Three CEE doctoral students selected as 2026 Siebel Scholars in energy science

Akshay Rao

Akshay is a PhD candidate in the WE3 Lab. His work uses computational techniques broadly to understand strategies for industrial decarbonization. His graduate research uses optimization and machine learning to study how electrified industrial separations, like desalination plants, can provide energy services to stabilize a decarbonizing power grid. From this work, Akshay has received a patent and published over 15 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers. Prior to Stanford, he worked as a research scholar at the National Energy Technology Laboratory, where he contributed to the IDAES and WaterTAP platforms for open-source scientific computing. In his spare time, Akshay is an avid surfer and triathlete. 

Edward Apraku

Edward is a PhD candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Stanford, where he is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and advised by William Tarpeh in the Department of Chemical Engineering. Edward’s research focuses on advancing sustainable water treatment through resource recovery, with an emphasis on removing nutrient pollutants using polymeric materials and converting them into valuable products via electrochemical techniques. Drawing on techniques from environmental chemistry, materials science, synthetic biology, and advanced X-ray characterization at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, his work explores ion exchange and metal-ligand coordination to recover nitrogen, phosphorus, and amino acids from wastewater, contributing to circular nutrient economies and sustainable chemical manufacturing. Outside of research, Edward is interested in community-engaged research and was the first graduate student to sit on the National Advisory Board for the Haas Center for Public Service. Edward graduated summa cum laude with a BSE in Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) from Arizona State University, where his interest in environmental engineering was shaped by hands-on environmental microbiology research and community-focused environmental remediation efforts. He’s interested in the intersection of community-based research, public policy and advocacy, and chemical and environmental engineering. Edward is grateful to his advisor and the Doerr School of Sustainability for nominating him for the scholarship. 

Juliet Nwagwu Ume-Ezeoke

Juliet is a Civil Engineering PhD candidate in the Urban Informatics Lab. She is advised by Rishee Jain and Catherine Gorle. Her research aims to help designers of the built environment integrate sustainability-oriented performance metrics into their design processes. Specifically, she studies how natural ventilation can be more effectively leveraged in buildings to reduce cooling-related energy demand, which is expected to rise sharply due to the warming climate. She combines graph-theoretic floor plan generation and reduced-order thermal modeling to create physics-based tools that also incorporate social expectations about architecture. Eager to help increase engagement with climate change adaptation strategies, she has worked with leading architecture firms, including Adjaye Associates and SCAPE Landscape Architecture, to help bridge the divide between academic research and design practice. She also co-organized the Building Africa’s Cities Summit, which convened practitioners and academics to explore strategies for adapting to climate change in rapidly urbanizing contexts. She graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a minor in computer science.

Other Stanford University Seibel Scholars can be found on Stanford News