News of Students and Faculty


October 19, 2023

Carbon Sequestration

During the week of July 22-29, 2017, EEM doctoral Iryna Payosova participated in the highly competitive Research Experience in Carbon Sequestration (RECS) program of the U.S. Department of Energy. The program provides early career professionals with hands-on field research experience in areas related to carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS).  The initiative, supported by DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and the National Energy Technology Laboratory, is led by a world-class faculty of CCUS experts from industry, the research community and NGOs. It combines classroom instruction with group exercises, CCUS site visits, and hands-on activities including: geologic storage site characterization, CO2 monitoring, CCUS deployment strategies, and communications training. The RECS 2017 was hosted by the Southern Company in Birmingham, Alabama in collaboration with SECARB-Ed and EnTech Strategies. Sponsorship is provided from the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy and National Energy Technology Laboratory.

Storage

Professors Ekundayo Shittu, Saniya LeBlanc and Amira Roess (GW School of Public Health) were awarded a one-year, $42,448 Cross Disciplinary Research Fund for their project, “Improving Healthcare Intervention with Local Access to Electricity in Least Developed Countries.” Mobile devices can facilitate reporting within the health care system when disease outbreaks occur in the developing world.  Unfortunately, health care workers face the enormous challenge of not being able to power these mobile devices.  The interdisciplinary team of Profs. Shittu, LeBlanc, and Roess will characterize healthcare workers’ use of mobile devices, develop a prototype solution to provide locally-sourced electricity, and conduct field testing to iterate on prototype design.  Prof. Shittu is the principal investigator (PI) on the project, and Profs. LeBlanc and Roess are co-PIs.

EEMI Profs. Ekundayo Shittu and Jonathan Deason were awarded in August 2017 a one-year, $100,000 Department of Energy and Idaho National Laboratory grant for their project, “Quantifying the Economic and Environmental Impacts of the Closure of Nuclear Power Plants.” The project involves quantifying the cost and revenue of the entire U.S. fleet, prioritizing risks and mechanisms contributing to early retirement, and creating a market model to provide data to investment and policy decision makers.  Prof. Shittu is the principal investigator (PI) on the project, and Prof. Deason is the co-PI.

2017 EEM graduate Abdul Moiz Sohail landed a position with The Urban Unit, a public sector firm in his hometown of Lahore, Pakistan. The Urban Unit is a consulting firm providing services to the government of Punjab (one of the four provinces of Pakistan). Moiz reports that he is enjoying the work nature and the environment, which is providing him with a good opportunity to influence changes in the deteriorating environmental arena of Pakistan. Currently Moiz is working on a project where he reports that his knowledge of analytical tools gained in the EEM program are being particularly useful.

Dr. Kelly Scanlon, EEMI Senior Research Scientist, attended the annual life cycle assessment conference (LCA XVII) on October 3rd - 5th, 2017, in Portsmouth, NH. She was involved in six different presentations, some for her own research, some for DoD, and some for the Federal LCA Commons (collaborative multi-agency effort). Dr. Scanlon also presented a two-hour short course on the Department of Defense's Sustainability Analysis at the SERDP-ESTCP Symposium, held November 28-30 in Washington, D.C. Participants from academia, government, and industry learned about the life cycle-based methodology that DoD uses to evaluate impacts and costs of defense-related systems.

In August 2017, Dr. Rachael Jonassen, Director of the EEMI Greenhouse Gas Management Program, was featured in a television program “The Future of Coal.”  In the program, Prof. Jonassen explained some of the reasons why coal usage is on the decline, which is expected to continue into the future.  The news clip can be seen at the following link: The Future of Coal. On November 14, Dr. Jonassen also gave the keynote address to the Environmental, Health, Safety, and Sustainability Roundtable (EHSS) at the National Press Club.  Her topic was “The Risk of Climate Risk.”  The EHSS Roundtable, composed of senior executives from major corporations, has explored the strategic business impact of sustainability issues since 1988.

EEMI Assistant Professor Ekundayo Shittu and his former student Dr. Bruno Kamdem published a paper entitled “Optimal commitment strategies for distributed generation systems under regulation and multiple uncertainties” in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. The full citation for the paper is: B. Kamdem and E. Shittu. “Optimal commitment strategies for distributed generation systems under regulation and multiple uncertainties,” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 80, December 2017, pp. 1597-1612.

EEM Adjunct Instructor Jimmy Jia, CEO of Distributed Energy Management, has published a new book, entitled “The Book of Energy Leadership Frameworks”, which is now available on Amazon. The book is a collection of energy, financial, carbon, strategy, marketing and communication frameworks and is a reference book of decision-making tools to help energy leaders navigate the complexities of sustainable energy. The book can be seen at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1548465429

Dr. Rachael Jonassen (Director, EMMI Greenhouse Gas Management Program), together with colleagues Dr. Wil Buns and Dr. Simon Nicholson from America University, convened a workshop on geoengineering on October 30.  The workshop focused on negative emission technologies using carbon dioxide removal, which are proposed by the IPCC as the only known technologies to achieve the 2ºC climate change goal of the Paris Accord.  Other participants from the Environmental and Energy Management Institute included Profs Joe Cascio and Jonathan Deason, along with doctoral students Ryan Gabel and Seth Barna, and recent EEM graduate Marija Stefanovic. The event was live-streamed to more than 100 additional participants worldwide. Dr. Jonassen also has been appointed to the Scientific Committee of the CPLC International Research Conference on Carbon Pricing.  The conference informs carbon pricing policy development and use of carbon pricing in businesses.  This committee will provide overall guidance and advice to the World Bank’s Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition, which sponsors the conference. 

On November 1, Dr. Kelly Scanlon hosted the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command for a discussion about pollution prevention programs with the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Chemical and Material Risk Management Program.  The meeting highlighted basic and applied pollution prevention research efforts, including programs in toxic metal reduction, airborne lead reduction, and cleaning and degreasing alternatives.  Dr. Scanlon also presented at the annual life cycle assessment conference, LCA XVII, held October 3-5 in Portsmouth, NH.  A platform presentation and two posters highlighted results of recent efforts by the U.S. Department of Defense to evaluate safer alternatives and associated reductions in costs and impacts to human health and the environment.  In addition, the Federal LCA Commons was recognized for their collective efforts to build LCA models and tools.  Dr. Scanlon leads the DoD’s participation in the Commons initiative.