Optimizing Research Facility Energy Efficiency: Data Modeling and UI Development for Fume Hood Usage; Investigating the Ethical Paradox of Energy Surveillance in Research Facilities: Proposing a Solution for Balancing Sustainability and Ethical Considerations

There is a nuanced and deep tie between technical innovation and societal implications. My undergraduate thesis portfolio explores this relationship in the context of monitoring technologies and behavioral changes for energy sustainability in research facility environments. More specifically, my technical capstone project focused on designing a monitoring system for improving energy efficiency in laboratory fume hoods and my STS research project investigated the ethical trade-offs of energy surveillance systems in research environments. While the technical work aimed to provide actionable insights to reduce energy waste in labs, the STS work forced me to consider how these systems impact researcher behavior, autonomy, and institutional power structures. Together, these projects form a cohesive and almost cyclic investigation of how technology is shaped by, and in turn shapes, society.

My technical project was conducted through my internship at Sustainabli, a biotech startup providing technical solutions for energy waste management in research facilities. I was personally involved in the development of a full-stack web dashboard designed to visualize energy waste trends across laboratory fume hoods. Using the PERN stack (PostgreSQL, Express, React, Node.js), I implemented interactive graphics and metrics that helped facilities managers and researchers understand their energy usage in real time. The system tracked sash height, room conditions, and user presence to calculate potential energy savings and recommend hibernation for underused hoods. In addition to software development, I worked on data modeling and implemented backend logic to pinpoint and highlight underutilized resources. This tool was deployed during trials at several educational institutions, where it helped identify opportunities for significant energy and cost savings. Traditionally, energy management systems employ one of the following techniques, strict technical monitoring for consistent data collection or motivating incentive programs for influencing voluntary behavioral change. Sustainabli, understood the benefits for both approaches and employs a hybrid solution taking the advantages of real time data collection with the added motivating factors of competitions and reward systems through a dashboard with positive results displayed in an easily interpreted manner. The project had real-world impact but also raised important questions about the nature of surveillance and compliance in institutional lab settings.

My STS research paper, titled The Ethical Paradox of Energy Surveillance in Research Facilities, examined the sociotechnical implications of implementing energy monitoring systems in laboratories. Drawing on Actor-Network Theory and Foucault’s concept of the panopticon, I explored how technologies designed for sustainability can unintentionally produce systems of control and behavioral discipline. I demonstrated how energy surveillance systems not only encourage sustainable behavior but also shift institutional responsibility onto individual researchers. This shift can lead to long-term resistance or superficial compliance particularly when surveillance systems are implemented without transparency or researcher input. I also investigated alternatives such as participatory design and behavioral feedback mechanisms that maintain energy efficiency while respecting researcher autonomy.

Working on these two projects concurrently incredibly deepened my understanding of each other. Designing a technical solution while exploring its ethical dimensions prompted me to rethink the assumptions embedded in my software. Of course, improving energy sustainability is a perfectly good example for an ethically sound engineering problem, however, when the solution is tied with the concept of potentially suppressing its users a more nuanced problem arises. Initially, I focused on optimizing data collection and efficiency calculations, but my STS research led me to introduce privacy-preserving features, voluntary disclosures, and transparency tools for users. On the other hand, my technical work solidified my STS research in the realities of implementation. I had to push myself to consider not just theoretical but real risks and practice my research in real-time, with actual system constraints, stakeholders, and navigate the blurry middle ground between influencing human behavior and technical automation. Both projects gained significant progress through each other: the technical work gained nuance, and the STS research became more grounded and saw potential application.

I was able to explore the full sociotechnical impact of energy management in research facilities. I came to appreciate how complex engineering solutions can truly be. Social norms, ethical considerations, and institutional dynamics are all concepts that can influence and can be influenced by a single engineer and a seemingly simple technical implementation.

School of Engineering and Applied Science

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science

Technical Advisor: Brianna Morrison

STS Advisors: MC Forelle, Gerard Fitzgerald