Human-technology systems | Climate change and digitalization
Research Profile
I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society at MIT, focusing on human-technology systems in the context of climate change and digitalization. I am particularly interested in how human-technology interactions evolve with changes in systems, how interventions can steer human-technology interactions, and how they affect the wider system dynamics and resulting infrastructure needs, and vice versa. My interdisciplinary research connects engineering and social sciences, using, e.g., agent-based modeling, data analyses, choice experiments, and interviews. By integrating qualitative and quantitative data, I work to provide nuanced decision support for industry and policymaking to design sustainable and resilient systems. I have attracted over 220,000 USD in research grants and fellowships, including from the Swiss National Science Foundation. I am passionate about increasing diversity and inclusion inside and outside of the research community through mentorship, teaching, and outreach.
Publications
My work has investigated the interaction of technology control with decision-making, incentives for changing the use of technology to improve system outcomes, and the impact of the adoption and use of new technologies on system dynamics. For example, I examined the decision-making of adopting heat pumps and charging electric vehicles in interaction with control algorithms and incentives.
As I aim to support the knowledge transfer between academia, industry, policy, and the public, my publications include peer-reviewed journal articles, practitioner articles, and blog posts.
Scientific Conference Contributions
I enjoy exchanging ideas about sustainable human-technology systems with colleagues across different countries and backgrounds. I seek to engage with communities across fields, including complexity science, operations research, behavioral science, technology innovation, and system modeling.
Talks
Besides invited presentations at scientific seminars, I regularly speak at industry and policy conferences/seminars, co-lead workshops with different stakeholders, and have been a podcast guest.
Advising and Teaching
One of my passions is to engage with students from various backgrounds, including different engineering disciplines, natural sciences, and social sciences. I particularly enjoy developing student research projects and discussing them in weekly one-on-one meetings. From undergraduate to graduate courses and from large lectures to small seminars, I find discussions with students inspiring and seek to provide an interdisciplinary perspective on pressing societal challenges, such as climate change. I have implemented innovative teaching methods, e.g., peer assessment and the Six Sentence Argument (6SA), and developed online teaching videos.