Chakararajan Madhusudanan is a full-time sustainability enthusiast while also working to get his master’s degree in Industrial Engineering. After two years in the program, Chakararajan successfully defended his thesis on July 16th.
Almost two years ago, when his advisor Dr. Sandra Eksioglu sent out an email saying she needed a research assistant, he didn’t think twice before applying.
Chakararajan told us about his experience, stating, “It has been a wonderful journey. I got selected for the position and I have conducted 13 energy audits in the Carolinas on behalf of the DOE, also working simultaneously on my thesis.”
Defending Sustainability
Chakararajan wrote his thesis, “A Machine Learning Framework for Energy Consumption Prediction”, and successfully defended on last week. He is set to graduate in August.
From the abstract:
The International Energy Agency states that if we want the global temperature increase to be lesser than 2 degree Celsius by the end of this century, we need to cut the annual energy consumption increase by more than a half from our current standards. With fast-paced changes in industrial environments and an overall global population change, energy consumption is no close to getting lower. So our only way out would be to use energy more efficiently and reduce wastage. To see how our plans for the future would really pan out, we need to make accurate energy predictions based on past data. Several conventional and new-age algorithms have been used historically for the same purpose. In my thesis, I have combined machine learning algorithms with conventional statistical prediction models to get the best of both worlds, the simplicity of conventional procedures and accuracy of artificial intelligence. I have been able to achieve a 23% accuracy improvement by using this methodology. I believe this is a starting point for more energy prediction models to combine machine learning with statistical procedures.
What’s Next?
“I look forward to bringing about a change in this wonderful planet we live in using the sustainability experience I have had over the two years. I will be graduating this August from Clemson University as a master in Industrial Engineering.”
Congratulations to Chakararajan and all of our Clemson IE students defending this summer!
