Work Experience

Government Policy Advisor and Wind Energy Specialist, Summer 2023

Steelhead Americas, Vestas, United States

Description: Wind and solar projects are proliferating in the Midwestern United States, and many communities in Kansas have embraced the shift toward sustainable energy technology. Yet because of entrenched values around land use and increasing polarization around issues of impact in communities, a grass-roots⎯and pseudo-grassroots⎯style resistance has emerged in many rural communities. We, therefore, propose a case study in Osage County, Kansas, where a two-year wind energy project recently stalled after a moratorium on all sustainable energy projects was passed by the Osage County Board of Commissioners. Osage County is a perfect setting for a research and community engagement project to analyze the impacts of renewable energy on the local landscape, economy, and community and to understand how value conflicts might be resolved in light of the communities’ needs and visions for its future.
Project Manager: Sara Taliaferro

Assistant to Dr. Rachel M. Krause

Project: Dealing with disruption: Investigating the micro-level underpinnings of city response to the climate crisis
Activities: Data collection, survey instrument development, survey modeling in Qualtrics, managing dissemination of surveys, building and analyzing statistical models, writing conference papers and journal papers, presenting at conferences, conducting systematic literature reviews, newspaper archival search, developing websites, network data collection, developing interview instruments, conducting interviews

Sustainability Advisory Board, City of Lawrence, Kansas, United States

KU Center for Undergraduate Research, University of Kansas, United States

Assisting with the Emerging Scholars program, engaging minority & low-income undergraduate students with research

Smart Energy Design Assistance Center (SEDAC), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States

Developing climate action plans
Performing building energy analysis; wastewater treatment plant analysis; GHG emissions, and solar analysis
Energy code support
Conducting investigations of energy use in buildings and construction types

Paydar Andish Sayan Company (LLC), Tehran, Iran

Projects:

Collaboration with the Organization for Development, Renovation, and Equipping Schools of Iran to develop a sustainable building assessment system for schools.
Collaboration with Iran Insurance Company to develop building assessment models to determine insurance rates for buildings with various risk levels.
Negotiation with the Road, Housing & Urban Development Research Center, Ministry of Road & Urban Development, Iran, and HQE, the French certification, to develop a national rating system for sustainable buildings in Iran.

Projects:

Tajang Ista Architectural Group, Tehran, Iran

Projects:

Buon Cibo Italian Restaurant/ Interior Design, Construction
Douran Group Managers` Offices/ Interior Design, Construction
Carpet City/ Food Court Interior and Furniture Design
Nirou Trans Company`s Booth, Tehran International Exhibition/ Design and Construction