Team

Current Postdoctoral Researchers

DR. BALASUBRAMANIAN “BALA” SAMBASIVAM
Postdoctoral Researcher, Operations Research and Industrial Engineering and UT Energy Institute

 

Previous Degrees:
PhD, Energy Transitions and Energy System Modeling, Indian Institute of Science
MSc, Global Production Engineering (major: Renewable Energy Technology), Technical University of Berlin
BTech, Mechatronics, SASTRA University
Research Areas: micro-to-macro systems modeling, energy systems, energy transitions, electricity resilience
Co-Supervisors: Dr. John Hasenbein, Dr. Kara Kockelman
Publications:
•  Reducing solar PV curtailment through demand-side management and economic dispatch in Karnataka, India (Energy Policy)
•  Characterising electricity demand through load curve clustering: A case of Karnataka electricity system in India (Computers & Chemical Engineering)
•  Effectiveness of demand response in achieving supply-demand matching in a renewables dominated electricity system: A modelling approach (Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews)
Honors, Awards, and Experiences:
•  Now part of the UT Energy Institute’s Micro-to-Macro (m2M) Systems Modeling Initiative
•  Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2020-21

Current Students

Current PhD Students

RACHEL MOGLEN
PhD Student, Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
(Link to Rachel’s website)

Previous Degrees:
MS, Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland
BS, Civil Engineering, University of Maryland

Research Areas: infrastructure resilience, network optimization, energy-water nexus, natural disasters
Publications:
•  The State of Macro-Energy Systems Research: Common Critiques, Current Progress, and Research Priorities (iScience)
•  A nexus approach to infrastructure resilience planning under uncertainty (Reliability Engineering & System Safety)
•  Resilience Analysis of Potable Water Service after Power Outages in the U.S. Virgin Islands (Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management)
•  Using Cluster Analysis and Dynamic Programming for Demand Response Applied to Electricity Load in Residential Homes (ASME Journal of Engineering for Sustainable Buildings and Cities)
•  Optimal thermostatically-controlled residential demand response for retail electric providers (Energy Systems)
•  Consequences of Changes to the NRCS Rainfall-Runoff Relations on Hydrologic Design (Journal of Hydrologic Engineering)
Honors, Awards, and Experiences:
•  PEO Scholar Award, PEO Sisterhood, 2023
•  Research Aide, Argonne National Laboratory, Summer 2023
•  Fellow, INFEWS NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program
•  Student Fellow, Macro-Energy Systems Community, 2020-21
•  President, UT Austin student chapter of INFORMS, 2020-21
•  Graduate Student Intern, Energy & Water, Sandia National Laboratories, Summers 2020 and 2021

CONNOR COLOMBE
PhD Student, Operations Research and Industrial Engineering

Previous Degrees:
MS, Computer Science, UT Dallas
BS, Physics and Mathematics, Harvey Mudd

Research Areas: carbon capture, utilization, and storage; energy policy; network optimization
Honors, Awards, and Experiences:
•  President, UT Austin student chapter of INFORMS, 2021-22

KATRINA MAYNOR
PhD Student, Operations Research and Industrial Engineering

Previous Degrees:
BS, Mechanical Engineering (minor in Business), Texas A&M


Research Areas: decision analysis, risk analysis, offshore wind
Co-Supervisor: Dr. Eric Bickel
Honors, Awards, and Experiences:
• Fellow, INFEWS NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program
• President, UT Austin student chapter of INFORMS, 2022-23
• Public Relations Director, UT Austin Graduate Engineering Council, 2021-Present
• Business Consultant, Vitae Springs Vineyard, 2019-21
• Consulting Senior Analyst, Accenture, 2017-19

DONGHAO LIU
PhD Student, Operations Research and Industrial Engineering

Previous Degrees:
BEng, Computer Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Research Areas: optimization, investment under uncertainty, oil and gas
Co-Supervisor: Dr. Jonathan Bard
Honors, Awards, and Experiences:
• Intern in Intelligent City Department, Baidu, 2020-21
• Summer Research Program, University of Colorado Boulder, 2019
• Science and Engineering Summer School, University of Manchester, 2018

HUIDI MA
PhD Student, Operations Research and Industrial Engineering

Previous Degrees:
BS, Mathematics and Statistics, Wuhan University


Research Areas: sampling, risk analysis, optimization
Co-Supervisor: Dr. John Hasenbein
Honors, Awards, and Experiences:
• Intern, NXP Semiconductors, 2022
• Intern, ByteDance, 2020-21
• Summer Research Program, University of British Columbia, 2019

ABDULLAH ALBELADI
PhD Student, Operations Research and Industrial Engineering

Previous Degrees:
MS, Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan
BS, Industrial Engineering, King Abdulaziz University
Research Areas: carbon capture, utilization, and storage; energy policy; multi-agent optimization
Honors, Awards, and Experiences:
• Intern-Statistics and Operations Research, United Airlines, Summer 2023
• PhD Fellowship, King Abdulaziz University, 2021-2025
• Lecturer, King Abdulaziz University, 2014-2016, 2018-2020
• Production Planner, Saudia Aerospace Engineering Industries, 2013-2014

NINA HEBEL
PhD Student, Operations Research and Industrial Engineering

Previous Degrees:
MS, Energy and Earth Resources, UT Austin
BS, Mechanical Engineering, Villanova University

Research Areas: energy policy, electricity, resource adequacy, macro-energy systems
Honors, Awards, and Experiences:
• Energy System Planning Analyst, Strategen Consulting, 2022-2023
• President, Longhorn Energy Club, 2021-2022
• Corporate Strategy Intern, Jupiter Power, 2021

YASH KUMAR
PhD Student, Operations Research and Industrial Engineering

Previous Degrees:
MS, Energy Science, Carnegie Mellon
BTech, Electrical Engineering, IIT Delhi

Publications:
• Market analysis for the integration of new power technologies: A case study of the deployment of hybrid fossil-based generator plus energy storage (ES-FE) (Applied Energy)
• Effects of Short-Term Water Constraints on Electricity Dispatch: A Case Study of ERCOT and SPP Regions (ACS ES&T Water)
Research Areas: optimization algorithms, statistical modeling
Honors, Awards, and Experiences:
• Energy Data Scientist, Catalyst Cooperative, 2020-21
• Staff Engineer, National Energy Technology Laboratory, 2018-21
• Course Assistant Award, Scott Institute of Energy Innovation, 2018

Alumni

PhD Graduates

[9] Nan Zhang
May 2022
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
Optimization Tools for Emerging Challenges in Power Systems
Job Placement: Research Scientist, Amazon Lab126

 

[8] Baturay Calci
May 2022
Co-Supervisor: Jonathan Bard
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
Natural Gas Market Applications of Multi-Agent Optimization
Job Placement: Applied Scientist II, Uber

 

[7] Erick Jones
Aug. 2021
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
Multi-System Optimization: Intermittent Production, Flexible Demand, Emerging Technologies
Job Placement: Assistant Professor (tenure track), UT Arlington

 

[6] Gopika Jayadev
May 2021
Co-Supervisor: Jonathan Bard
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
Optimization Approaches for Energy Infrastructure Network Design
Job Placement: Machine Learning Scientist, Apple

 

[5] Qianru Zhu
May 2021
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
Operations Research Models of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation at Diverse Scales
Job Placement: Engineer/Scientist II, Electric Power Research Institute

 

[4] Milad Naeini
May 2021
Co-Supervisor: J. Eric Bickel
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
Uncertainty in Cost-Benefit Analysis of Climate Policy: Climate-Economy Model Evaluation and Extension
Job Placement: Data Scientist, Circle K

 

 

[3] Arkasama Bandyopadhyay
Aug. 2020
Co-Supervisor: Michael Webber
Mechanical Engineering
Techno-Economic Methods for Analyzing the Energetic and Economic Effects of Solar, Storage, and Demand Response
Job Placement: Research Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University

 

 

[2] Max Brozynski
May 2020
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
Operations Research Models of Technology Transitions and the Role of Policy Support
Job Placement: Senior Consultant, Echelon Analytics
Current Position: Senior Consultant, FTI Consulting

 

[1] Urairisa “Birdy” Phathanapirom
Dec. 2018
Co-Supervisor: Derek Haas
Mechanical Engineering
Autonomous Decision Making in Fuel Cycle Simulators using a Game Theoretic Approach
Job Placement: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Current Position: R&D Associate, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

 

 

MS Graduates

[10] Le “Helen” Lu
Aug. 2022
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
Designing Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure to Enable Disaster Evacuation
Job Placement: Research Scientist (Machine Learning), Fortna

 

[9] J. Sean Corcoran
May 2022
Energy and Earth Resources
Perceptions of Risk in Increasingly Capital-Intensive Electricity Grids: Measuring the Impacts of Accurate Cost of Capital Representation on Planning for Future Energy Systems
Job Placement: Associate, Marathon Capital

 

 

 

 

[8] Ella Morton
Dec. 2021
Co-Supervisor: Shadi Goodarzi
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
Optimizing Hydrogen Production Capacity and Day Ahead Market Bidding for a Wind Farm

 

 

 

[7] Eli Ramthun
Dec. 2021
Co-Supervisor: David Adelman
Energy and Earth Resources
Winds of Change: Assessing Direct and Indirect Effects of Variable Renewable Energy Growth on the ERCOT Market
Job Placement: Energy Analyst, DNV

 

 

[6] Eiji Kawai
May 2021
Energy and Earth Resources
The Role of Carbon Capture and Utilization in Industrial Sector Decarbonization: A Case Study of Japan
Job Placement: Chief Engineer, Chiyoda Corporation

 

 

[5] Cade Bourque
Dec. 2020
Co-Supervisor: Kevin Clarno
Mechanical Engineering
Production Through Simulation: Using Simulation Technologies to Create and Evaluate Nuclear Fuel Fabrication Facility Designs
Job Placement: Post Masters Researcher, Los Alamos National Laboratory

 

 

[4] Brittany Speetles
May 2020
Co-Supervisor: Michael Webber
Mechanical Engineering
Representative Day Selection in Capacity Expansion Modeling
Job Placement: Energy Analyst, ICF

 

 

[3] Chris Lanham
May 2018
Energy and Earth Resources
Optimal Decarbonization Pathways for Urban Residential Building Energy Services
Job Placement: Project Engineer, Bluewing Midstream

 

[2] Peter Tutton
May 2018
Co-Supervisor: Susan Hovorka
Energy and Earth Resources
Carbon Capture and Storage Network Optimization Under Uncertainty
Job Placement: Research Scientist, Bureau of Economic Geology, UT Austin

 

[1] Kunal Punjabi
Dec. 2017
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
Effects of Platform Design on Solar PV Prices in an Online Marketplace
Job Placement: Software Engineer, Amazon