Exploring the Future of Energy

Shomik Verma

MechE PhD MIT (current)

MatSci MPhil Imperial '21

MatSci MPhil Cambridge '20

MechE BSE Duke '19


I’m Shomik Verma, from Houston, Texas. I'm currently a Mechanical Engineering PhD student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working with Prof. Asegun Henry in the Atomistic Simulation & Energy Research Group, as a PD Soros and NSF GRFP Fellow.

I am deeply fascinated by the future of energy and have worked in a variety of fields including electric vehicles, solar cells, fuel cells, hydrogen production, thermal energy storage, and thermophotovoltaics. At MIT, my current projects are modeling how a thermal energy grid storage system can best improve the reliability of renewables, designing a next-generation power plant based on hydrogen combustion and thermophotovoltaic power generation, and optimizing the performance of thermophotovoltaic cells using first-principles calculations.

I previously completed a 2-year Marshall Scholarship for graduate study in the UK. For the first year of my Marshall, I completed an MPhil in Materials Science at the University of Cambridge on 3D printed LSCs with Prof. Rachel Evans. For the second year, I completed another MPhil in Materials Science at Imperial College London with Prof. Aron Walsh, focusing on high-throughput virtual screening of photon conversion molecules.

Prior to this, in May 2019, I completed my undergrad at Duke University, where I studied Mechanical Engineering with minors in Energy Engineering and Mathematics. During my undergrad, I worked on hydrogen production from methane using concentrated solar power, and then worked on using this hydrogen in a fuel cell to power a prototype vehicle. The car I helped build with Duke Electric Vehicles ended up breaking the world record for vehicle fuel efficiency.

After my bachelor's degree, I spent a summer at Georgia Tech investigating the applications of concentrated solar power for electricity generation. This work was used in the design of a next-generation pilot plant through the Department of Energy.

Over the course of my PhD, I hope to develop innovative technological solutions to the most pressing energy problems. I am excited to learn from and work with a broad spectrum of talented people at MIT and beyond. Please feel free to reach out if you'd like to chat!

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