Two EST&P Alumni Featured in Forbes 30 Under 30
By Nicole Thompson
Two EST&P alumni, Raafe Khan and Shashank Sripad, have been nominated by Forbes as 2023, 30 Under 30 honorees in the Energy Category.
Raafe Khan (MS, EST&P, 2016) is currently the Director for Energy Storage at Pine Gate Renewables and has been leading their energy storage efforts since 2020. Previously, he was with Sunnova Energy Corporation and Mortenson Company. An ardent supporter and advocate for DEIJ and STEM, Raafe was recognized by Forbes for his contributions in advancing generative design in power plant construction, planning and leadership in stationary energy storage. During his time at Carnegie Mellon, Raafe was the Marketing Director for the 4th Annual Energy Careers Symposium (now part of Energy Week) and co-led the production of the event along with other EST&P students and faculty, which included painting the iconic Fence. Raafe was one of the first Energy Intern's at Scott Institute for Energy Innovation and led a team of 15 students to 2nd place in the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Battle of the Buildings competition in 2016. Raafe was also on the winning team at the 34th United States Association for Energy Economics Case Study Competition. "My heart is full of gratitude", said Khan, "I'm honored to be recognized for my contributions and sincerely want to thank from the bottom of my heart all the advisors, teachers and mentors at Carnegie Mellon and the Energy Science, Technology & Policy program. My heart is in the work, and I truly hope to pay it forward by leading with integrity, purpose, empathy, and compassion as we navigate some of society's biggest issues - energy. I look forward to continued collaboration with my industry peers in building safe, reliable, and resilient energy infrastructure." Raafe received the EST&P Professional Recognition Award for his contributions to the Carnegie Mellon community in 2017 and was also nominated as an Emerging Energy Leader by the American Clean Power Association (American Wind Energy Association) the same year. Raafe currently lives in Houston, TX with his two four-legged sons, Rocky and Bagheera, who keep him company on all his virtual meetings.
Shashank Sripad (MS, EST&P, 2016) received his PhD in 2022 in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University advised by Venkat Viswanathan where he worked on batteries for electrified terrestrial and aerial mobility systems. His research has been published by the National Academy of Sciences, ACS Energy Letters, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Nature Energy, and other journals. These publications have informed electrification and transportation policy in various regions across the globe. His work is also featured in Forbes, WIRED, MIT Technology Review, Quartz, Axios, and other media outlets where he regularly critiques developments in batteries and electric mobility. Sripad's Ph.D. research on electric mobility has made him a go-to voice for sanity checking advancements in battery technology, informing public policy on autonomous electric vehicles, and he was highlighted by Bill Gates in his book on climate change.
Read their Forbes 30 Under 30 profiles:
Raafe Khan
Shashank Sripad