Siddiqi, Afreen | Pakistan

Siddiqi, Afreen | Pakistan

Dr. Afreen Siddiqi is a Research Scientist in the Engineering Systems Division at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and is also a Visiting Scholar with the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She has a PhD in Aerospace Systems, S.M. in Aeronautics and Astronautics, and S.B. in Mechanical Engineering, all from MIT. Her research is focused on analysis of complex, socio-technical systems for informing planning decisions motivated by environmental sustainability and socio-economic development. In some of her recent work she has investigated the couplings between water, energy, and food production systems, assessed planning options for systems subject to significant future uncertainties (such as hydropower systems in river basins expected to be impacted by climate change), and developed methods for bridging public agencies to enable integrated national water, energy, and agricultural policy. She is also deeply interested in science and engineering education and policies for building innovation systems in developing countries. Dr. Siddiqi’s work has been published in several journals including Energy Policy, Energy Strategy Reviews, Journal of Environmental Management, Journal of Infrastructure Systems, Journal of Mechnical Design, and Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets. She has also worked with major multinational corporations and government institutions such as Schlumberger, National Instruments, BP, Aurora Flight Systems, and Jet Propulsion Lab.


 

Project at IAS-STS: The food, water, and energy nexus: Leveraging inter-organizational networks for policy and planning

Water, food, and energy systems are increasingly inter-dependent due to technological solutions that have been developed to meet the needs of an increasing population. For instance, large-scale mechanized farming and food
processing require energy, water is needed in electricity generation and fossil fuel production, and energy is needed to pump ground-water, or to desalinate water from the sea. This so-called ‘water, energy, food’ nexus needs to be understood and strategically managed for enhanced resource use efficiency, productivity, socioeconomic growth, and long-term sustainability. Integrated policy and planning of these resources can be achieved through effective organizational architectures and inter-organizational links that would allow for synergistic planning of resources that have historically been managed separately. This research uses a stakeholder identification and classification approach coupled with graph-theoretic network modeling to characterize the stakeholder networks in water, energy and food production systems in Punjab (the largest agricultural) province of Pakistan. The identified network architectures for Punjab are compared with previously studied system typologies in literature, and the implications of the network structures are investigated from joint perspective of knowledge-exchange, value chains, and integrated decision-making across the domains of water, energy, and agriculture in the region.

 

Selected Publications

[2013] Siddiqi, A., Wescoat, J. L., “Energy use in large-scale irrigated agriculture in the Punjab province of Pakistan”, Water International (DOI: 10.1080/02508060.2013.828671).

[2013] Siddiqi, A., Kajenthira, A., Anadon, L. D., “Bridging Decision Networks for Integrated Water and Energy Planning”, Energy Strategy Reviews, 2, pp. 46-58.

[2012] Siddiqi, A., Wescoat, J.L. Jr., Humair, S., and Afridi, K. K, “An Empirical Analysis of the Hydropower Portfolio in Pakistan”, Energy Policy, 50, pp 228-241.

[2011] Siddiqi, A. and Anadon, L., “Quantifying the Water-Energy Nexus in Middle East and North Africa”, Energy Policy, 39, pp 4529-4540.

[2010] Alfaris, A., Siddiqi, A., Rizk, C., de Weck, O., Svetinovic, D., “Hierarchical Decomposition and Multi-Domain Formulation for the Design of Complex Sustainable Systems”, Journal of Mechanical Design, 132.