News of EEM Students, Faculty and Graduates


January 6, 2019

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Kushal Malvania with his AEE Award

EEM Master’s student Kushal Malvania was named the 2018 Student Energy Engineer of the Year by the Association of Energy Engineers National Capital Chapter in November 2018. In his acceptance speech, Kushal thanked GW Energy and Environmental Projects Manager Andy Ludwig, AECOM Advanced Energy Solutions Manager Sean Casey and EEM Lead Professor Jonathan Deason for their guidance and mentoring. 
 
On September 18, 2018, several EEM students and faculty members participated in an electronic video meeting with NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor via a video downlink from the International Space Station. Serena, a 1997 SEAS graduate, chatted with those in attendance about the challenges of deep space exploration and answered a series of questions about her career as an astronaut. Also in attendance, on a face-to-face basis, was former NASA astronaut Dr. Charles Camarda, who is a 1980 SEAS graduate.  
 
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John Boland
 
GW senior John Boland began a 10-month fellowship in the Fall 2018 semester with the Water Quality Division of the District of Columbia government with the possibility of transitioning to full time. John reports that he used an excerpt from his final paper in the EMSE 6235 Water Quality Management course as a writing sample in the interview process. In his Capstone project, John’s group is following up his research work in that course by focusing on water quality projects in the DC area.
 
2005 EEM Master of Science graduate Andrew Einhorn, President of the Washington, D.C, based energy consulting firm Synoptos, Inc., reported that his company recently added a European office and has been rapidly expanding its work in the energy and environmental areas. One new area in which his company has been interacting with EEM personnel recently involves emerging issues with environmental contaminants such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances that pose a problem for large energy companies such as Exxon, ConocoPhillips and NextEra. Formerly an Environmental Consultant with the ICF Kaiser Corporation, Andy worked on environmental impact statements, and supported the Office of Pesticides at the Environmental Protection Agency and also did regulatory support work for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Emory University in Atlanta and graduated with a Master of Science Degree in Environmental & Energy Management in May 2005. More information about his company can be seen at https://www.synoptos.com/.
 
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EEM Assistant Professor Dr. Ekundayo Shittu
EEM Assistant Professor Dr. Ekundayo Shittu recently published a paper co-authored by recent doctoral grad Dr. Ilka Deluque entitled “Generation Capacity Expansion Under Demand, Capacity Factor and Environmental Policy Uncertainties” in the journal Computers and Industrial Engineering.  Ilka, a 2018 Ph.D. graduate, currently works in the Energy and Extractives Global Practice at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. An abstract of the paper can be seen at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360835218305400….
 
EEM doctoral student Olawale Ogunrinde published a paper with EEM Assistant Professor Ekundayo Shittu entitled “Investing in Renewable Energy: Reconciling Regional Policy with Renewable Energy Growth” in the journal IEEE Engineering Management Review. An abstract of the paper can be seen at https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8528319
 
 
Dr. Kelly Scanlon, Senior Research Scientist with the GW Environmental and Energy Management Institute (EEMI), presented at the annual life cycle assessment conference, LCA XVIII that was held on September 25-27 in Fort Collins, CO.  Dr. Scanlon’s presentation was part of a special session that highlighted the results of recent efforts by the U.S. Department of Defense to establish consistent policies and practices for sustainability analyses. Dr. Scanlon also hosted Army and Navy colleagues on July 18, 2018 in the Science and Engineering Hall to discuss research, development, testing, and evaluation efforts on sustainable alternatives for defense-related chemicals and processes.  An outcome of the meeting was a strategy for ensuring ongoing alternatives assessment research at DoD, data collection that supports claims for more sustainable alternatives, and a plan for future collaborations and engagement.
 

Baby

2014 EEM grad (Master of Science in Environmental and Energy Management) Junchao Gu recently accepted a positon as the Executive Assistant to the Dean of the Zhejiang Institute of Flexible Electronics Technology in the Zhejiang Province, which is a part of the world famous Tsinghua University. Work at the Institute includes such state-of-the-art technologies as flexible electronics like wearables, flexible displays and stretchable sensors. Previously Junchao worked as a Project Assistant for the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission that has broad administrative and planning control over the Chinese economy. While at the ERI, Junchao worked on the “Sustainable Low-Carbon City Development project that involved 11 heavily industrialized cities in the central and northern parts of China. Just as important, Junchao also reports that his first child, a son, was born in April 2018!
 
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Luis Cruz
Luis Cruz, who received his Master of Science degree in Environmental and Energy Management in 2012, reports that he returned to D.C. last year after spending almost two years in the Nuclear Regulatory Ccommission's Northeast regional office performing and supporting inspections in nuclear power plants. Luis now is working with DOE's Office of General Counsel under the Office of Standard Contract Management. He’s been mainly reviewing claims from nuclear power utilities for costs associated with spent nuclear fuel management and providing technical opinions and findings on these claims to lawyers in both DOE and DOJ and intends to continue his education toward a law degree in the near future.
 
 
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Professor Scott Sklar, EEMI Director of Renewable Energy
Professor Scott Sklar, EEMI Director of Renewable Energy, was appointed by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to the US Department of Commerce Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee in October 2018. Professor Sklar also engaged in a series of renewable energy projects in Puerto Rico, Gabon and North Carolina in addition to recently assuming the role of Director of GW’s Solar Institute, reported in greater detail in another article.
 
2017 EEM MS graduate Marija Stefanovic reported on her recent completion of a major assignment involving a project with D.C. Water at its Blue Plains Plant, the largest wastewater treatment facility in the world. She has been involved in value engineering of two capital investment projects and we several lighting projects.  Marija, a highly successful Energy Engineer at the Washington, D.C. consulting firm PEER Consultants, confronted a very interesting series of unexpected challenges in helping D.C. Water save energy from the million lamps that operate in the more than four miles of enormous tunnels that presently are being constructed underneath D.C. to address Washington’s severe combined sewer overflow problem. In her project, Marija had to wrestle with issues such as developing a solution to overcome an innate fear of the dark experienced by tunnel workers who initially objected to the use of motion sensors several years ago. She developed techniques such as educational workshops and showcase examples demonstrating how LEDs and controls operate using dual sensors (motion & IR, for example). Before graduating from GW, Marija received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Thermotechnics from the University of Belgrade. 
 
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EEM Research Professor Alex Beehler
 
EEM Research Professor Alex Beehler has accepted an invitation to the keynote speaker at The Global Climate Change Forum scheduled to be conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on March 28, 2019.
 
2017 EEM MS graduate Abdul Moiz Sohail reports that he is doing well in his position as a Senior Research Analyst – Environment in the Urban Sector Planning and Management Service Unit, Ltd. in Lahore, Pakistan. As part of his duties, Moiz has been recruiting professional consulting assistance for the Environment Protection Department of the Punjab Province from capacity-building and environmental protection work. During his studies at GW, Moiz was a Fulbright scholar as well as a CocaCola MENA Scholar and a Presidential Award recipient. Prior to his present position, he worked as a Senior Research Analyst at The Urban Unity in Lahore.