Alina LaPotin

Alina LaPotin

Alina is a Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering working with Professor Asegun Henry on the development of thermal energy grid storage (TEGS), a long-duration storage technology which can enable greater usage of intermittent sources of renewable energy on the grid. TEGS uses thermophotovoltaics (TPV), a solid-state heat engine, for heat to electricity conversion. Her current research focuses on characterizing TPV efficiency under high-temperature and high-intensity light sources and designing solutions to TPV thermal integration challenges. Her research leads to practical implementation of TPVs to enable higher efficiency power conversion in the TEGS system and in other electricity generation applications.

Alina grew up in Austin, Texas and received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, where her research was focused on modeling thermal energy storage system for nuclear power plants. She received an S.M. degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in 2019 where she developed a multi-stage solar-driven atmospheric water harvesting device using adsorbent materials for water collection from air in arid environments. In her spare time, she enjoys rock climbing around New England and the world.