Partner Profile: Aryandokht AzarI | |
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“Once I set my mind to a goal, I go after it and make it happen. I have learned to never give up, and to always find a way to turn challenges into opportunities."
This issue features Aryandokht Azari, Research Fellow at the Global CO2 Initiative (GCI).
Dr. Azari is a civil/environmental engineer who researches technology readiness level (TRL) of carbon capture and utilization technologies and life cycle assessment of products. An experienced teacher and acclaimed researcher and author, she earned her PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Tehran.
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Can you describe what you do at the GCI?
I am part of the GCI research team, a team with extensive academic and industry experience that is focused on early stage carbon capture technology. We conduct integrated environmental and economic modeling in order to provide baseline data from which bespoke technologies can be developed with the intent to reduce carbon dioxide in the environment.
We offer a variety of evaluation services, usually with a 4-6 week turnaround time from the kickoff meeting:
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- Order-of-magnitude estimates for LCA/TEA results.
- Sensitivity, uncertainty, and scenario analyses.
- LCA/TEA hotspot identification.
- Custom recommendations for optimizing environmental and economic performance of technology.
- Post-study support with Q&A.
- Receipt of actual LCA/TEA excel models for future use.
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What are the benefits of collaborating with the GCI LCA/TEA group?
There are many advantages of collaborating with the GCI LCA/TEA group, not least of all is the fact we are experts in this area; we literally wrote the book on carbon utilization LCA/TEA assessment guidelines. We also created a website devoted to this topic–AssessCCUS (which features LCA/TEA templates and a web-based calculator.)
Collaborating with us provides many additional benefits:
- Integrated environmental and economic modeling.
- Transparent input–output linkage to provide insights.
- Capability to be integrated with technical teams.
- Systems approach for considering technology in context.
- High-level perspective of technical/economic/environmental risk.
- Full comparison to benchmark technologies or products.
- Instruction for the extended team on how to use and interpret models.
- Team members with a mix of business, technical, and environmental experience.
- Access to broader U-M technical network.
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How did you become interested in this field?
“In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences.”
~ Robert Green Ingersoll, lawyer and orator (1833-1899)
I understood the meaning of this sentence by looking at my hometown, Isfahan. Isfahan is renowned for its unique beauty and rich history, which has given rise to the Iranian saying that “Isfahan is half the world”. In recent years, Isfahan's beautiful river Zayanderud and the unique historic bridges that were built over it have been seriously endangered by hydrological imbalance and drought caused by long-term climate change effects.
On a global scale, air pollution has already resulted in a wide range of negative impacts across every region of the world. Scientific research has overwhelmingly proven humans to be responsible for the damage to our environment, and we need to take serious action before it’s too late. This sense of responsibility kindled my enthusiasm for environmental engineering and specifically, the field of air pollution, so that I can be a part of a world-wide movement to save our beautiful planet, and my beloved hometown.
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You have lived in diverse parts of the world: Iran, California and Michigan. How would you compare your experiences in each place?
I came to the US for the first time a few years ago for a one-year sabbatical, when I was doing my PhD at the University of Tehran. That was my first encounter with the US education system, and I really liked it. In the US, a researcher has access to more scientific resources–books, scientific journals, lab facilities, etc. I also liked how universities have close collaborations with industry solving real-world problems. I therefore decided to come back after finishing my PhD to pursue my research career here in the US.
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I’m really glad that I made that decision; I feel very accomplished, and I am very optimistic about the future. I especially like the diversity that I see in both academia and industry here. It’s a wonderful thing when people from different countries, with different cultural backgrounds, work together to achieve a common goal.
When I came back to the US two years ago, I lived in Southern California for a few months. I know a lot of people love living in California, but personally, I really prefer living in Michigan. I like all four seasons in Michigan: cold and snowy winters, colorful autumns, warm summers, and chilly springs. I hate traffic and air pollution, so I prefer small or midsize cities.
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I came to the US to continue my research and be a part of the global efforts to save our planet. It was definitely a difficult decision to leave my family and friends and move across the world all by myself. However, sometimes you have to sacrifice important things to achieve your goals. I love Iran and I miss my country so much. But I am sure that if I stayed in my country, I would have never found this great opportunity to work with so many brilliant scholars and scientists from different parts of the world, all gathered in one place.
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What do you see in the near future for CCU?
CCU technologies on a large scale have the potential to be an important component of reaching net-zero emissions while guaranteeing energy security. CCU technologies remove carbon from the air and convert it into useful products, ranging from fuel to building material. This makes CCU highly attractive for investors, which will help the advancement and widespread utilization of these technologies in the near future.
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What do you do in your spare time?
I love reading long novels and watching classic movies. I also love cooking and baking, and I’ve been told I’m good at it. My kitchen is my happy place! Whenever I feel nervous or stressed out, you’ll find me in my kitchen, cooking way too much food!
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What inspires you?
My ambitions! For me, being challenged and going out of my way to push to the next level is inspiring. Once I set my mind to a goal, I go after it and make it happen. In my life, I have been lucky to be surrounded by strong and successful people to look up to. I have learned to never give up, and to always find a way to turn challenges into opportunities.
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US Department of Energy's Carbon Negative Shot Summit
July 20-21, 2022
Carbon Negative Shot is the US government’s first major effort in CDR and is an all-hands-on-deck call for innovation in technologies and approaches that will remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere by capturing and durably storing it at gigaton scales for less than $100/net metric ton of CO2-equivalent (CO2e).
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Keep in touch
We want to hear from you! Is there something or someone that you would like to see featured in a future issue? Let us know!
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