PostDocs
Ming Yi is a postdoctoral research scientist in Data Science Institute at Columbia University. He received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2022. He was an intern at the Argonne National Laboratory. He received a 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. His current research focuses on machine learning, energy storage, power system economics, and resilience.
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
Liudong Chen 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, Beijing, China. His research interests include energy system economics and optimization and social behavioral modeling.
Zhiyuan Fan 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 focuses on transitional energy infrastructure analysis using energy system modeling tools, especially energy infrastructure in supporting carbon-neutral economic development. He is also an active member of the Energy System Modeling Program at the Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP), SIPA, Columbia University.
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 statistical learning methods 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.
Master Research Students
Prisca Chang is a master's student in Data Science at Columbia University, with a background in management and data science from National Tsing Hua University. Her work integrates statistical learning and machine learning for real-world applications in energy systems and market analytics. At Columbia, she focuses on electricity price forecasting and arbitrage optimization, contributing to the development and evaluation of the ArbiCharge model. Her broader interests include predictive modeling, time-series analysis, and the intersection of AI with sustainability and energy innovation.
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. She is currently pursuing her M.S. in Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University. Her research focuses 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. Her broader interests include AI-driven energy modeling, low-carbon transitions, and sustainable industrial systems.
Undergraduate Research Students
Justin Clarke, hailing from Jamaica, is an undergraduate research assistant at Columbia University, studying Computer Science with a focus on AI/ML and minoring in Psychology, and is a distinguished C.P. Davis Scholar. He worked with the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Technology Branch on innovation strategies and also tutors mathematics. Justin holds leadership positions in campus residential communities and cultural organizations, promoting inclusion and engagement.
Alumni
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
Yuexin 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