Fiona Kinniburgh, PhD Student in Environmental Politics and Technology, Technical University of Munich
Fiona researches the governance of sustainability transitions. Based at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), she is focusing her PhD on the phase-out of chemical pollutants in the agricultural sector, through a collaboration between Miranda Schreurs (TUM) and IAS Hans Fischer Senior Fellows Noelle Selin and Henrik Selin (Boston University). She earned her bachelors degree in Sustainable Development from Columbia University and her Master's in Environmental Policy from Sciences Po, and has worked at think tanks and research institutes in France and in the U.S. on a variety of policy issues relating to biodiversity, agriculture, climate change, and development. In her free time, she loves to play cello and try new types of dance.
Emmie Le Roy, PhD Candidate in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Emmie is interested in the fundamental processes that drive air quality and in developing better tools to assess the human health impacts from air pollution and climate change. Before coming to MIT, she worked at Washington University in St. Louis on the laboratory operations for the Surface Particulate Matter Network (SPARTAN) and conducted research at the Carnegie Institution for Science on modeling aerosol-induced changes to monsoon climates. Emmie earned her Sc.B. in Geology-Chemistry from Brown University where her bachelor’s thesis focused on the use of stable isotopes to identify sources of ammonium in urban precipitation. Outside of work, she loves going outdoors and in water, learning languages, trying new food trucks, and being an avid pedestrian.
Yuang Chen, PhD student in Social and Engineering Systems
Yuang is interested in understanding and solving issues in climate change, air quality and energy systems with mathematical and modeling approaches. At MIT, he is working toward efficient and rigorous climate and air pollution predictions, also setting ground for relevant policy analysis. Before joining MIT, Yuang earned his bachelor's degree in environmental science at Peking University. Yuang loves badminton and traveling in his free time.
Lexia Cicone, PhD student in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Lexia’s research interests involve the atmospheric transport of pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and learning to model and understand the relationships between anthropogenic influences, atmospheric cycling, and chemical properties. She earned a B.A. in Chemistry and a B.A. in Earth and Environmental Science from Boston University. While there, she worked with Lucy Hutyra and the Campus Climate Lab investigating the impacts of the COVID-19 shutdown on the university’s CO2 and CH4 emissions, concentrations, and energy use. She was also a member of the Coker group at Boston University where she used QM/MM modeling techniques to understand the down conversion of light in algae for applications in solar panels. During her free time she enjoys cooking vegan food, reading nonfiction, playing board games, hiking, and obstacle course racing.
Eric Roy, PhD student in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Eric is interested in improving the representation of observational datasets and meteorological uncertainty within global mercury models. Prior to attending MIT, Eric earned dual B.S. degrees in Atmospheric Science and Mathematics from UMass Lowell, where his honors thesis investigated the linkages between mercury concentrations, fluxes, and the planetary boundary layer from observations measured over two forest sites. As an undergrad, Eric also interned with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Air Resources Lab through the NOAA Lapenta Internship Program (2020) and with the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab as a NOAA Hollings Scholar (2021). When outside of the lab, Eric enjoys hiking, mountain biking, and golfing.
Charikleia Gournia, Visiting PhD Student (Fall 2022, Spring 2023)
Charikleia Gournia is an Early Stage Researcher at the “Global Mercury Observation and Training Network in Support to the Minamata Convention” (MSCA ITN H2020 GMOS-TRAIN). Charikleia’s study focuses on constructing policy scenarios for mercury emission reductions in line with the Minamata Convention. Using global 3-D chemical transport models, she simulates scenarios that reflect future mercury reduction policies worldwide and evaluates their impacts and effectiveness. Charikleia is a doctoral researcher in the European project GMOS-train (www.gmos-train.eu) funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. She performs research in the Italian National Research Council's Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research at the Division of Rende and is a Ph.D. student in the Ecotechnologies study programme of the Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She is supported and scientifically supervised by Prof. Noelle Selin and Dr. Aryeh Feinberg and is frequently seconded at MIT. She also collaborates with the European Commission-Joint Research Centre (Ispra, Italy) and other European institutes. Charikleia holds a four-year degree in Mathematics combined with a two-year master's degree in Environmental Sciences. Outside of work, she loves digital and traditional painting.
Chris Womack, Master's student in Technology and Policy
Chris is interested in improving numerical methods for climate simulations while focusing on the interface between research and policy-making, investigating how different stakeholders influence model development. He is currently pursuing dual S.M. degrees in Aerospace Computational Engineering and Technology and Policy. Prior to joining the group, he worked with David Darmofal in the Aerospace Computational Design Laboratory (ACDL) studying the impacts of curved meshing on higher-order, adaptive finite element methods (FEM). He earned his B.S. from MIT in Aerospace Engineering with a focus in numerical methods for partial differential equations, researching the accuracy and convergence of stabilized FEM as an undergraduate research assistant in the ACDL. He is an active member of MIT’s Ballroom Dance Team and in his free time he enjoys watching movies, playing video games, and spending time outdoors.