Biography
Alina is a Ph.D. student working on the development of the thermal energy grid storage (TEGS) technology. Her interests are in heat transfer, energy conversion, and energy storage. Her research focuses on measurements of thermophotovoltaic efficiency and integration of thermophotovoltaics in the TEGS system. She is a recipient of the MIT Martin Fellowship for Sustainability.
For her M.S. work, she developed a multi-stage solar-driven atmospheric water harvesting device using adsorbent materials for water collection from air in arid environments. She received her B.S. in mechanical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, where her research was focused on modeling thermal energy storage systems for nuclear power plants. Previously, she worked at Firefly Space Systems designing components for thermal fluid systems. In her spare time, she enjoys rock climbing around New England and the world.