Energy Club Officers

Hugo Santarem de Araujo

Hugo Santarem de Araujo

President

Born and raised in Brazil, Hugo got his B.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from the Universidade Federal Fluminense. During college, he was the recipient of the Science without Borders scholarship funded by the Brazilian government and studied for a year at RPI, in Troy NY. After college, he worked for a few years in a research center in Rio de Janeiro with hydrologic modeling and scenario generation. In 2021, he joined the Mays Group, from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, to start his Ph.D. His work with Prof. Mays focuses on the analysis and design of electricity markets.

Zoe PollardZoe Pollard

Vice President

Zoe is from Gig Harbor, WA and received her B.S. in Mathematics and Materials Science from Western Washington University. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Cornell’s Engineering Materials for Energy and the Environment Lab led by Dr. Jillian Goldfarb. Her research focuses on the development of environmentally conscious fabrication techniques for porous materials used in water and air filtrations.

Firehiwot GuraraFirehiwot Gurara

Secretary

Firehiwot Gurara is a third year PhD student working with professor Afridi in High Frequency Power Electronics Group. Her research focuses on the application of power electronics for designing high power density and high frequency power converters for thermoelectric generation and renewable energy harvesting. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies, taking short walks, and writing Amharic poems. 

Yue Deng

Yue Deng

Treasurer

Yue received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Davis. She is currently a third-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, working with Professor Lynden Archer. Her research focuses on rechargeable lithium/sodium batteries and metal anodes, with interests in renewable energy and green vehicles. 

Jeff SwardJeff Sward

Energy Seminar Liason

Jeff Sward, Ph.D. candidate in Professor Max Zhang’s Energy and the Environment Research Lab in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, was always taken by the mystery of the natural sciences. It wasn’t until his first year of undergrad, when he was majoring in Physics, that he realized his true passion was mechanical engineering.

His interest in mechanical engineering was sparked by its link to renewable energy – the focus of the Energy and the Environment Research Lab. Throughout his undergraduate years, Sward was interested in the massive wind developments cropping up across the country which led him to apply to graduate school to study renewable energy systems

Ezra BrodyEzra Brody

Social Media coordinator

Ezra is a first-year PhD student working with Max Zhang's group in Mechanical Engineering. 

Erik AndersonErik Anderson

Undergraduate coordinator

My name is Erik Anderson and I am pursuing a major in environmental engineering. I have always been interested in renewable energy and am excited to see what its future look like. In my free time, I enjoy running, skiing, and spending time outdoors.