Retrofitting his working environment to make it more energy-efficient and sustainable was an easy decision for Milad, who has always enjoyed fixing items in his environment that don’t work properly. Currently, Milad Ebadi is in the second year of his Ph.D. program at the Burnaby campus of Simon Fraser University, where he studies ways to optimize the energy performance of buildings using machine learning and artificial intelligence methods. As he puts it, “By choosing this project, my work turned into my hobby.”

As a part of his SFU Living Lab project for the Burnaby Festival of Learning presentation, Milad will be designing an optimized building retrofit strategy tool that focuses on proposing specific retrofit scenarios for each building at SFU Surrey based on current conditions and needs. Milad hopes to inspire others to use their expertise to better their communities, as he is a firm believer that to change the world, you need to start by first changing your own environment. Milad believes that implementing your knowledge into your daily life will hone your skills and improve your own life, which will then enable you to use your experience to improve the lives of others. While working on this project, Milad’s passion for sustainability has grown; he is excited for the results of his research to be implemented at SFU and to witness the impact he has had on his community firsthand. The person who has had the most influence on Milad throughout his life and academic journey is his father, who taught him to learn from his experiences and always encouraged him to pursue ways to better his life. Milad’s advice to his peers and those interested in the field of mechatronics is to not be “afraid of building anything that comes to your mind” and to “learn from everything you see.”

Milad wishes to acknowledge the assistance of his supervisors Majid Bahrami, Professor, School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering and Bernard Chan, Energy Manager, Facilities Services for helping to make this project happen. For more information about SFU Living Lab projects, click here.