People

Primary Investigator

Dr. Laura Schaefer

Dr. Laura Schaefer’s research centers on the analysis, design and optimization of energy systems, with an emphasis on improving energy efficiency and diversification for increased sustainability. This area of research is rapidly becoming even more important, since our energy requirements are growing while our natural resources are being depleted. To that end, Dr. Schaefer’s research approach has been to examine energy systems both from a fundamentals viewpoint and in a societal/environmental context. These systems include absorption cycles, fuel cells, two-phase microchannel flow, multijunction solar cells, hydrokinetics, and thermoacoustics. Although these topics may initially seem disparate, they are unified through the application of rigorous thermofluid modeling techniques (including the lattice Boltzmann method) both on the small scale and at the continuum level.
Dr. Schaefer’s research has received over $11 million in funding by organizations such as NSF, AFOSR, ASHRAE, PITA, and NCIIA.

Research Scientists

Dr. Shima Soleimani

Dr. Soleimani is a postdoctoral associate in the Energy System Lab at Rice University. She is an expert in analysis, design, operation, and optimization of energy systems that involve applications of fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and thermodynamics. Her research emphasizes improving energy efficiency and system sustainability by considering the reliability, and economic and environmental analysis of energy systems.

Research Interests:  Computational fluid dynamic (CFD), heat transfer, heat exchangers, CO2 heat pump, thermal energy storage, optimization, machine learning

Email: ss311 [at] rice.edu

 

Doctoral Students

Kashif Liaqat

Kashif obtained a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from Florida State University in 2021 as a Fulbright Scholar. He joined ESL as a Ph.D. student in 2022.

Research Interests:  Modeling and optimization of concentrated solar power (CSP) systems; waste heat recovery using heat pumps and organic rankine cycle; machine learning-based optimization of renewables

Email: kl112 [at] rice.edu          Web: kashifliaqat.github.io

 

 

Visiting Researchers

Muhammad Saud Ul Hassan

Saud is a visiting researcher at ESL working on the application of deep learning methods to problems in energy systems and climate science. Concurrently, he is a senior software engineer at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Saud has a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering (Robotics) from Florida State University.

Web: msaudulhassan.github.io 

 

Undergraduate Researchers 

  • Aaron Cole
  • Ricky Miller
  • Sophie Leibowitz

 

Rice University Alumni

Post-Docs / Research Scientists:

  • Parthib Rao, Ph.D.
  • Leitao Chen, Ph.D.

Graduate Students:

  • Nick Jean-Louis, Ph.D.
  • Mohamed Nemer, Ph.D.
  • Tim Petrosius, Ph.D.
  • Ricardo Andres Poveda Calderon, Ph.D.
  • Marcelo Rodrigues Fernandes, Ph.D.
  • Kenechi Agbim, Ph.D.
  • Yinlong (John) Sun, M.S.

 

University of Pittsburgh Alumni

Post-Docs:
  • Jie Bao, Ph.D, May 2010 – October 2010.
  • Florian Zink, Ph.D., December 2009 – May 2010.
  • Mustafa Bayrak, Ph.D., January 2007 – December 2007.
  • Yuksel Korkmaz, Ph.D., January 2003 – December 2004.
  • Pei-Wen Li, Ph.D., Co-Directed with M. K. Chyu, August 2001 – July 2006.
Graduate Students:
  • Michael Ikeda, Ph.D., Graduated December 2012.
  • Yang Hu, Ph.D., Graduated (from CMU) May 2012.
  • Jie Bao, Ph.D., Graduated May 2010.
  • Tony Kerzmann, Ph.D.,Graduated August 2010.
  • Veronica Miller, Ph.D., Graduated August 2010.
  • Florian Zink, Ph.D., Graduated December 2009.
  • Michael Guido, Ph.D., Graduated December 2005.
  • Peng Yuan, Ph.D., Graduated December 2005.
  • Yixin Lu, Ph.D., Graduated April 2005.
  • Michael Ikeda, M.S. —  Graduated December 2010.
  • Wesley Knotts, M.S. — Graduated August 2010.
  • Benjamin Leven, M.S. — September 2007 – December 2008.
  • Raymond Brush, M.S. — Graduated August 2004.

University of Pittsburgh Laboratory Page