EFCampus Research Assistants

Meet the EFCampus Research Assistants. EFCampus is the campus-based component of the Environmental Frontiers initiative, enabling students to use campus data as a case study for understanding a path to a more sustainable future. Undergraduate Research Assistants will work remotely in partnership with the University of Chicago’s Facilities Services’ Office of Sustainability, the Committee on Environment, Geography and Urbanization (CEGU), the Center for Robust Decision-making on Climate and Energy Policy (RDCEP), and the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation on projects analyzing energy system data to consider opportunities to create energy-savings and reduce excess consumption on campus and beyond.

Louise Wang

Graduate Student Lead

Louise Wang is a joint degree student pursuing a Master’s in Public Policy at the Harris School of Public Policy & Master’s in Business Administration at Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. Prior to attending graduate school, Louise had a variety of experience from regulatory strategy and product growth focused on energy efficiency and electrification for a utility in New York to consulting and non-profit operations. As the graduate student lead, Louise supports the development of EF Campus initiatives and manages both teams of undergraduate research assistants.

Kriti Arunkundrum

Booth School of Business Air Travel Emissions Analysis

Kriti is a third-year majoring in Environmental Science and Computer Science. Specifically, she is passionate about renewable energy and expanding its reach to mitigate the effects of climate change. She has previously interned at US Green Chamber of Commerce, a non-profit organization that consults on sustainable solutions, and was involved with the advocacy efforts of the Save Bell Bowl Prairie campaign in Rockford, Illinois. On campus she is part of the Ultimate Frisbee team and volunteers with Gateway to the Great Outdoors. She is excited to develop her research and qualitative skills through looking deeper into and proposing travel minimization methods that will help the University become more sustainable.

Ellen Ma EF Campus

Ellen Ma

Laboratory Building Energy Analysis

Ellen is a third-year majoring in Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies. She is interested in urban development and sustainable building design, and she is also looking into agrotech and sustainable food innovation. Ellen is currently co-president of the Phoenix Sustainability Initiative and has fulfilled service and leadership roles within the organization for the past three years. Having worked in numerous labs, Ellen has observed inefficient and wasteful laboratory practices and hopes to mitigate them through the Lab Project.

Raghav Pardasani

Laboratory Building Energy Analysis

Raghav is a third-year majoring in Economics and Environmental Studies. Raghav is part of the Phoenix Sustainability Initiative, the founder of the newly-formed Energy & Climate Club, and has participated in various climate conferences and treks, including COP27 in Egypt. Raghav is also working at the Illinois Environmental Council this summer and previously worked at Calvert Impact Capital, an impact investing firm. He wishes to pursue a career in the energy industry to accelerate the transition to a greener grid. He is excited to work with his peers and a variety of stakeholders to contribute to efforts to reduce the University’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Julie Pichonnat

Booth School of Business Air Travel Emissions Analysis

Julie is a second-year majoring in environmental science and environment, geography, and urbanization. Specifically, she is interested in studying sustainable infrastructure design that addresses climate resiliency and social inequity. Julie has previously worked with environmental advocacy groups and has spent her first year at UChicago developing her skills in spatial data analysis. This Summer, she is looking forward to collaborating with other RAs and contributing to sustainability efforts at UChicago while further growing her skills in research

Vincent Zheng

Laboratory Building Energy Analysis

Vincent is a second-year double majoring in economics and data science. He is interested in tackling energy efficiency issues through a financial and economic lens. Vincent has taught conservation and participated in land restoration in New Mexico this past summer, and during that time, discovered that he enjoyed taking a quantitative approach to solving sustainability problems. As a research assistant, he hopes to combine the efforts and skills he’s passionate about to improve energy usage on campus.