I am a principal research scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), where my research focuses on developing advanced decision-support tools for planning and operating resilient, low-carbon energy systems as well as design and integration of novel energy technologies. Prior to MIT, I spent nearly five years in the energy and petrochemicals industry working on a range of sustainability-focused research topics, including conversion of biomass to fuels and chemicals, low-carbon hydrogen production and developing optimization based tools for energy infrastructure planning, as well as process and product design. My industrial experience included a stint at ExxonMobil Corporate Strategic Research, where I contributed to research on power systems modeling, technology life cycle assessment and also led a research program to study energy challenges in developing countries.  My research contributions include several peer-reviewed publications and development of open-source software for supporting analysis for the energy transition. For example, I contributed to the development of the GenX model, to support planning for low-carbon electricity systems with flexible representations of emerging technologies. I hold an M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University and a B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India. A complete record of my work and educational experience can be found on my linkedin page.

Update: The SET group will be moving to Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at New York University (NYU) Tandon School of Engineering starting Jan 1, 2024.