There are two faculty candidate finalists who will be virtually visiting UW next week (June 1-4). Please mark your calendars for the following seminars and chalk talks.
Dr. Jasmina Burek, Postdoctoral Associate, MIT
Seminar: Tuesday, June 1, 12:30-1:20pm
- Zoom link here
- Meeting ID: 961 0872 1214
Chalk talk: Wednesday, June 2, 12:30-1:15pm
- Zoom link here
- Meeting ID: 995 0952 2462
Bethany Gordon, PhD Candidate and NSF Graduate Research Fellow, University of Virginia
Seminar: Thursday, June 3, 12:30-1:20pm
- Zoom link here
- Meeting ID: 918 6218 9250
Chalk talk: Friday, June 4, 12:30-1:15pm
- Zoom link here
- Meeting ID: 966 7291 8805
Learn more about each candidate and their seminars below.
Dr. Jasmina Burek
Seminar: Data-Driven Methods for Transitions Towards Affordable Zero Energy Buildings
Abstract: In the United States, we live and work in buildings that waste energy and often risk health and productivity. Buildings consume 70% of total electricity in the United States and generate one third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. PresidentBiden’s infrastructure plan includes major efficiency investments that would reduce GHG emissions and energy costs. One of the largest investments of the infrastructure plan includes more than $200 billion in tax credits and grants to improve and build affordable housing and $100 billion for electric grid and clean energy. Also, the U.S. Department of Energy has established a goal for all new buildings to be built to a zero energy standard by 2030. Zero energy buildings reduce GHG emissions, enhance security of energy system, reduce dependency on the grid, and offer greater resilience against potentially disruptive events. Data can be a powerful tool for making change, whether used to challenge the set goals or to provide the most feasible solutions. In this talk, I will focus on several data-driven methods to help transition towards affordable zero energy buildings including (1) cleaner energy use in buildings, (2) affordable passive houses in California, and (3) zero energy food distribution centers in the United States. First, I will provide a concept for machine learning campus-wide project, which could help reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions of the MIT campus by dynamically adjusting building temperature set points. Next, I will show that passive houses and zero energy buildings can be cheaper to build than their conventional counterparts using a streamlined whole building whole life model. The presented passive house and zero energy building solutions can decrease the climate change impact and provide design options at lower life cycle cost in SanFrancisco area. Finally, I will show potential to shift existing U.S. food distribution center networks from energy consumers to energy producers and/or zero energy buildings using the multi-objective optimization model. To identify reduction opportunities from electric grid dependency of buildings, I analyzed the potential to replace fossil fuel derived electricity with an optimal combination of wind and solar energy. The research provided feasible cost-effective options for the retail industry to increase solar and wind energy use in its distribution centers. The methods shown can be extended to account for community resilience, and thus provide the next evolution in the design of the sustainable and resilient buildings.
Bio: Jasmina Burek is a Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositiveEnterprise (SHINE) Postdoctoral Associate in the Materials Systems Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She received her BSc and MSc in Mechanical Engineering from theUniversity of Zagreb and completed her PhD in Mechanical Engineering with Darin Nutter at the University of Arkansas. Her research focuses on sustainability engineering and advancing the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. Throughout 17 years of graduate-level research and industry experience, Jasmina Burek has gained expertise and a broad background across mechanical and sustainability fields, focusing broadly on renewable energy, agri-food systems, buildings, and transport. She conducted research on biomass technology from rapeseed and woody biomass to innovative technologies for acid whey treatment and rice husk torrefaction.
Her dissertation was a foundational research project where she assessed the environmental sustainability of food distribution centers and supermarkets, provided cost-effective strategies to transition distribution centers to zero energy buildings using multi-objective optimization, and established method to calculate perishable food storage and retailing environmental impact. As a member of Resilient Food Initiative at the University of Arkansas, she was working to improve the resiliency of the agri-food systems by applying LCA, techno-economic analysis, process modeling, and optimization models to benchmark and provide cost-effective strategies to reduce the environmental impacts of agriculture and food supply chains, and to produce enough high quality and nutritious food for an ever-expanding population. Last year she won an Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab grant to conduct research on modeling cost-effective and environmentally sustainable swine diets in Global South. At MIT, with the guidance of Greg Norris, who coined the term “handprints”, she has conceptualized the SHINE handprint assessment method for measuring positive changes in terms of benefits to the environment, the economy, and society. Currently, Jasmina is working on finding cost-effective early design solutions for passive houses and zero energy buildings. To improve MIT campus, she has been working on a collaborative machine learning campus-wide project, which could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions of the MIT campus and has been collaborating with the student body and leaders in the administration to develop recommendations for MIT’s Plan for Action on Climate Change. Finally, as a member of SACNAS, SWE, and MIT Postdoctoral Association, Jasmina has been working to address the issues of women in engineering and all aspects of diversity, equity, and inclusion for postdocs and students, and has been advocating for awareness and institutional changes.
Bethany Gordon
Seminar: Building Resilience Through Behavioral Science: Critical Racial History as a Tool for Collecting Justice-Related Feedback on Infrastructure Projects
Abstract: This talk describes one project in a research program that seeks to strengthen equity outcomes for large-scale infrastructure systems through behavioral science. The illustrative project studies the relationship between critical racial history and equity-driven community engagement by experimentally simulating a feedback scenario on a renewable energy project. These experiments have the potential to show how intentional changes to project communication create an environment that is receptive to concerns about environmental racism. Prioritizing the needs of overburdened communities that continue to face environmental racism will contribute to resilience within and beyond the boundaries of overburdened communities. The data gathered from behavioral science experiments in this research program provide opportunities for scalable change in decision-making processes that build this resilience. Future paths for the larger program in engineering design for equitable climate adaptation will be discussed.
Bio: Bethany Gordon is a Civil Engineering PhD candidate in the Convergent Behavioral Science Initiative at the University of Virginia. She seeks to mitigate the effects of climate change on frontline and historically disadvantaged communities by advancing knowledge at the intersection of civil and environmental engineering, climate equity, and behavioral science. Her work is supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, a UVA SEAS Dean’s Scholar Fellowship, and a Department of Education GAANN Teaching Fellowship. She received her Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Virginia.