My Background

I am an Assistant Professor in the IMSE department at UTA and the founder and director of the SEAR or Sustainable and Equitable Allocation of Resources Lab. The SEAR lab investigates how communities, companies, and countries can allocate their limited resources in a way that maximizes their desired outcomes in a sustainable, equitable, and resilient but also elegant way. We assess these problems by combining physical experimentation, data analytics, and stochastic systems optimization to provide actionable decisions and create scalable prototypes.

I spent several years working in the design, manufacturing, oil and gas, and HVAC industries. During this time, I traveled around the world and witnessed how the lack of basic infrastructure like electricity, HVAC systems, clean water, internet, and banking negatively affects the quality of life of the majority of the world’s population. These experiences motivated me to pursue research that can enhance quality of life by improving access to sustainable resources and economic opportunities, particularly where a lack of physical infrastructure or economic resources presents a major obstacle.

This lead to the creation of the SEAR lab where some of our projects include: Green Energy Supply Chains, Microgrids, Green Buildings Design and Operation Analytics, Equity Integration into Energy System, and Infrastructure Models.

The SEAR lab is part of an innovation ecosystem that includes the RFID and Auto Identification and Data Science (RAID) labs where I serve as director, the Center for Stochastic Modeling, Optimization, and Statistics (COSMOS) where I serve as their Sustainability Lab Director, and the Pulsed Power Energy Lab.

I have also worked with the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute (TEPRI, where I serve as Academic Liaison), Los Alamos National Labs, Carbon Solutions LLC, the City of Austin Climate Action Plan Working Group, the Houston Health Department, Green Careers Dallas (where I serve on their board), and the City of Dallas.

I believe in diversity of thought, the power of institutional support from governments and organizations, and the necessity of inclusive decision making. As a result, I serve as the UTA GEM Consortium University Representative and as an advisor to UTA-LSAMP with the goal of providing research experiences and full funding for underrepresented students from high school to a MS or PhD degree. I have and continue to participate in K-12 education and outreach activities such as Science in Residence, the All-Earth EcoBot Challenge, and Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day.

Education:

• PhD in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, University of Texas, 2021
• MS in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, University of Texas, 2019
• BS in Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2014