Alumni and Past Visitors

PostDocs

Ming Yi was a postdoctoral research scientist in the Data Science Institute at Columbia University until 2026. He received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2022, an M.S. degree in Control Science and Engineering from the Harbin Institute of Technology in 2018, and a B.E. degree in Automation from Harbin Engineering University in 2016. He was also an intern at Argonne National Laboratory. His research focused on machine learning, energy storage, power system economics, and resilience. He is now a data scientist at Concord New Energy.

PhD Students

Liudong Chen received his PhD degree in 2026 with a thesis on Behavior Modeling and Analysis in Energy Systems. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from North China Electric Power University, Beijing, China. Before joining Columbia, he was a research assistant at the State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, North China Electric Power University. His research interests include energy system economics and optimization and social behavioral modeling. He is now a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University.

Zhiyuan Fan received his PhD degree in 2026 with a thesis on Strategic Climate Mitigation Decisions Across Policy Contexts. He received his M.S. degree from Columbia University Mechanical Engineering and worked as a research associate at the Center on Global Energy Policy. His research focused on transitional energy infrastructure analysis using energy system modeling tools, especially energy infrastructure in supporting carbon-neutral economic development. He was also an active member of the Energy System Modeling Program at the Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP), SIPA, Columbia University. He is now a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University.

Ningkun (Nik) Zheng joined in 2021 and received his PhD degree in 2024. He received a B.S. degree from Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China in 2018 and an M.S. degree from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA, in 2019. Before joining Columbia, he was a research assistant at the Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. His research interests include power system economics and energy storage.

Master Research Students

Ruonan (Pina) Pi received her B.E. degree in Safety Engineering from China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), with a minor in Economics from Peking University, and her M.S. degree in Earth and Environmental Engineering from Columbia University in 2026. Her research focused on energy system optimization, industrial decarbonization, and machine learning for sustainable operations. She previously interned at Schneider Electric, where she worked on carbon neutrality consulting and energy efficiency solutions. She is now a PhD student at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Ruijia (Amalia) Wang received her B.S. degree in Mathematics and Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her M.S. degree in Operations Research from Columbia University. Her research focused on optimizing bidding strategies in the energy market. She was also an operational analyst intern at Goldman Sachs designing business intelligence models for process optimization. Her research interests include energy market optimization, machine learning, and AI applications in finance.

Neal Ma received his B.S. in Physics from Yale University in 2023 and his M.S. at Columbia in Earth and Environmental Engineering with a concentration in Sustainable Energy. His research interests include modeling renewable energy sources, energy storage, and distributed energy resources.

Umar Salman received the B.S. degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering from the University of Lagos, Nigeria in 2015. He obtained the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia in 2020. Before joining Columbia University, he was a research assistant at the Research Institute, KFUPM and the National Power Academy, Saudi Arabia. His research interests include modeling and optimization of energy storage, energy markets, and power systems.

Jiajun Han was an Electrical Engineering M.Sc. student at Columbia University. He received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from North China Electric Power University with a focus on power systems and grids.

Joshua Jaworski was an Electrical Engineering M.Sc. student at Columbia University. He received his B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle, U.S. in 2017. Before joining the M.Sc. program at Columbia, he was the lead Process Engineer at First Quantum Minerals' power station, port and copper concentrate filtration plant complex in Panama.

Undergraduate Research Students

Justin Clarke, hailing from Jamaica, was an undergraduate research assistant at Columbia University, studying Computer Science with a focus on AI/ML and minoring in Psychology, and a distinguished C.P. Davis Scholar. He worked with the Jamaica Constabulary Force's Technology Branch on innovation strategies and also tutored mathematics. Justin held leadership positions in campus residential communities and cultural organizations, promoting inclusion and engagement. He is now an M.S. student in Computer Science at Stanford University.

Steven Liu received his B.S. in Computer Science from Columbia Engineering in 2022. He is interested in Machine Learning and Operations Research, and joined the quantitative finance industry upon graduation.

Visitors

Axel Rossettini was a visiting student from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), where he is a Master's student in Mechanical Engineering. He conducted his master's thesis at Columbia University, focusing on modeling sodium-ion battery degradation and its applications in the power grid.

Yuxin Ma was a visiting student in Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University. She received her B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua University in 2021, where she is now pursuing her Ph.D. degree. Her research interests include optimal frequency control of power systems and optimal operation of energy storage systems.

Xueyuan Cui was a visiting student from The University of Hong Kong from February 2024 to August 2024. He received his B.E. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Zhejiang University in 2019 and 2022, respectively. He is now pursuing his Ph.D. degree at The University of Hong Kong. Before visiting Columbia, he was a visiting student at University of MONS, Belgium. His research interests include data-driven modeling and flexibility analysis of building energy systems.

Zhiyi Zhou was a visiting student from Xi'an Jiaotong University from August 2023 to February 2024. She received her B.E. in Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua University in 2021. Her research interests are in distributed control of microgrids, applying game theory in power systems, and electricity markets.