Science & Technology

Electrical Engineering Ph.D. Candidate Receives Clean Energy Leadership Institute Fellowship

By Matilyn Mortensen |

Utah State University electrical engineering Ph.D. candidate Marium Rasheed was awarded a 2022 fellowship from the Clean Energy Leadership Institute.

Marium Rasheed, an electrical engineering Ph.D. candidate at Utah State University, was awarded a 2022 fellowship from Clean Energy Leadership Institute.

The award letter indicated that Rasheed was awarded the fellowship based on her leadership and dedication to an equitable energy transition.

In addition to being named a fellow, Rasheed received a scholarship to cover her program participation costs. The eight-month fellowship began in March and has multiple cohorts.

Rasheed is part of the national cohort that meets virtually every week to discuss a wide variety of topics related to energy, such as markets, new technologies, policy and civic action, and deep decarbonization. There will also be monthly skills training and opportunities to build connections with the hundreds of other participants.

“There is a need for an energy policy shift that focuses on justice, diversity inclusion and also equity,” Rasheed said. “I think that engineers, scientists and researchers, they all need to be a part of these discussions.”

As an international student and a woman of color, Rasheed’s intersecting identities inform the way she views issues of climate change in the world and efforts to advance carbon-neutral energy in the United States.

“I work hands-on to develop clean and sustainable technology,” Rasheed said. “But at the same time, I always try to think how my work is going to benefit different kinds of people around me. My adviser Dr. Regan Zane encourages students to think about the social implications of their research.”

Rasheed said she’s excited about the opportunity the fellowship will provide her to learn more about topics like energy markets and sustainable infrastructure finance. She hopes to use what she learns from this experience to add to her Ph.D. research at Utah State University. She also wants to be exposed to new technology ideas that may play an important role in the future of clean energy.

“I feel this fellowship experience will help me understand how to transform the technology prototypes that I develop into scalable and profitable products that can benefit society,” she said. “My participation will also expose people throughout the United States to the research being conducted at Utah State University in the field of sustainable electrified transportation.”

Rasheed was previously awarded the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center’s 2021-2022 Women in Energy and Climate Change Fellowship. She is the first student from Utah State University to receive the two fellowship awards.

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