Growing up in Iran, Amir Hossein Delgoshaie remembers being interested in energy from a young age. “My dad worked in the power industry and I was always fascinated by this kind of work. To me, it felt like the ultimate form of engineering to understand how these essential technologies like gas turbines functioned and how to make them better.”
Delgoshaie mastered mechanical engineering principles by earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Iran and Switzerland, respectively. As a PhD student in Stanford Earth’s Energy Science and Engineering (formerly Energy Resources Engineering) Department, he learned how to apply those modeling skills to Earth science contexts.
“The modeling I did around fluid mechanics while at Stanford is applicable to many problems like water contamination mitigation, oil and gas production, flow in batteries – all of which are resources that are essential to our everyday lives. I wanted to work adjacent to those problems because it’s impactful work, and it is meaningful for me and for others.”
Delgoshaie accepted a position as a senior data scientist at C3.ai, a company he became interested in after inviting them to give a talk while he was president of the Stanford Society of Petroleum Engineers Student Chapter. His role at C3.ai includes working on predictive maintenance with energy and utility companies.
“We work to predict where the electricity grid will fail before it fails, and in that way, we hope to prevent catastrophic events by identifying those high-risk areas.” Delgoshaie is passionate about the array of positive impacts this work can have. “We’re optimizing these systems, not only for companies who can better identify where to use their limited resources, but also for consumers, who will hopefully experience less time downtime and fewer power outages.”
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Decarbonizing global transportation requires building a huge quantity of batteries so fleets can convert to electric power. This will mean more mining to supply the lightweight metal lithium. So far, most lithium has come from Australia, South America, and China, but eyes are turning to deposits in the United States. (Source: Bill Lane Center for the American West)
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In a proof-of-principle study, Stanford scientists and their colleagues used the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system to modify genes in coral, suggesting that the tool could one day aid conservation efforts.
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A beacon of ocean research for over 100 years, Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove has a storied history. This fall, it enters a new chapter of ocean research, education, and impact when it becomes part of the new Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.
