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SEEGrad 2026

The 3rd annual SEE Graduate Student Research Conference, May 15th, 2026

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SEE's Annual Research Conference

The School of Sustainable Energy Engineering (SEE) and the SEE Graduate Student Association are hosting the third annual SEE Graduate Student Research Conference on May 15th, 2026.

The research and innovation at SEE are cutting-edge interdisciplinary fields such as innovative vehicle technologies and energy sources, carbon capture and sequestration, use of material science in sustainability, energy and atmospheric modelling, photovoltaic, smart power grids, hydrogen and fuel cells, nexus of water, energy, and food, and sustainable vehicle-track interaction.

EVENT DETAILS

Date: May 15, 2026
Time: 8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Location: Sustainable Energy Engineering Building (SRYE)

Register to attend

Participation is free, but all attendees are required to register by May 9th.

Conference Participation

In partnership with the SEE Graduate Student Society, the School of Sustainable Energy Engineering (SEE) is thrilled to announce the third Graduate Student Research Conference (SEEGRAD 2026). The primary aim is to unite the remarkable SEE research community for a day filled with enthusiasm, fostering the exchange of innovative ideas and research initiatives directed towards a sustainable future.

All SEE graduate students (MASc, PhDs, MEng) and post-docs are strongly encouraged to submit an extended abstract for an oral presentation or a poster presentation.

Scientific Committee: Prof. Ignacio Galiano Zurbriggen (Chair), Prof. Vincenzo Pecunia, and Prof. Vahid Hosseini

Organizing Chairs: Sayma Afrozi Supti, Maha Shehadeh, Rozhin Ahmadi, Muibat Lasisi

Conference Date: May 15, 2026

Cash Prizes: A total of $7,500 will be awarded to top oral presentations, posters, and short presentations by graduate students (MASc, MEng, PhD)

IMPORTANT DATES

Register to attend: please register by May 9th
Participation in the conference is free.

Conference Program

Venue: School of Sustainable Energy Engineering, 10285 University Drive, Surrey, V3T 0N1

View full schedule

8:30 – 9:15 | Registration & refreshments

Location: Atrium
Light refreshments available.

9:15 – 9:30 | Opening Remarks

Location: Atrium
Dr. Zafar Adeel, School Director

9:30 – 11:15 | Presentations

Session Chairs: Mariel Rojas, Mina Xu
Location: SYRE 4016

View full list of presentations

9:30 – 9:45: Maha Shehadeh, Vahid Hosseini – AI-Based Classification of Heavy-Duty Vehicle Distribution in Cities Using Traffic Camera Imagery
9:45 – 10:00: Juan Gamarra, Zeinab Heidari, Vahid Hosseini, Gordon McTaggart-Cowan – Integrated Multivariate Analysis of Fuel Moisture Variability and Its Impact on a Biomass Power Plant
10:00 – 10:15: Sifat Kawsa, Raju Sapkota, Kamran Hassani, Justin Ocampo, Etienne Durand-Labarge, Loren Kaake, Sami Khan – Technoeconomic Analysis of a Photovoltaic Powered Capacitive Deionization Process for Lithium Extraction
10:15 – 10:30: Yasaman Bozorgzad, Zafar Adeel – Non-Revenue Water Reduction in Urban Water Distribution Systems: Comparative Insights
10:30 – 10:45: Zhen (Lisa) Li, Kevin Oldknow – Evaluating Surface Wave Ultrasonics for Shallow Rolling Contact Fatigue Depth Characterization
10:45 – 11:00: Maria Emilia Mamani, Ignacio Galiano Zurbriggen – System Identification for Short-Circuit Fault Location in DC Microgrids

11:00 – 11:15 | Break & Transition

11:15 – 12:45 | Industry Panel: Energy Transition in BC

Session Chairs: Maha Shehadeh, Tina Shoa
Location: SYRE 4016

Industry Perspectives on the Energy Transition in British Columbia: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Road Ahead.

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Maha Shehadeh, Tina Shoa – Introduction and Setting the Stage
David Oliver, Suomi Advisory Group / Greenlines Technology – Carbon Markets as a Catalyst for the Global Energy Transition
Joel Kelly, E-One Moli Energy Canada – Future Directions of Battery Technology
Maryam Ebrahimian, Corvus Energy – Decarbonizing the Marine Sector Through Battery-Electric Propulsion
Remi Charron, National Research Council – Building Canada’s Net-Zero Energy Future
Sina Salari, SISA Energy – Digital Platforms and Market Intelligence for Building Decarbonization
Mohammad Fakoor, Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. – Advancing Building Performance Through Energy Modelling and Carbon Assessment
Audience Q&A
Maha Shehadeh, Tina Shoa – Concluding Remarks
Networking with Panelists

12:45 – 13:15 | Lunch

Location: Atrium or SYRE 5050

13:15 – 14:30 | Poster & Short Presentations

Session Chairs: Juan Gamarra, Manpreet Kaur
Location: SRYE Atrium

View full list of presentations

Hesam Mirfars, Aniket Kumar, Tom Nguyen, Dat Truong Le Tri, Scott McDermid, Benjamin Britton, Erik Kjeang, Mechanical Implications of Bipolar Plate Design for Non-Fluorinated Proton Exchange Membranes in Fuel Cells
Zeinab Heidari, Gordon McTaggart-Cowan, Vahid Hosseini, Developing Emissions Factors for biomass combustion from continuous emissions monitoring and data assimilation
Masaki Fukae, Tulio Coura, Johannes Brunner, Horst Schulte, Mariana Resener, High-Resolution Residential Load Modeling for Dynamic Virtual Power Plant
Mohammadreza Paydari, Navid Balazadeh Meresht, Seyed Reza Safavi, Gordon McTaggart-Cowan, Vahid Hosseini, Assessing the Air Pollution Co-impacts of Hybridizing Coastal Ferry Powertrains on Ports and Coastal Communities
Jie Yang, Colin D. Copeland, Mechanism Regulation and Scale-Up Challenges of Carbon Formation in Methane Pyrolysis: A Review
Max Wilson, Reza Farzam, Gordon McTaggart-Cowan, Experimental Analysis of an Ionic Liquid Piston System for Hydrogen Compression
Trevor Jones, Amir Niroumand, Erik Kjeang, Development of a Current Interruption Method for Diagnostic Testing of PEM Fuel Cells
Arefeh Amrollahi Biyooki, Tina Shoa, Extended Kalman Filter-Based State of Charge Estimation Using Equivalent Circuit Models for Battery Management Systems
M. Eliasinul Islam, Evaluating Operational Trade-offs Among Land-Constrained Renewable Siting, Transmission, and Electrification in a Hydro-Dominant System: A PyPSA Case Study of British Columbia
Luis Victor-Gallard, Taco Niet, Decision Maps for Distribution Grid Modernization: Prioritizing DSM and DERDeployment Under Deep Uncertainty
Mina Pavlovic, Ignacio Galiano Zurbriggen, Centric-based current control of three-phase inverters in hybrid microgrids
Mohammad Sajjadi, Colin Copeland, Gordon McTaggart-Cowan, Comparative Techno-Economic and Environmental Assessment of Different Pathways for Sustainable Fuels Production
Ahmed Abdelsalam, Ishaan Aggrawal, Aminul Islam, Sami Khan, An In Situ High Speed Imaging Analysis of Coating Stability during Electrochemical Hydrogen Permeation
Lorenzo Yao-Bate, Ross Stefano, Sami Khan, Towards Efficient Carbon Capture Using Bubble-Capturing Surfaces
Reza Hassani, Kevin Oldknow, Data-Driven Identification of Wheel–Rail Friction States Using Instrumented Revenue Vehicles
Rozhin Ahmadi, Amir Reza Rezami, Vahid Hosseini, Study of Toxic Air Contaminants Exposure Evacuation Zone for an Oil Tank Pool Fire in a Residential Neighborhood
Sara Asaad, Amir Shabani, Vahid Hosseini, Using interpretable machine learning to understand the mode choice for school trips
Ali Azimi, Amir Shabani, Vahid Hosseini, Event-Aware Spatio-Temporal Demand Forecasting for Shared Micromobility Systems
Yannick Ntibansiga, Vahid Hosseini, Mode Shift Through Integrated Micromobility Policies: An Activity-Based Agent Modelling Framework
Christianna Sequeira, Comparative Analysis of Supervised and Unsupervised Learning for Land Cover Classification with Airborne SAR Data
Niloufar Radan, Kamran Hassani, Justin Ocampo, Ken Chisholm, Keira Lai, Sami Khan, Enhancing the practical applicability of salt hydrate phase change materials through interfacial texture engineering
Arash Mirani Damavandi, Colin Copeland, Low-Temperature Inverted Brayton Cycles (IBC) for Small-Scale Domestic Power Generation
Amir Reza Razmi, Masood Fakouri Hasanabadi, Amir Reza Hanifi, Vahid Hosseini, Mahdi Shahbakhti, Multi-Criteria Investigation of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells: Experimental, Life Cycle, and Techno-Economic Assessments
Tina Shoa, Marvin Messing, Shabnam Razmjooei, Saleh Mohammed Shahriar, Arefeh Amrollahi, Temperature-Aware Impedance Diagnostics for Energy Storage Batteries: From Scheduled Maintenance to Real-Time BMS Operation
Alexander Kacper Liniarski, Tavleen Kaur Sihota, High-Resolution Pollution Dispersion of Commercial Aircraft Activities from Vancouver International Airport
George Pavlov, Amrit Brar, Jay Vyas, Haseeb Khan, Ken Chisholm, Vahid Hosseini, Adaptive Electric Tow Platform for Human-Centered Low-Carbon Transportation
Ella Lee, Braidyn Leen Chang, Vahid Hosseini, Analysis of Air Pollution Dispersion from a Zinc and Lead Smelting Facility in British Columbia

14:30 – 15:45 | Session 2 Presentations

Session Chairs: Lisa Li, Zafar Adeel
Location: SYRE 4016

View full list of presentations

14:30 – 14:45: Shedrach Ezenwali, Vahid Hosseini – Bike Sharing Rebalancing: Emissions Reduction Through User Incentives
14:45 – 15:00: Seyed Hamid Delbari, Vahid Hosseini – Enhancing WRF-CMAQ Simulations in Coastal Terrain: Seasonal Physics, Land Use, and Grid Sensitivity for Improved Air Quality Prediction
15:00 – 15:15: Matteo Sposito, Ignacio Galiano Zurbriggen – State-Plane Centric Control of Bidirectional CLLC Resonant Converters
15:15 – 15:30: Saleh Mohammed Shahriar, Tina Shoa – Robust Battery RUL Prediction for Advanced Energy Systems Using Free-Running Transformer Model

15:30 – 15:45 | Break

15:45 – 16:45 | Session 3 Presentations

Session Chair: Amir Reza Razmi, Gordon McTaggart-Cowan
Location: SYRE 4016

View full list of presentations

15:45 – 16:00: Negaar Razzaghi, Vahid Hosseini – A Data-Driven Framework for Quantifying Winter Traffic Regimes and Emission Inventory Impacts in a Cold-Climate City
16:00 – 16:15: Kamran Hassani, Ken Chisholm, Niloufar Radan, Keira Lai, Sami Khan – Role of Solvent-Mediation on the Wettability and Stability of Phase Change Materials
16:15 – 16:30: Seyed Reza Safavi, Tina Shoa, Jason Wang, Gordon McTaggart-Cowan – Multi-Scale Modelling of Localized Battery Degradation in Heavy-Duty Series Hybrids: From Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy to Powertrain and Battery Pack Performance
16:30 – 16:45: Sayma Supti, Jason Jiacheng Wang, Mariana Resener – Sub-Synchronous Oscillation Induced by Weak Grid-Connected PMSG Wind Farms

16:45 – 17:30 | Closing Remarks & Award Ceremony

Session Chairs: Edward Amponsah, Fitsum Tariku

Closing remarks by GSA, introduction of organizing committee
Acknowledgment of volunteers, industry and sponsors
Awards presented by Zafar Adeel and scientific committee
Closing remarks by Zafar Adeel

17:30 – 18:30 | Reception & Networking

Location: Atrium

Industry Panel

Industry Perspectives on the Energy Transition in British Columbia: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Road Ahead, 11:15AM - 12:45PM, SYRE 4016

David Oliver is a Vancouver-based founder and expert in carbon markets and sustainable energy systems, with over 20 years of experience linking technology, infrastructure, and environmental finance to support low-carbon transitions. He holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. David has contributed to smart building and smart city frameworks, including development of the EU Standard EN 50090, and previously led major power and distribution projects across Canada and the EMEA region at Eaton Corporation.

Since 2017, David has focused on environmental commodities and carbon credit programs in sectors such as building energy efficiency and transport electrification. He is President of Suomi Advisory Group and Co-Founder and CEO of Greenlines Technology, where he develops digital measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems to enable scalable, high-integrity carbon credits. He also serves as a Deputy on the Global Leadership Council of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP).

Sina Salari, Ph.D., P.Eng., CEM, MBA (I2I), is the founder and CEO of SISA Energy. He combines deep technical training with product and business leadership to scale building-energy intelligence and retrofit delivery. Under his direction, SISA has forged strategic partnerships with retrofit accelerators such as LandlordBC and was selected by British Columbia’s Innovative Clean Energy (ICE) Fund as one of the top promising startup to scale energy retrofits across buildings. The company has built a market database of 20,000+ buildings and earned national recognition through the Federal Government’s Deep Retrofit Accelerator Initiative, which chose SISA’s data management platform for 10,000 buildings to support Canada’s first Retrofit Repository. Across these efforts, Sina focuses on measurable outcomes in complex, multi-stakeholder programs aligned with provincial and federal clean-energy priorities.

Maryam Ebrahimian is a Chemical Engineer and maritime energy transition leader with over 15 years of experience in the marine sector. She began her career at Lloyd’s Register in design safety and marine services before focusing on battery-electric vessel projects in 2018. At Corvus Energy, she leads major North American ferry and workboat accounts, guiding operators in aligning battery technology, regulatory compliance, safety, and long-term commercial strategy.

Joel Kelly holds a PhD in Materials Chemistry from the University of Alberta and has worked in the clean technology industry in BC for 15 years.

At Moli, his team works on multiple areas of R&D focused on developing next-generation Li-ion cells, including cell design, electrolyte formulation, safety, and electrochemical modeling.

Dr. Mohammad Fakoor is the technical lead for the building performance team at RJC Engineers, and his work involves project work, technical review, and education for energy modelling, airtightness testing, research, and carbon life cycle analysis. Mohammad has worked on a variety of projects including emerging solar energy applications, energy efficiency of residential/commercial/industrial buildings, carbon life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis for concrete/steel/timber structures, and building enclosure airtightness testing. This multifaceted work requires combined expertise in heat transfer, thermodynamics, fluid flow, HVAC, and building science. A published author and lecturer, Mohammad actively contributes to his field through practice and research with his work extensively cited in pertinent literature.

Remi Charron is a professional engineer with a Ph.D. in net-zero energy buildings. From 2012 to 2024 he worked as an independent consultant for the provincial (British Columbia) and Canadian governments on projects to make housing more energy-efficient and resilient. From 2016 to 2024, he was also an Associate Dean and Professor for a Master’s of Energy Management at the New York Institute of Technology’s Vancouver campus. Since 2024, he has been working as an Innovation Investment Advisor for the National Research Council where he is supporting innovation in the construction industry.

Sponsorship Opportunities

There are sponsorship opportunities available for this event. Please contact Shannon He, fasopmgr@sfu.ca, to learn more.

SFU.CA

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