Exploring the Future of Energy

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!