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Summer Internships
Andlinger Center Summer Internships
The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment awarded 18 undergraduates funds to support research on energy- and environment-related projects on campus and at organizations in the non-profit and government sectors.
The research is supported by the Peter B. Lewis Fund for Student Innovation in Energy and the Environment, and the Dede T. Bartlett P03 Fund for Student Research in Energy and the Environment.
The students’ projects are described below:
Merry Hertan preps samples into capillary tubes. (Photo by Bumper DeJesus)
Sreeta Basu (MAT ’24) / Senior Research Engineer Eric Larson / Real Option Analysis for Decarbonizing New Jersey Transit (NJT) Rail Operations Kaixing Chou (SPI ’23) / Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) / Vehicles Electrification
Helena Frudit (MAE ’25) / Senior Research Scientist Chris Greig / Exploring Resilient Net-Zero Energy Pathways Using Structured Risk Assessment
Lilianna Gittoes (ORF ’24) / Senior Research Engineer Eric Larson / Design of CO2 Capture and Storage Hubs
Electricity production, transmission, and storage
Pranav Avva (COS ’24) / Assistant Professor Minjie Chen / Machine Learning Platform for Power Magnetics Modeling Stephen Jiang (ORF ’25) / Professor Ronnie Sircar / Quantifying Uncertainty in Electricity Generation
John Kim (ELE ’25) / Associate Professor Barry Rand / Conductivity of Organic Thin-Film Crystals
Frida Ruiz (MAE ’25) / Assistant Professor Kelsey Hatzell / Chemo-Mechanics in Solid-State Batteries
Fuels and chemicals
Janelle Arnold (CBE ’23) / Assistant Professor Jonathan Conway / Engineering Plant Biomass Degradation in Extremely Thermophilic Bacteria
Jaehee Ashley (CBE ’25) / Associate Professor José Avalos / Microbial Engineering for Energy and the Environment
Darius Rudasingwa Ganza (CBE ’24) / Assistant Professor Michele Sarazen / Metal-organic Frameworks for CO2 Capture and Conversionn
Joshua Yi (PHY ’25) / Professor Yiguag Ju / Studies of Ferroelectric Plasma Catalysts on Chemical Synthesis
Environmental sensing and remediation
Ben Bobell (PHY ’23) / Professor Emily Carter / Dynamics of Carbonate Formation
Merry Hertan (CEE ’24) / Associate Professor Claire White / The Materials Science of Sustainable Cements
Decision and behavioral science, policy, and economics
Riti Bhandarkar (CEE ’23) / EDF / Energy Transition Analytics
Samir Bhojwani (ECO ’25) / Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) / Energy Markets Regulation
Zhaoran Chen (ARC ’24) / Professor Elke Weber / Coalition Building for Net-Zero Futures: Case studies in Appalachia
Environmental and climate science
Freddie Furia (COS ’24) / Senior Research
Oceanographer Sonya Legg and Visiting Postdoctoral
Research Associate Henri Drake / The Climate Impacts of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
Top Honors
Claire Wayner was named a co-winner of the 2022 Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize, the highest general distinction conferred on an undergraduate. She and Christian Potter were recognized at Alumni Day in February.
Wayner, from Baltimore, Maryland, is a civil and environmental engineering concentrator pursuing certificates in environmental studies and sustainable energy. Her time at Princeton has been dedicated to what she calls “solutions-oriented sustainability.” For her senior thesis, under adviser Jesse Jenkins, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Wayner conducted research related to the implementation of bioenergy as a sustainable, low-carbon resource as an extension of her work on the Net-Zero America project. Her research contributes to the goal of mapping out detailed routes for the United States’ transition to a carbon-neutral future. Established in 1921, the Pyne Honor Prize, is awarded to the senior who has most clearly manifested excellent scholarship, strength of character and effective leadership. Previous recipients include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and the late Princeton President Emeritus Robert F. Goheen.
“Humanity is in a dire position due to climate change, and
I see my life’s work as trying to fix that.”
– Claire Wayner
Claire Wayner
(Photo by Denise Applewhite)
Supporting Our Student Community
The Andlinger Center continues to support student organizations and activities. In 2021, the Center provided planning assistance to the Princeton University Energy Association (PUEA) and its 3-day fall conference, “Charging Towards Net Zero” which explored how industry and technology can facilitate a rapid transition to net-zero emissions. One segment featured Arielle Rivera, co-director of community service and advocacy at the PUEA and a 2021 Andlinger Center summer intern who worked with the Environmental Defense Fund’s Puerto Rico team. Rivera interviewed C.P. Smith, the Executive Director of La Cooperativa Hidroeléctrica de la Montaña in Puerto Rico. This initiative aims to create sustainable energy projects in the region that can deliver clean, affordable, and reliable electricity to low-income communities across the island.
Writing Code for Energy System Modelling
Riti Bhandarkar, Class of 2023, is interested in developing energy technology and policy in order to fix “the root of the problem” that threatens the planet’s biodiversity. To further that work, the civil and environmental engineering major joined the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment’s summer internship program in 2021. For the internship, Bhandarkar joined the ZERO lab led by Jesse Jenkins. Her work involved harnessing Python to compile massive data sets for energy system models that would generate technology deployment strategies for cleaning up the power grid. The data contained elements such as cost and source of electricity produced in each state and regional power grid, which ultimately could provide highly granular output. The research techniques were also used for the study Net-Zero America, which detailed pathways to reach net-zero emissions, for which Jenkins was co-author. Bhandarkar is also a contributor to Jenkins’ REPEAT project which produces rapid policy evaluation and analysis of proposed energy and climate legislation.
Riti Bhandarkar
(Photo by Bumper DeJesus)
Course Highlights
Renewable Energy and Smart Grids
This course was taught by Minjie Chen, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, and explored the intermittency of renewable energy systems and its impact on the electric grid, together with its potential solutions: energy storage systems and demand response techniques. This course included experimental demo sessions in which students gained hands-on experience in understanding the fundamental principles of power conversion.
Biology, Electrochemistry, and Technology
Z. Jason Ren, the associate director for research at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, examined interdisciplinary microbial/electrochemical technologies used in remote sensing, remediation, renewable energy, wastewater treatment, artificial photosynthesis, and carbon valorization.
Human Factors 2.0 - Psychology for Engineering, Energy, and Environmental Decisions
In this course, Elke Weber covered recent theoretical advances in cognitive and social psychology, especially in human judgment and decision making, that are relevant for engineers and choice architects as they address technical and societal challenges related to sustainability. Students explored psychological theory that can be creatively applied to design decision environments that help people overcome present and status-quo biases and loss aversion.
Z. Jason Ren takes the driver’s seat of a hydrogen-powered car during a class trip to the Hydrogen House in Pennington, NJ. Arielle Rivera delivers key points in her research during group presentations at Elke Weber’s Human Factors 2.0 class. (Photos by Bumper DeJesus)
