{"671201":{"#nid":"671201","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Omar Asensio Talks About His Work, Visiting Fellowship at Harvard Business School, and More","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAssociate Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/spp.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/omar-isaac-asensio\u0022\u003EOmar Asensio\u003C\/a\u003E in the School of Public Policy was awarded a Business in Global Society (BiGS) Visiting Fellowship at Harvard Business School, where he was interviewed about his research, his plans for the fellowship, and other topics. Asensio leads the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/datasciencepolicy.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EData Science and Policy Lab\u003C\/a\u003E at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat\u2019s your area of research and what led you to it?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAs a climate scholar, I focus on the intersection of technology and public policy. I lead the Data Science \u0026amp; PolicyLab at Georgia Tech, where we use big data and field experiments to address challenges in energy, transportation, and human mobility. In recent years, we\u2019ve leveraged generative AI and large language models (LLMs) to overcome research barriers in vehicle electrification and infrastructure. By putting humans in\u2013the-loop during training and testing, our machine learning models have become highly accurate and scalable across languages and geographies. This work has led us to identify investment and operational barriers to electric vehicle charging in remote areas and urban centers, impacting sustainable business and policymaking on critical areas for innovation. My climate AI research on electrification and decarbonization is supported by Microsoft and the National Science Foundation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhy is your area of research important for society?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nI am fortunate to be one of 10 US scholars who contributed to the zero emission vehicles (ZEV) policy guidance for COP 26 and the Glasgow Climate Pact. We know that accelerating the switch from internal combustion to electric cars and trucks reduces emissions. However, we often forget about the enormous air quality and human health co-benefits associated with reduced air pollution, estimated to be worth hundreds of billions in value according to National Academies consensus reports.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhere are you from?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nI grew up in Los Angeles, where I had the opportunity to learn from and connect with people and cultures from around the world. I speak Spanish and basic Greek. My family\u2019s journey brought us to the US as political \u00e9migr\u00e9s from Nicaragua following the Sandinista revolution.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is something you like to do outside of your academic work?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nOutside of my academic work, I\u2019m a proud soccer dad. You\u2019ll find me on the pitch, cheering on the Boston Bolts this season, as my son Milan has been invited to play for them, and I couldn\u0027t be more excited. I also enjoy exploring Boston by hopping on a water taxi and checking out the fish markets in Seaport.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat\u2019s your favorite book, movie, or piece of art?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nThe Netflix algorithm says my favorite movie is\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003ELa La Land.\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;The algorithm thinks it knows me well because it keeps suggesting comedic tear-jerkers, but lately I\u2019ve been trying to nudge it towards action films.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat will you be doing as a BiGS Fellow?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nThe federal government plans to invest $7.5 billion in a national network of EV charging points. This will bring a wealth of business and managerial decisions on electric mobility, including creative solutions for pricing externalities, smart grid integration, and understanding consumer behavior. Motivated by these policy drivers, my project explores how AI can be used to ensure a more equitable distribution of electric vehicle infrastructure and will evaluate policy effectiveness with massively distributed data.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat sort of impact would you like to have as a BiGS Fellow?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nI\u0027m thrilled to collaborate with the BiGS fellows and HBS on new products. I also welcome opportunities for broader scientific collaborations, especially cross-disciplinary ones that push the boundaries of large-scale distributed climate data and social science.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA version of this story \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.hbs.edu\/news\/articles\/Pages\/omar-asensio-profile-2023.aspx\u0022\u003Efirst appeared\u003C\/a\u003E in the Harvard Business School newsroom.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Associate Professor Omar Asensio was awarded a Business in Global Society (BiGS) Visiting Fellowship at Harvard Business School, where he was interviewed about his research, his plans for the fellowship, and other topics. Asensio leads the Data Science and Policy Lab at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech Associate Professor Omar Asensio was awarded a Business in Global Society (BiGS) Visiting Fellowship at Harvard Business School, where he was interviewed about his research, his plans for the fellowship, and other topics."}],"uid":"35777","created_gmt":"2023-11-21 21:10:11","changed_gmt":"2023-11-21 21:31:03","author":"Stephanie Kadel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-11-21T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2023-11-21T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"672429":{"id":"672429","type":"image","title":"Omar Asensio, associate professor and director of the Data Science and Policy Lab","body":"\u003Cp\u003EOmar Asensio, associate professor and director of the Data Science and Policy Lab at Georgia Tech, was awarded a Business in Global Society Visiting Fellowship by the Harvard Business School.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1700601537","gmt_created":"2023-11-21 21:18:57","changed":"1700601537","gmt_changed":"2023-11-21 21:18:57","alt":"a photo of Omar Asensio","file":{"fid":"255664","name":"Asensio.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/11\/21\/Asensio_0.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/11\/21\/Asensio_0.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":116824,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/11\/21\/Asensio_0.jpeg?itok=Xtmo9vsL"}}},"media_ids":["672429"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1289","name":"School of Public Policy"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"175268","name":"Omar Asensio"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:stephanie.kadel@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EStephanie N. Kadel\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["stephanie.kadel@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}