Stanford University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Memorial High School

Master's Student at Stanford University Interested in Sustainability and the Environment

Researching Commercial Building Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems to determine impacts of operation changes on reduction in emissions from energy consumption

PhD Candidate

Prepared material for interactive weekly recitation sessions with students to solidify concepts taught during the weeks’ lectures. Actively contributed to development of weekly problem sets with a concentration on creating clear and thought-provoking problems

Teaching Assistant

Designs and creates handmade eco-friendly jewelry and accessories. Sells online at Re-becca.net and at local fairs and bazaars.

Re-becca Jewelry

Business Owner

Partnered with the site operations team to understand the building heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system and run experiments to determine cost and emissions savings from changing operating baselines.
Adapted previously developed methodology to an HVAC system with less local controls and analyzed impacts from differences in climate as compared to previously conducted experiments and discussions.
Found opportunity for estimated $100,000 in yearly costs savings through minor operations changes to HVAC system that do not impact occupant comfort.

ExxonMobil

Low Carbon Solutions Intern

Developed excel-based circular economy model to handle multiple allocation methods for the reuse of decommissioned IT assets including IT data center racks. Based methodology on rigorous literature review of recent Life Cycle Analysis research as well as industry standards.

ITRenew

Sustainability Consultant

Leveraged internal life cycle analysis optimization tool to develop pathways for decarbonization of current refinery assets as well as conduct sensitivity analyses under both cost and emissions constraints.
Collaborated with the molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) team to help develop understanding of tradeoffs between CO2 storage potential and electricity production from low concentration flue gas streams and developed and integrated a MCFC module into the internal life cycle analysis optimization tool for holistic analysis of opportunities for current refinery assets.

Optimization and Life Cycle Assessment Group Intern

Conducted a cradle-to-grave Life Cycle Analysis for conventional jet fuel and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and a Techno-Economic Assessment for conventional jet fuel using sources including GREET19 and the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Implemented the jet fuel and CCS modules in Python into SESAME, a joint project with the MIT Energy Initiative to create an online tool for evaluating the environmental and economic impacts of the global energy system and future transition pathways. 
Created a flexible sensitivity analysis in Python to facilitate future key knob identification in GREET19 from hundreds of options

Emerging Energies Intern

Thesis Topic: Scope 3 Emissions from Purchased Goods: Using Food Purchasing as a Case Study for Best Practices.
Developed a Python-based tool hosted on a publicly available website to automatically categorize food purchases into categories for which emissions factors exist, reducing analysis time from at least 3 days to less than 10 minutes.
Collaborated with 8 universities across the United States to validate categorization script which has now been recommended to 100+ institutions through partnerships with SIMAP and the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative.

Masters Candidate

Performed a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) on lubricating oil processing using GREET17
Developed an understanding of LCA methodologies, modeling tools, and GaBi LCA software

Analyzed data from previous experiments using MATLAB and Pipeline Pilot to determine effects on vehicle efficiency. Extended project beyond original goals - developed a user interface to facilitate future comparisons of pre- and post-experimental vehicle efficiencies.

Fuels Breakthrough Intern

Laboratory of Optimization, Projects, and Advanced Controls (LOPCA)
Second author of a review paper on the feasibility of using levulinic acid to produce ethyl levulinate as a diesel additive
Explored the Brazilian production process of second generation ethanol and excelled in a Portuguese-speaking professional environment

Universidade Estadual de Campinas

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Principal Investigator: Gregory Stephanopoulos Research Advisor: Devin Currie
Tested and optimized designer bacteria communities for conversion of food waste to useful products
Contributed to the development of a devulcanization process for the recycling of rubber tires

MIT Laboratory for Bioinformatics and Metabolic Engineering

Writes articles for bi-monthly newsletter about social entrepreneurs and has learned basics of entrepreneurship and writing skills

Women's Global Network, Inc.

Intern

Worked in a fully Spanish-speaking working environment and learned how to work with Salesforce

Rebecca Grekin