People | Faculty & Teaching Staff

 

Jessika Trancik Assistant Professor of Engineering Systems Prof. Trancik's research centers on evaluating the environmental impacts and costs of energy technologies, and setting design targets to help accelerate the development of these technologies in the laboratory. This work involves assembling and analyzing expansive datasets, and developing new quantitative models and theory. Projects focus on electricity and transportation, with an emphasis on solar energy conversion and storage technologies. Trancik was a postdoctoral fellow at the Santa Fe Institute and a fellow at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. She earned a B.S. in materials science and engineering from Cornell University (1997), and a PhD in materials science from Oxford University (2002), where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar. She has also worked for the United Nations, and as an advisor to the private sector on investment in low-carbon energy technologies. She has published in journals such as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nano Letters, and Environmental Research Letters. Related News: Article on Jessika Trancik’s graduate seminar Energy Systems and Climate Change Mitigation (ESD.124): “Seminar challenges with systems approach to climate change” – MITEI website – January 19, 2012, and on the MIT News site Interviewed about her research for SmartPlanet.com: “How a PopTech fellow is accelerating clean energy development” – SmartPlanet.com (a CBS website) – September 1, 2011 Jessika Trancik, assistant professor of engineering systems, has been named a 2011 PopTech Science and Public Leadership Fellow. This fellowship is designed to address the need for scientists to be collaborative and socially engaged public communicators. Read MIT News item. Jessika Trancik talks about new research on which technologies are likeliest to advance rapidly: MIT News – May 17, 2011; This was listed as one of this week’s “most-viewed” and “most-e-mailed” news stories on the MIT website, and received substantial coverage including: MSNBC Cosmic Log (science blog) – May 19, 2011; Chem.Info – May 17, 2011; R&D Magazine – May 17, 2011; PhysOrg.com – May 17, 2011; TGDaily – May 18, 2011; The Future of Things – May 18, 2011 Jessika Trancik joins MIT Engineering Systems Faculty. Read the School of Engineering announcement here. Trancik interviewed in Seed Magazine article about renewable energy: "Here Comes the Sun (and Wind)" – August 27, 2009