About Me
Hey! I’m Wei Ai, a second-year Ph.D. student in Environment & Sustainability and Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. I work as a research assistant in the ASSET Lab led by Prof. Michael Craig and am also co-advised by Prof. Vladimir Dvorkin.
I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Energy and Power Engineering from Tsinghua University and Master’s degree in Engineering Thermophysics from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, where I researched thermo-mechanical energy storage. Motivated by my growing interest in macro-energy systems, I came to Michigan to pursue my Ph.D. degree. Currently, I’m working on seasonal hydrogen storage and natural gas infrastructure retrofitting by developing sector-coupled capacity expansion models. You can find my publication here (Google Scholar 
📖 Educations
- 2024.08 – now, Ph.D. student at University of Michigan, School for Environment and Sustainability and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
- 2021.08 – 2024.06, M.Sc. at University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics
- 2017.08 – 2021.06, B.Sc. at Tsinghua University, Department of Engineering Mechanics
🔥 News
- 2025.10: 🎉🎉 I presented our work titled ‘Sector-Coupling and Infrastructure Shape the Long-Term Flexibility Landscape in Net-zero America’ at the 2025 INFORMS Annual Meeting.
- 2025.08: 🎉🎉 I was admitted to the Individual Interdepartmental Degree Program, leading to a Doctor of Philosophy in Environment & Sustainability and Electrical & Computer Engineering.
- 2024.08: 🎉🎉 I enrolled in the School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Micchigan.
📝 Journal and Conference
In-progress
- W. Ai, J. Dowling, M. Craig. Resolving the Mechanism and Value of Hydrogen-Based Seasonal Flexibility, under review at Nature Energy, 2026.
Publication
- J. Hu, L. Zheng, W. Ai, et al. An adaptive power system transient stability assessment method based on shared feature extraction, in iScience, 2025.
- A. Hu, L. Wang, X. Lin, W. Ai, et al. Performance analysis of recuperated Brayton pumped thermal electricity storage with staged compressors, in Energy, 2025.
- W. Ai, L. Wang, X. Lin, et al. Dynamic characteristics of pumped thermal-liquid air energy storage system: Modeling, analysis, and optimization, in Energy, 2024.
- H. Chen, … W. Ai, et al. Research progress on energy storage technologies of China in 2023, in Energy Storage Science and Technology, 2024.
- W. Ai, L. Wang, X. Lin, et al. Multivariate multi-objective collaborative optimization of pumped thermal-liquid air energy storage, in Journal of Energy Storage, 2024.
- W. Ai, L. Wang, X. Lin, et al. Mathematical and thermo-economic analysis of thermal insulation for thermal energy storage applications, in Renewable Energy, 2023.
- T. Zhao, W. Ai, H. Ma, et al. Integral identification of fluid specific heat capacity and heat transfer coefficient distribution in heat exchangers based on multiple-case joint analysis, in International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2022.
Conference
- W. Ai, J. Dowling, M. Craig. “Sector-coupling and infrastructure shape the long-term flexibility landscape in net-zero America”, in 2025 INFORMS Annual Meeting, 2025.
🎖 Honors and Awards
- 2021-2023 Annual Scholarship, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics
- 2022 4D Power Scholarship (Top 5%), Institute of Engineering Thermophysics
- 2022 Merit Student, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences