PostDocs

Ning Qi is a postdoctoral research scientist in Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University. He received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua University in 2023. Before joining Columbia, he was a postdoc at the Digital Power System (DPS) lab in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University. He was a visiting scholar at Technical University of Denmark in 2022. He received a B.E. degree in Electrical Engineering from Tianjin University in 2018. His current research focuses on data-driven modeling, optimization under uncertainty, and market design for generic energy storage.

PhD Students

Saud Alghumayjan received his B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from King Saud University in 2018 and his M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University in 2022. Before joining Columbia University, he worked at the Center for Complex Engineering Systems at KACST and MIT as a Research Specialist where he tackled various problems related to power systems such as Electricity Fraud Detection and Time-series Forecasting. Saud's research interests are in the areas of machine and statistical learning, optimization, and computational modeling.

Elizabeth Cohn (joint with Upmanu Lall) received her B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics from Johns Hopkins University in 2020. Before joining the PhD program at Columbia University, she worked as a data scientist for Optum where she created AI/ML solutions to improve their health service offerings. Eliza's research interests include renewable energy, the power grid, water systems, and methods to design equitable management strategies for the water-energy nexus in the face of climate change.

Yousuf Baker received his B.Sc in Electrical Engineering from Boston University in 2021 and his M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University in 2022. Prior to returning for his PhD, Yousuf acted as Project Lead of a research team at the Dubai Future Labs and was a research assistant with the Bolun Xu Group. His focus is on power system economics and on the intersection of optimization, controls, and learning for high-renewable energy systems.

Emily Logan received her B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University. Before joining Columbia University, she worked as a Mechanical Design Engineer at Tesla, focusing on large-scale battery storage systems and electric vehicle chargers. Emily's research interests include renewable energy, energy storage, and the power grid.

Alice Foster received her B.A. in Applied Mathematics from Brown University in 2021. Before joining Columbia University, she worked as a data analyst at EDP Renewables, where she monitored the performance of a wind and solar fleet. Alice is interested in grid resiliency to extreme weather, optimal infrastructure planning and control, and geospatial analysis.

Ambre Decilap received her B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in 2023. Before joining Columbia University, she worked as a mineral processing engineer at Sublime Systems, where she designed, installed, tested, and troubleshot machinery in a pilot factory for low-carbon cement. Ambre's research interests include renewable energy, industrial decarbonization, power grids, climate justice, and combating scarcity in the food-energy-water nexus.

Master Research Students

Beini Lu received her B.Eng. degree in New Energy Science and Engineering and a dual B.Mgt. degree in Accounting from China University of Petroleum (Beijing). She is currently pursuing her M.S. degree in Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University. Her research focuses on renewable-powered electrochemical systems for low-carbon fuel production.

Visitors

Ben Melcher received his B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering at Karlsruhe Insitute of Technology and is pursuing his M.Sc. in Management, Technology and Economics at ETH Zurich. He is currently conducting his master’s thesis at Columbia University in collabration with Outlast Power, focusing control and optimization of distributed battery energy storage.

Raphaëlle Souquet is pursuing her M.Sc. in Energy Science and Technology at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). She is currently conducting her master's thesis at Columbia University, focusing on risk management for battery energy storage in ERCOT electricity markets.

Victoria Arduini received her B.Sc. in Computer Science from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and is currently pursuing an M.Sc. in Data Science with a minor in Financial Engineering, also at EPFL. She is now conducting her master's thesis at Columbia University focusing on hedging tail risks in forward electricity contracts.

Alumni

Liudong Chen (PhD, Earth and Environmental Engineering, 2026), Harvard University (postdoc)

Zhiyuan Fan (PhD, Earth and Environmental Engineering, 2026), Harvard University (postdoc)

Ming Yi (Postdoc, Data Science Institute, 2026), Concord New Energy

Ruonan (Pina) Pi (MS, Earth and Environmental Engineering, 2026), University of Washington, Seattle (PhD student)

Justin Clarke (BS, Computer Science, 2026), Stanford University (MS student)

Ningkun (Nik) Zheng (PhD, Earth and Environmental Engineering, 2024), Baltimore Gas and Electric Company

Ruijia Wang (MS, Operation Research, 2024), Caerus Commodities

Neal Ma (MS, Earth and Environmental Engineering, 2024), SPAN

Umar Salman (MS, Earth and Environmental Engineering, 2023), University of Connecticut (PhD student)

Jiajun Han (MS, Electrical Engineering, 2023), University of Michigan Ann Arbor (PhD student)

Joshua Jaworski (MS, Electrical Engineering, 2022), First Quantum Minerals

Steven Liu (BS, Computer Science, 2022), Balyasny Asset Management

Past Visitors

Axel Rossettini, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Yuxin Ma, Tsinghua University

Xueyuan Cui, The University of Hong Kong

Zhiyi Zhou, Xi’an Jiaotong University

Wenting Ma, Tsinghua University

Alumni and past visitors detailed bios