Xinjie is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering working with Prof. Elie Bou-Zeid. His doctoral research is focused on innovative urban cooling strategies such as retro-reflective building surfaces and outdoor misters, contributing to a multi-technology portfolio for cooling cities under global climate change and urban heat island effect. Through his research, Xinjie aims to contribute engineering solutions to mitigate extreme urban heat stress and enhance scientific understanding of human thermal comfort. His research has been published in top journals such as Nature Cities, and has been featured in leading media such as CNN.
As a HMEI-STEP fellow, Xinjie will work with Prof. Denise L. Mauzerall on assessing the co-benefits of new mobility for air quality, heat abatement, and carbon mitigation. Driven by technological advancements and shifting societal trends, the transportation sector is undergoing an evident transformation, fueled by four main disruptive trends: fleet electrification, vehicle automation, shared mobility, and micro-mobility. On the technical side, Xinjie will develop an integrated simulation platform to evaluate how different future mobility scenarios affect environmental conditions over time and space, considering both the potential for reduced emissions and novel land-use land-cover patterns. On the policy side, Xinjie will identify critical timescales for the uptake of new mobility technologies to achieve emission goals and to propose policy options to meet these timelines, as well as guide the repurposing and retrofitting of existing urban infrastructure.
Before joining Princeton in September 2022, Xinjie earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Hong Kong and a bachelor’s degree in building environment and energy engineering from Southeast University (China).
HMEI-STEP Topic: Assessing the co-benefits of new mobility for air quality, heat abatement, and carbon mitigation
HMEI-STEP Adviser: Denise L. Mauzerall
Thesis Topic: Multi-technology urban cooling portfolio
Thesis Adviser: Elie Bou-Zeid