of traditional and solar thermal technologies for heating/cooling/powering rural health facilities in Africa |
| Canay Ozden Science, Technology, and Society |
San Francisco, California | Field research | A social study of electricity markets in the United States |
| Alan Ransil Materials Science and Engineering |
Jeju, South Korea | International Meeting on Lithium-Ion Batteries | Novel electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries |
| Lennon Rogers Mechanical Engineering |
Los Angeles, California | Electric Vehicle Symposium | Electric vehicle parameter identification |
| Nathaniel Deshmukh Towery Science, Technology, and Society |
Texas, Ohio, North Carolina | Field research | Citizen interpretations of and responses to climate change |
| Patricio Zambrano-Barragán Urban Studies and Planning |
Ecuador, Peru, Chile | Field research | Data gathering for large-scale hydroelectric dam development in Ecuador, Peru, and Chile |
This article appears in the Spring 2012 issue of Energy Futures.