CEO & Professor for International Management, Decarbonaid GmbH
Prof. Dr. Ali Arnaout has 30 years of international management experience as a Financial & Strategy Consultant, Global Investment & Asset Manager and CFO & CIO of a leading international cruise line. Throughout his career his focus was on managing the interface between commercial and technical functions within organizations with a strong bottom line orientation. For the last decade he collected in-depth experiences managing the sustainability challenge for asset-heavy companies.
Ali holds a Diploma in Technical Business Administration, a Doctorate in International Life Cycle Cost Management and research experience in the US, UK, France, Japan and Germany. The winner of the German Green Controlling Award today is teaching as a university professor and management consultant.
Lucía Royo Pascual
Innovation Manager, ELECTROINGENIUM
Lucía Royo Pascual holds degrees in Industrial Engineering specializing in energy, fluids, and heat transfer from the University of Zaragoza, an MSc in renewable energy and energy resources from CIRCE, an MSc in Internal Combustion Engines from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, PhD in Transport Propulsion Systems at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, an MSc in Big Data and Business Analytics with IMF Business School, and an MSc in Mathematical Engineering and Computer Science (ongoing).
Lucía's research work, conducted from 2013 to 2017 at the Polytechnic University of Valencia in CMT – Motores Térmicos, has made a significant impact in the field. Her R&D projects, both at the national level (AUTORC) and Internationally, with private stakeholders of the automotive industry, focused on improving the energy efficiency in automotive vehicles. This was achieved by utilizing the Organic Rankine Cycle as an efficient method for Waste Heat Recovery. The culmination of these efforts resulted in the publication of 5 scientific articles in indexed international journals and several congresses. Furthermore, she serves as a reviewer for two high-impact journals: Applied Thermal Engineering and Energy.
Additionally, Lucía worked with the automotive company Applus IDIADA in the Thermal Management, HVAC, and engine cooling departments. She was involved in the H2020 project (DOMUS) related to mathematical optimization using GA and machine learning applied to thermal comfort in vehicles. Furthermore, she participated in the prototypes' final validation and testing (data acquisition).
Afterward, she started at CIRCE as a researcher in the Combustible and Combustion Technology Group, focusing on flame visualization in gaseous combustibles and machine learning algorithms. Then, she became a Technology Project Manager, with her work focused on multiphysics simulation, data analysis, and machine learning in energy projects.
Currently, she works as an Innovation Manager at Electroingenium.
Adelia Drego
Senior Associate Research Scientist, Saab
Adelia is a mechanical and aerospace engineer with over ten years of work experience in the Swedish industry. She has used multi-physics finite element modelling for applications in the automotive and marine industry.
Previously, she was part of the team responsible for creating and updating finite element models in the Gripen E/F aircraft project at Saab Aeronautics. She is currently a research scientist and industrial PhD student at the system simulations team at Saab. Her research project focuses on design and modelling methods for efficient energy management for future aircraft platforms.
Michele Bolognese
Hydrogen and Sustainable Energy Researcher, Fondazione Bruno Kessler
Michele Bolognese graduated from the University of Trento with a Master’s degree in Environmental Energy Resource Management.
Michele’s work at Fondazione Bruno Kessler started with a study of the integration of solar thermal energy in industrial processes for the particular case study of a pasta factory based in northern Italy followed by the study of the potential of Hydrogen systems. Michele has been actively involved in the Italian project, Comesto, dedicated to the aggregated management of energy storage systems, contributing to the development of models in Ansys Simplorer environment involving different storage systems, including hydrogen technologies, coupled and controlled by DC/DC devices.
Today, Michele is involved with the Prometo project in which he’s utilizing dynamic modeling to integrate solar heat with a hydrogen production system and storage system that considers temperature fluctuations.
Mohamed Takkoush originates from Lebanon where he received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. In 2018, Mohamed relocated to Sweden to further hone his engineering skills and earn his master’s degree in automotive engineering from Chalmers University of Technology with a focus on vehicle dynamics and active safety.
He completed his master thesis with Volvo Autonomous solutions in 2020 on the topic of model validation using reach set conformance. During his masters, Mohamed worked as a project assistant with Professor Mathias Lidberg at the Department of Vehicle Dynamics at Chalmers. After my graduation, he joined Fraunhofer Chalmers Center for 6 months to support the initiation of projects related to multibody and vehicle dynamics, where Mohamed was first exposed to the FMI standard used for model sharing.
Today, Mohamed works as a vehicle dynamics analyst at Volvo Autonomous solutions where he develops, validates and integrates vehicle models to support virtual development at Volvo Autonomous Solutions.
Kristian Tuszynski
Chief Technology Officer, Aircela
Kristian comes to Aircela from a long career at UTC/Carrier, where he was Global Controls Manager and his work included building digital models of hydroelectric dams.
Kristian shepherds Aircela technology from the drawing board to production, and is building the brains of the system, with his controls software allowing Aircela systems to work together as an interconnected swarm.
Jim Harper
Principal Technical Lead, EPRI
Jim Harper has over 20 years’ experience as a thermal systems engineer in a range of industries. Jim is a Principle Technical Lead in the Gas Turbine Technology Division at EPRI. EPRI is the Electric Power Research Institute headquartered in the US but with a presence across the world.
EPRI’s mission is advancing safe, reliable, affordable, and clean energy for society through global collaboration, science and technology innovation, and applied research. Jim has extensive gas turbine design, control, testing and fleet experience. He was a Combustion Technical Leader at General Electric where he was a system owner of Gas Turbine combustion system mechanical, thermal and control architectures.
In addition, Jim worked in the electric vehicle automotive industry where he was a senior thermal systems design lead responsible for all thermal systems design, validation and fleet support including battery, motor, power electronics and cabin thermal systems. He has authored over 10 patents in Gas Turbine Design and control as well as EV thermal system control architectures.
Lisa Rivalin
Research Scientist, Meta
Lisa Rivalin is a Research Scientist for IDC’s physical modeling team at Meta, a team focusing on modeling to bridge the gap between the physical and digital world. Her current projects include data center modeling from chip to region, leveraging physics-based models and machine learning to optimize data center designs and operations and help Meta reach its sustainability goals.
Before joining IDC, Lisa was a Lead Research Scientist and Project Manager at Engie, a leading energy services and sustainability company in Europe. There, she focused on creating new energy performance contracts using innovative statistical methods and implementing smart building technologies. Lisa also served as an Affiliate Research Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, renowned for its contributions to energy and environmental research, where she worked on predictive modeling for the built environment.
Lisa holds a PhD in Applied Statistics and Energy from Mines ParisTech. Additionally, she has a Master of Science in Engineering from the University of Poitiers and a Master of Arts in History and Philosophy of Science from Paris Diderot University.
Nicholas Pilot
Technical Leader, EPRI
Nicholas Pilot is a Technical Leader in the Low-Carbon Resources Initiative (LCRI) team at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
Nick supports LCRI through technoeconomic studies currently focused on green hydrogen production (e.g. renewables + electrolysis), hydrogen compression systems, and community-scale resilient energy systems. Nick’s PV system performance modeling, and technoeconomic and cost-benefit analyses supports research efforts throughout the Generation Sector, as well as the Energy Delivery & Customers Solutions sector at EPRI.
Prior to joining the Renewable Generation program at EPRI in 2018, Nick worked for three and a half years as a mechanical engineer at AECOM in the field of HVAC design and building energy. Nick led and supported the HVAC design of several commercial, government, and health care facilities. He also worked on building energy modeling, successful LEED certification for a command-and-control facility (C2F) and was responsible for the drafting and 3-D modeling of HVAC designs via AutoCAD®, Bentley MicroStation, and Autodesk Revit®.
Nick earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biology with minors in mathematics and physics from The University of North Carolina at Pembroke and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Nick’s undergraduate research focused on clean biodiesel production and his graduate research focused on the energy efficiency and energy modeling of deployable military shelters.
Kamran Iranshasi
Research and Development Manager, MAN Energy Solutions
Kamran Iranshahi graduated with a Master's in Mechanical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano in 2019, specializing in Internal Combustion and Turbomachinery. Following this, he pursued a Ph.D. at ETH Zurich, obtaining his Dr. sc. ETH Zurich degree in 2022. From 2018 to 2024, Kamran was employed as a Researcher at Empa (Swiss Federal Labs) and Hochschule Luzern. Since June 2024, he has transitioned to a role as a Simulation Engineer at MAN Energy Solutions. His professional interests are focused on multiphase flow, electrohydrodynamics, digital twins, and process optimization via combination of multiphysics simulations and experimental methods.
Clément Coïc
Technology Cluster Lead - Digital Mechatronics, Siemens Healthineers
Clément Coïc is leading the Technology Cluster for Digital Mechatronics at Siemens Healthineers. He is responsible for building up a team of experts in digitalization and leading technological projects to enhance the development of Siemens Healthineers' mechatronic products.
This role leverages the past experiences of Clément as a Team Lead and Model-based Development expert at Modelon and at other industry leaders such as Airbus Helicopters and Dassault Systèmes. Clément holds two MSc - in France and Spain - in System Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, and a PhD on model-based hydraulic actuation system design for helicopters.
Marc Graaf
Managing Partner, Synergy Thermal Management GmbH
Marc Graaf is the owner and managing director at SynErgy Thermal Management. Marc studied Mechanical Engineering at the Aachen University of Technology with a specialization in heat transfer technology.
Marc’s previous experience includes 13 years at Hanon Systems, with 6 of those years as Manager of Advanced System Development. At Hanon Systems, Marc’s team worked on alternative refrigerants, heat pump systems, and TMS for electrical vehicles.
