PhD Candidate

Julia Choe is a Ph.D. candidate in the Civil and Systems Engineering program at Johns Hopkins University. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. At Johns Hopkins, she was introduced to her research interests in sustainability and renewable energy deployment through her involvement with the Department of Energy’s Collegiate Wind Competition. As a member of JHU’s participating student team, she contributed to designing and manufacturing a small-scale offshore wind turbine for wind tunnel testing and eventually led a project development team to plan a theoretical offshore wind farm installation in the Gulf of Mexico. In her free time, she enjoys creating mixed media artwork.

PhD Candidate

Li Zeng is a PhD candidate in the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. His research interests focus on climate innovation and the economics of clean technologies. He holds a BSc in Materials Engineering with a minor in Business from the University of British Columbia and an MSc in Technology and Economics from ETH Zurich. Li has gained industry experience from multiple private equity funds investing in clean techs. He also has prior research experience at the National University of Singapore as well as Swiss Institute of Science, Technology and Policy.

PhD Candidate

Qi Gao is a PhD candidate in the Innovation, Policy, and Entrepreneurship Thrust at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou). His research focuses on cost reduction strategies for carbon removal technology. Before beginning his research journey, Qi worked for a nonprofit organization that assists Chinese businesses in developing low-carbon strategies and showcasing their climate actions at several United Nations Climate Change Conferences (COP24-COP27). He holds an MA in Philanthropic Studies from Indiana University and a BSc in Business from Western Oregon University and Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai.

Graduate Student

Yueze (Judy) Fan is a Master’s student in the System Engineering program at Johns Hopkins University. She holds dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Applied Mathematics and in Environmental Policy from UC Davis. Her current research interest is data-driven environmental policy. During an internship at the Environmental Defense Fund, she worked on projects on air pollution hotspot identification and hydrogen emissions and mitigation.

Undergraduate Student

Alina Wang is an undergraduate student at Johns Hopkins University, majoring in Computer Science with minors in Energy and Classics. Her research interests include renewable energy project finance, wind energy development, and soft technologies for energy system decarbonization. She currently serves as co-captain of the Hopkins Student Wind Energy Team (HSWET). Outside of academics, Alina enjoys reading, exploring the city, and playing squash with friends.

Undergraduate Student

Alan Liu-Sui is an undergraduate student at Harvey Mudd College with a major in Engineering. He is part of the ROSETAS REU program hosted by the Ralph O'Connor Sustainable Energy Institute. His research focuses on modeling grid-scale battery storage systems to gain insights into battery design and costs. He has previously conducted battery nanoengineering research at UC San Diego on lithium-copper coin cells.

PhD Candidate

Dantu Lu is a PhD candidate in the Division of Public Policy. His research interests are in technology management, energy transitions, sustainability, and business processes. He holds a BSc in Applied Mathematics from UCLA and an MA in Climate and Society from Columbia University. Prior to joining the Deployment Lab, he was the Chief Operating Officer of Grid Symphony, Inc, a smart grid and smart building company in New York City.