Jonah Bachman

Jonah Bachman is a rising fourth-year student majoring in Mechanical Engineering and minoring in Applied Data Science. Through the ThinkEnergy program, he hopes to further his own engineering experience as well as participate in a group of people who share a passion for renewable energy. Jonah is currently a researcher in the Mesoscale Science Lab and is also doing work in the Swagelok Center for Surface Analysis of Materials. Outside of CWRU, he loves to glassblow and explore Cleveland’s food scene.

William Campbell

William Campbell is a third-year student from Arlington, Virginia, majoring in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Economics. He believes that ThinkEnergy will give him the opportunity to learn and grow in the nuclear industry, technically and as an entrepreneur. He hopes that one day his work will lead to the full acceptance and integration of nuclear energy by the US and the development of nuclear energy as a resource for space development. Outside of class William is the Vice President and Co-Founder of the CWRU Flying club; a field he is well versed in after receiving his Private Pilot’s license in 2019. He also sits on the executive board of his fraternity, Delta Tau Delta, where he works with his fellow fraternity members to help support and give back to their community. For fun Will likes to read political theses, go to local museums, and practice his cooking skills.

Cole Compton

Cole Compton is a fourth-year undergraduate student from Berkeley, California, studying Mechanical and Aerospace engineering with a minor in astronomy.  Cole has been interested in physics and nuclear power for a long time and is excited to participate in the ThinkNuclear program and to explore nuclear engineering and the policies surrounding nuclear power in the United States. In his classes at Case, Cole has found the topics of thermodynamics and fluid dynamics quite interesting and would like to research the thermal design of nuclear reactors. Outside of class Cole has been a member of the CWRUbotix robotics team since his freshman year and has worked on the NASA Robotic Mining Competition. He also spent two summers working at the USDA Agricultural Research Service in a collaborative research agreement with a startup company working on the mechanical design and prototyping of bio-sensing devices. In his free time Cole enjoys hiking, reading, especially about history and science fiction, and traveling.

Jemila Edmond

Jemila Edmond is a fourth-year PhD candidate studying Experimental Petrology in the Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences Department.  She is excited to participate in the ThinkEnergy program to find intersections between the geotechnical and the political in energy. She hopes to learn how her high pressure/high temperature research can be utilized within the energy sector, potentially by producing or harnessing energy. Both her experience studying abroad in South Korea and Brazil and having grown up on the southside of Chicago sparked her desire to address global energy issues. She enjoys trying new restaurants in her free time.

Margot Goler

Margot Goler is a fourth-year student from Taos, New Mexico studying Macromolecular Science and Engineering with a minor in Spanish.  She is excited to be a part of the ThinkEnergy-ThinkNuclear Fellowship program to learn more about nuclear potential in renewable energy, more specifically thermonuclear fusion. She has been interning at the Los Alamos National Laboratory working in international threat reduction and national nuclear security since 2018.  Her work involves encapsulating problematic leaking radioactive sources and configuring packaging that is safe to be sent to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico. She is passionate about nuclear safety, and her hope is to take the knowledge learned in the ThinkEnergy program and apply it to the greater field of renewable energy to make clean energy more affordable and abundant through nuclear technologies. Outside of class, she is involved in Greek Life both Alpha Phi sorority and Theta Tau Fraternity. She participates in La Alianza to maintain a connection to her Hispanic culture and enjoys skiing, hiking, and spending time with her family.

Cora Lutes

Cora is a third-year undergraduate student from the Chicagoland area majoring in Systems and Control Engineering and Environmental Studies. She is excited to be a ThinkEnergy Fellow because it will give her the opportunity to explore her passions in sustainability and renewable energy while being introduced to professionals and peers involved in the field, as well as entrepreneurship. Cora currently holds a research position at the SDLE Center where she studies the accelerated exposure of photovoltaic modules in effort to increase the lifetime of solar cells. On campus she is a Sustainability Ambassador, CSE Peer Advisor, CCEL Scholar, member of WISER and Greek Life. Her favorite thing to do is spend time in the outdoors hiking or running.

Sameera Nalin Venkat

Sameera Nalin Venkat is a third-year PhD student majoring in Materials Science and Engineering. Originally from Hyderabad, India, Sameera is excited to participate in the ThinkEnergy Fellowship Program to learn about various aspects of energy research, including prototyping, entrepreneurship and policy-making. For her research work in Dr. Roger French’s SDLE Research Center, she utilizes network structural equation modeling (netSEM) to study degradation occurring in solar cell modules under exposure. She is a part of the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) steering committee at CWRU and a part of Women in Science and Humanities Earning Doctorates (WISHED) as a social engagement officer. She enjoys drawing, cooking vegetarian food, reading and watching sitcoms in her free time.

Michael Pedota

Michael Pedota is currently enrolled in the BS/MS program at Case Western Reserve University and is from Princeton, New Jersey. This past May, he completed his Undergraduate Degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Economics.  He is excited to begin his fifth year at CWRU and will be working toward earning a Masters degree in Aerospace Engineering.  He is looking forward to being a part of the ThinkEnergy Fellowship Program, and is really interested in energy development, especially for space applications. He believes that the fellowship will provide him with a myriad of opportunities to learn and, more importantly, apply entrepreneurial concepts. This includes designing a product from the ground up, utilizing the engineering design approach, while ensuring that the product is economically viable. Outside of the classroom, Michael will be participating in Dr. Maxwell’s CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) research group at CWRU. In his limited free time, Michael enjoys listening to music, cooking, cycling, playing baseball, and going on hikes.

Benjamin Pratt

Ben is a second-year Master's in Physics and Entrepreneurship student with a focus in renewable energy. He just is recently married and enjoys playing golf with his wife. In his undergraduate career, he created a methanol derived hydrogen fuel cell and was chosen to represent his alma mater (Marietta College) at the U.S. Naval Academy's annual leadership conference. He currently works at Powdermet Inc. where he works as the business development manager for three separate subsidiaries that cover enhanced molten salt thermal energy storage, advanced nanomaterials, and next generation magnetics. Ben has also started his own company in preparation for the GLEI’s entrepreneurship projects where he is currently part of a team that is rethinking photovoltaics. Ben is extremely excited and humbled to be included with so many incredibly talented people at ThinkEnergy. He looks forward to expanding his understanding of the new breakthroughs in renewable technologies and learning how to bring them to market.

Mirra Rasmussen

Mirra is a third-year Materials Science and Engineering major from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Over the past two years, she has been able to work on thin film solar cell development with Dr. Ina Martin in the MORE Center and has recently started research with SDLE and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as part of her BS/MS studies. After growing up surrounded by the coal and natural gas industry and becoming more involved in solar research and development at CWRU, she is excited to be part of the ThinkEnergy Fellowship. Outside of her classes and her research, Mirra is president of the undergraduate Materials Society and is a member of the Case/University Circle Symphony Orchestra. In her free time, she likes to cook, watch movies, and hike.

Aditya Thakur

Aditya Thakur is a third-year student currently pursuing a finance and computer science degree. He is excited to be a part of the ThinkEnergy Fellowship as it allows him to learn about policies and economies behind improving low resource communities in United States and around the world. Outside of classes, Aditya has worked with Northeast Ohio Student Venture Fund (NEOSVF), CWRU's venture group, and the case chess club. Currently, he is focusing on a local youth chess club that he coaches with his childhood friends. He is passionate about helping others, and developing a better circumstance for tomorrow.

Hayley Wagreich

Hayley Wagreich is a fourth-year student studying materials science and engineering. Hayley is excited to participate in the ThinkEnergy program to learn about the challenges and opportunities facing the energy sector. As a part of the ThinkNuclear program, her interests lie in materials design for safer, more reliable nuclear energy reactors. On campus, Hayley holds positions in Delta Gamma Fraternity, The University Program Board, and the CWRU Panhellenic Judicial Board. She is also involved in research through the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at CWRU. In her free time, she enjoys running, cooking, and caring for her growing collection of house plants.

Ellis Wright

Ellis Wright is a fourth-year student majoring in mathematics and minoring in computer science. He wants to apply his computational background to help build a sustainable society, which is why he is thrilled to be a part of the ThinkEnergy-ThinkNuclear Fellowship Program. Ellis is particularly interested in how artificial intelligence can be used to help solve and mitigate problems. Outside of school, Ellis likes to play ultimate, swim, bike, and hike.

Akissi Ange Dominique Yao

Hailing from Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast, Akissi Ange Dominique YAO is a third-year student majoring in Chemical Engineering and minoring in German and Economics. Nurturing a strong passion for energy engineering and entrepreneurship, she is very excited to join the ThinkEnergy Fellowship Program and get to deepen her knowledge of both fields. Akissi Dominique is particularly interested in discovering innovative, eco-friendly, and affordable energy techniques to alleviate the effects of global warming. Outside of class, she serves as a research assistant in the energy lab at CWRU and in Dr. Lacks group. In her free time, she enjoys learning new languages, listening to music, and writing novels.

Andre Yost

Andre Yost is a third-year student majoring in Electrical Engineering. He has spent most of his life in Cleveland, Ohio with intermittent trips to Hungary to visit family. With his collected knowledge and professional experience from a summer internship at IPS working on motor/generator design and repair, Andre is eager to apply himself to the collaborative effort of an energy focused project while learning about the nuances of entrepreneurship. He also hopes to continue deepening his understanding of the energy sector so that he may one day best contribute to the development and distribution of renewable energy globally through a focus on wind turbine generator research. Outside of academics, Andre has been a Student Sustainability Ambassador for two years, a math SI for one year, an orientation leader for two years, and an IEEE member for two years. He enjoys outdoor activities like hiking, backpacking, kayaking and skiing alongside the stationary passions of reading books and comics.