Aldis E
- Research Program Mentor
PhD at Stanford University
Expertise
public speaking, statistics, data science, R, violin, fashion design and clothes making, podcast creation, economic analysis, mental health coping strategies
Bio
Hi! I'm Aldís (pronounced "all-DEESE"), a Harvard- and Stanford-trained research scientist and instructor, with a passion for community building and global coordination around sustainability. My work sits at the intersection of science and sustainability: from managing independent projects to improve campus sustainability (Harvard), to researching the credibility of corporate carbon reports (Stanford), to working with organizations to clean up the supply chain of energy and waste (SRON) and consumer goods (Amazon). Over the five years of my PhD, I served in multiple roles as a doctoral researcher, teaching assistant, stats/R boot camp instructor, research mentor, and residential community associate. My experience has shaped a core belief of mine: every student deserves to feel supported and sustained in their pursuit of higher education, with emphasis on maintaining personal wellbeing throughout. Mentorship is a part of my service to the goal of supporting others in their pursuit of higher education and achievement. Outside of research, I have a few long-running passions: I've played and performed on violin for over 20 years (classical, Baroque, and improvisational), and I love creative side projects like podcasting and making clothes from scratch. I'd love to help you hone your skills, build your portfolio, develop your narrative, and be a thoughtful guide as you navigate academia and life, meeting you where you're at along the way.Project ideas
(SCIENCE) Modeling Supply Chains for Sustainability: Forecasting and Optimization
Ever wondered how a t-shirt's carbon footprint is calculated, or why some companies struggle to make their supply chains greener? In this project, you'll pick a real product or industry (fashion, food, electronics, etc.) and build a data-driven analysis of its supply chain's environmental impact. You'll source and clean supplier, shipping, or emissions data, run exploratory analysis to identify inefficiencies or hotspots, and use hypothesis-driven methods to test where interventions (rerouting, supplier changes, packaging redesign) would have the greatest sustainability payoff. You'll walk away with a portfolio-ready case study connecting quantitative rigor to a real-world sustainability question.
(SCIENCE) Data-Driven Environmental Policy Analysis
Want to use data to answer a real environmental question — like whether a carbon tax reduced emissions, or how climate policy affects vulnerable communities? You'll select a public dataset (EPA, NOAA, World Bank, or similar), define a policy-relevant research question, and carry out a full analytical pipeline: data cleaning, exploratory analysis, and statistical hypothesis testing to draw defensible, evidence-based conclusions. This project is ideal if you're interested in environmental science, economics, or public policy and want to demonstrate independent quantitative research abilities.
(SCIENCE) Do Companies Walk the Talk? Auditing Corporate Sustainability Claims
Companies love to publish great-sounding sustainability reports, but do the numbers hold up? In this project, you'll pick an industry (e.g., oil and gas, tech, fashion) and compare companies' self-reported ESG or carbon disclosures against independent data sources (satellite emissions estimates, EPA filings, third-party ESG ratings). You'll clean and merge disclosure data with external benchmarks, then run a hypothesis-driven analysis to test for discrepancies, "greenwashing" patterns, or inconsistencies across firms. This is a great fit if you're interested in corporate accountability, environmental economics, or the emerging field of ESG data science.
(SCIENCE) Does Going Green Pay Off? ESG Performance and the Stock Market
Does strong ESG performance actually predict stock returns, lower volatility, or investor confidence... or is it mostly noise? You'll gather ESG ratings and financial data for a set of public companies, build a clean panel dataset, and run exploratory and statistical analyses testing specific hypotheses (e.g., "do high-ESG firms outperform during market downturns?"). Along the way, you'll learn the basics of financial data analysis, event studies, and how researchers and investors quantitatively evaluate sustainability claims. This will be a great intro to the growing field of sustainable finance.
(SCIENCE) Organizational Behavior and Emissions: Why Do Some Companies Report (and Reduce) More Than Others?
Why do some companies voluntarily disclose methane leaks, water usage, or emissions data while others stay silent? Does disclosure actually link to reductions? In this project, you'll build a dataset combining corporate disclosure records (like CDP or EPA data) with firm characteristics (size, industry, leadership, regulatory environment) to explore what organizational or behavioral factors predict transparency and follow-through. You'll use hypothesis-driven analysis to test theories from organizational behavior, like whether public commitments, leadership incentives, or peer pressure from competitors drive real environmental performance, not just reporting.
(SCIENCE) Climate Change Impacts on Mental Health
Curious how rising temperatures, extreme weather, or climate anxiety are affecting mental health outcomes, and how we'd even measure that? In this project, you'll dive into the emerging field of climate psychology and environmental epidemiology, using real datasets (public health records, survey data, or climate indices) to investigate a specific research question — like whether heatwaves correlate with increased ER visits for mental health crises, or how climate anxiety varies across age groups and regions. You'll learn to source and clean relevant data, conduct exploratory analysis, and test hypotheses using statistical methods, walking away with an independent research project that bridges public health, psychology, and data science.
(MUSIC) Violin Lessons
I also offer violin mentorship for beginner, intermediate, and advanced violinists looking to grow their skills in learning, practice, and performance. In these sessions, we will hone your craft, your practice routine, and technical skills on the violin so that you can feel comfortable playing in front of a variety of audiences, at a level of skill that you can feel extra proud of. Sign up if you're interested!