The journey of Shreyaa Raghavan to resolve some of the most difficult challenges in the world began with a simple love for puzzles. In high school, his talent for problem solving naturally attracted it to computer science. Thanks to her participation in an entrepreneurship and leadership program, she has created applications and has twice reached the semi-finals of the global program of the program.
His first successes made sure that a computer career seems to be an obvious choice, but Raghavan says that an important competitor interest has been torn.
“Computer science triggers this puzzle – a part of my brain problem solving,” explains Raghavan '24, an accenture scholarship holder and a doctoral candidate at the Institut des Data, Systems and the Society of MIT. “But even if I always had the impression that the construction of mobile applications was a small fun hobby, I did not feel like I was directly resolving societal challenges.”
His point of view has changed when, as the first cycle of the MIT, Raghavan participated in a first cycle research opportunity in the photovoltaic research laboratory, now known as the laboratory of accelerated materials. There, she discovered how calculation techniques such as automatic learning could optimize materials for solar panels – a direct application of her skills towards the attenuation of climate change.
“This laboratory had a very diverse group of people, some from computer training, some from the background of chemistry, some who were hardcore engineers. All communicated effectively and worked towards a unified objective – building better renewable energy systems, ”explains Raghavan. “It opened my eyes to the fact that I could use very technical tools that I like to build and find the accomplishment by helping to solve major climatic challenges.”
With its views of the application of learning and optimization machine for energy and climate, Raghavan joined the Cathy Wu laboratory when it started its doctorate in 2025. The laboratory focuses on the construction of more sustainable transport systems, an area that resonated with Raghavan because of its universal impact and its out -of -tension role in climate change – transport represents around 30% of universal gas emissions.
“If we had to throw away all the smart systems that we explore in the transport networks, how much could we reduce emissions?” she asks, summarizing a fundamental question of her research.
Wu, an associate professor in the civil and environmental engineering department, underlines the value of Raghavan's work.
“Transport is an essential element of the economy and climate change, so potential transport changes must be carefully studied,” said Wu. “Shreyaa's research on intelligent congestion management is important because it takes a data -oriented approach to add a wider research that supports sustainability.”
Raghavan's contributions have been recognized with the Accenture Stock Exchange, an cornerstone of the Mit-Accent Convergence Initiative for Industry and Technology.
As an accenture scholarship holder, it explores the potential impact of technologies to avoid stopping and GO traffic and its emissions, using systems such as networked network vehicles and digital speed limits that vary depending on traffic conditions – solutions that could advance decarbonization in the transport section at a relatively small cost.
Raghavan says that she appreciates the accenture scholarship not only for the support he provides, but also because it demonstrates the involvement of the industry in sustainable transport solutions.
“It is important for the field of transport, as well as the energy and the climate as a whole, of synergy with all the different stakeholders,” she says. “I think it is important for the industry to participate in this more intelligent transport systems incorporation to decarbonize transport.”
Raghavan also received a scholarship supporting his research from the American transport department.
“I think it's really exciting that there is an interest on the political side of the Ministry of Transport and on the side of industry with Accenture,” she says.
Raghavan believes that the fight against climate change requires collaboration between disciplines. “I think that with climate change, no industry or domain will resolve it alone. He must really be each terrain that intensifies and tries to make a difference, ”she says. “I don't think there is a money solution to this problem. Many different solutions of different people, different angles, different disciplines will need. ”
In this spirit, Raghavan has been very active in MIT Energy and Climate Club since he joined about three years ago, which, she says, “was a really cool way of meeting many people who worked towards the same objective, the same climatic goals, the same passions, but from completely different angles.”
This year, Raghavan is part of the community and educational team, which strives to build the MIT community that works on climatic and energy issues. As part of this work, Raghavan is launching a mentoring program for undergraduate students, twinning them with graduate students who help undergraduate students to develop ideas on how they can work on the climate using their unique expertise.
“I did not plan to use my skills in computer and climate computer,” says Raghavan, “so I really want to give other students a clear path, or a clear feeling of the way they can get involved.”
Raghavan kissed her field of study even in terms of where she likes to think.
“I love working in trains, in buses, in planes,” she says. “It's really fun to be in transit and work on transport problems.”
By anticipating a trip to New York to visit a cousin, she has no fear for the long train trip.
“I know I'm going to do part of my best job during these hours,” she said. “Four hours there. Four hours ago. “
