The PIVOT2023 Jordan Nielson Disruptive R&D Competition - Update from 2022 Winning Teams

This session features:
Zeyneb Magavi, Co-Executive Director, HEET
Jerome Sfeir, PhD Candidate, Texas A&M University
Dani Merino-Garcia, R&D Lead, Project InnerSpace
About the Speaker:
To efficiently and equitably decarbonize buildings, Zeyneb designed the GeoMicroDistrict, a scalable utility-managed bidirectional ambient-temperature thermal energy network. With six installations funded - five by regulated gas utilities - she has convened an independent research consortium to maximize learning and allow data-informed optimization of the Gas-to-Geo transition. Zeyneb joined HEET as research lead for the Large Volume Leak study, which identified a method to rapidly cut leaking gas pipe emissions in half and aligned gas utilities and climate advocates to drive rapid enactment of this method as regulation. Zeyneb serves as guest faculty at the Harvard School of Public Health and guest lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Before entering the sustainability world, Zeyneb led the development of several technological solutions to global health challenges in the developing world, including in South Africa, Senegal, Thailand, Brazil, and Botswana. She has been part of launching two start-ups and has worked at BBN Technologies and Harvard University. Zeyneb studied physics at Brown University and global health and sustainability at Harvard University. She is committed to creating and driving forward compassionate, multi-disciplinary and innovative solutions to the urgent challenge of climate change.
Jerome is a PhD candidate at Texas A&M University. His focus is on Geothermal Energy and Energy Geotechnics, more specifically Enhanced Geothermal Systems and works on applying the science of transport of fluid and heat in porous media in reservoir modeling to better understand the subsurface behavior of EGS. He is a Senior TEX-E Fellow, 2023 Geothermal Rising TAMU chapter president, and 2022 American Rock Mechanics Association at TAMU president. He got his masters also at Texas A&M University and his Bachelors in Petroleum Engineering from Notre Dame University in Lebanon.
Dani Merino-Garcia is R&D Lead in Project Innerspace. He is a chemical engineer by training, and his career in Oil and Gas lasted for 16 years, moving from Flow Assurance Specialist to R&D Manager for E&P Surface Technologies in REPSOL; his last gig prior to joining InnerSpace was as Manager of the Deep Tech team in Repsol Technology Lab, covering a portfolio of disruptive technologies to support the decarbonization of all Repsol business lines.