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Summer Internships
Andlinger Center Summer Internships
The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment awarded 20 undergraduates research funds to support research on energy- and environment-related projects on campus and at organizations in the government and nonprofit sectors.
The research is supported by the Peter B. Lewis Fund for Student Innovation in Energy and the Environment, the Dede T. Bartlett P03 Fund for Student Research in Energy and the Environment, and the Sustainability Fund.
The students’ projects, which were conducted remotely this year, are described below:
Joshua Drossman (ORF ’22) / Eric Larson, senior research engineer and group head of the Energy Systems Analysis Group and Chris Greig / Optimization of CO2 transport and storage infrastructure development
Waree Sethapun (PHY ’24) / Forrest Meggers, associate professor of architecture and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment / Campus geothermal system evaluation Annabelle Duval (HIS '23) / Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) / Climate Corps
Nadia Ralston (CEE ’22) / EDF / Electric truck and bus analysis
Edward Zhang (CEE ’24) / Moonshot Missions / Water access
Electricity production, transmission, and storage
Riti Bhandarkar (CEE ’23) / Jesse Jenkins, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment / Impact on power system planning of electrification of transportation and building energy use
Evan Dogariu (COS ’24) / Minjie Chen, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment / Machine-learning based magnetic core loss modeling platform
Yiming “Cady” Feng (ECE ’24) / Jesse Jenkins / Multi-objective optimization of electricity infrastructure energy siting
Kenalpha Kipyegon (MAE ’22) / Michael E. Mueller, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering / Offshore wind turbines
Ethan Reese (ORF ’23) / Ronnie Sircar, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Operations Research and Financial Engineering / Stochastic models, indices and optimization algorithms for pricing and hedging reliability risks in modern power grids
Jane Castleman (COS ’24) / Climate Central / Net-Zero America communications
Marie Li (ORF ’23) / Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) / FERC Energy industry analysis
Arielle Rivera (ECE ’23) / EDF / Puerto Rico energy analysis
Fuels and chemicals
Farah Azmi (CBE ’24) / Michele Sarazen, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering / Combined plasma and thermal catalytic conversion of natural gas to liquids
Yuno Iwasaki (PHY ’23) / Egemen Kolemen, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment / Machine-learning models for plasma control in fusion reactors
Louis Viglietta (CBE ’24) / José Avalos, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment / Computational design of microbial metabolism to improve biofuel production
Environmental sensing and remediation
Emily Wu (CEE ’24) / Claire White / The materials science of sustainable cements and materials for CO2 capture
Callie Zheng (CBE ’24) / Sujit Datta, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering / Using polymers to clean up contaminated groundwater sources
Decision and behavioral science, policy, and economics
Danice Ball (CEE ’22) / Elke Weber / Deep and rapid decarbonization of the energy systems of the United States, India, and areas of Europe
Elizabeth Tong (CEE ’23) / American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) / Valuing energy use in rental listings
Do Home Energy Scores Affect Homebuying Decisions?
The summer after her sophomore year at Princeton, Celine Park nabbed an internship at the ACEEE, supported by the Andlinger Center, and studied something she knew very little about: homebuying. Park supported a study that measured the impact of showing home energy scores on real estate listings. Oftentimes, energy scores are not listed in descriptions for homes on the market or are only included for homes with new appliances and top-ranking scores. Park and the behavior and human dimensions team at ACEEE conducted a study on voluntary versus compulsory reporting of energy scores and the impact on homebuyer preferences.
The study found that when reporting scores was voluntary, the information did not sway homebuyers toward energy-efficient purchases. However, when energy scores were universally reported, the study showed that the least-efficient listing was viewed 23% less often, and the most-efficient option viewed 14% more often. The study, whose results were published in August of 2020, were covered by industry outlets, including Greentech Media and Smart Cities Dive.
