From Turmoil to Triumph: A CEEE Staffer’s Journey
Three years ago, CEEE staffer Shwe Htet Htet Aung was living amid turmoil in Myanmar, a developing country in Southeastern Asia where a violent military coup wreaks chaos and destruction. What a contrast to her life today. Aung recently completed her studies in the Maryland Applied Graduate Engineering (MAGE) program, earning a master’s in engineering in December 2024. She also works as the faculty assistant for the UMD Center for Environmental Energy Engineering (CEEE) Advanced Heat Exchanger and Process Intensification Consortium (AHXPI) under the supervision of Professor Michael Ohadi. AHXPI focuses on utilizing innovative designs, materials and manufacturing techniques to identify and develop emerging technologies in realizing miniaturized and smart heat exchangers and thermal management systems for diverse applications, including process intensification, HVAC and refrigeration, electronics cooling, and space/aerospace energy conversion systems. In 2021, Myanmar's military overthrew the democratically elected government and violently suppressed pro-democracy protests, sparking a nationwide armed rebellion. Airstrikes, shelling, and arson have destroyed homes, schools, healthcare facilities and places of worship, displacing over 3 million civilians, including Aung’s family. Luckily, Aung was able to escape the dangerous conditions, traveling to Maryland in 2022 with her husband, a U.S. citizen and native Marylander. “I can't pray for a better place to be than in the United States,” she says. “I am quite grateful that I was able to continue my education here at the University of Maryland.” A new life in Maryland “At first, I thought I would only visit the U.S. for a while,” Aung says. “But I quickly realized that the situation in Myanmar was getting messier.” Education was the key to a brighter future, Aung decided. Her mom dropped out of school after fourth grade and her father after high school, but Aung was determined to forge her own path. “I didn't have the feeling that my parents’ situation could stop me,” she says. “Ever since I was young, I would see a person as a person per se, and thought I could be anything I wanted to be.” Aung completed her undergraduate studies in engineering at Myanmar’s Kalay Technological University before the coup erupted. She was a rising star at school, winning second place in a national technology competition for her design of a smart home automation system; organizing field trips for communications engineering students to the country’s largest FM radio station and largest television station; and serving as the first female vice president of the university development group. “I am glad to be a woman who held leadership positions in a male-dominated environment,” she says. Settling into her new life in Maryland, Aung decided to continue her studies at the A. James Clark School of Engineering’s MAGE program, where her studies focused on network security, wireless communication techniques and data networks. Looking for part-time work to help support her through school, Aung nervously applied for an opening with CEEE, afraid that she wouldn’t get the job because she had never held a professional position before. Impressed with Aung’s can-do attitude and leadership skills, Ohadi, CEEE co-founder and AHXPI director, hired her initially as a part-time graduate student in January 2023 and later as a faculty assistant. In addition to performing the administrative duties needed to keep AHXPI’s Smart and Small Thermal Systems (S2TS) Laboratory running smoothly, Aung is a key member of the lab’s energy audit team. Through a contract with the state of Maryland, the S2TS lab has conducted onsite audits on over 8 million square feet of state-owned buildings since 2018 and virtual audits on more than 30 million square feet. The state has aggressive plans to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, decrease energy consumption and save millions of dollars in utility costs, with the S2TS energy audit team playing a key role. As a member of the audit team, Aung contributes to conducting virtual and onsite energy audits, recommending equipment modifications and conservation practices to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and optimize energy efficiency. She also assists with the development of the customized Rapid Energy Auditor tool that the team has developed for virtual energy audits. She credits much of her success to Ohadi, who patiently mentored her as she learned the intricacies of energy audits, all while she was adjusting to life in the United States and becoming a more confident English speaker. The mentee quickly became the mentor. In fall 2023, Aung was selected as a mentor in the Clark School’s Graduate Leaders in Engineering Advising and Mentoring program, which pairs UMD engineering graduate students with high schoolers participating in the Prince George’s County Science and Technology Internship Program. She mentored a senior at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Md., who was interning at AHXPI laboratory, guiding him as he conducted an energy audit of his school. When a student from a public high school in Howard County, Md., joined the team in 2024 and conducted an energy audit/analysis of his school, Aung continued to serve as a role model. The team, led by Professors Hugh Bruck and Michael Ohadi, recently published a paper that compares the energy efficiency of the two high schools to well-established benchmarks and quantified the possible energy savings and carbon footprint reductions. The two students will present the paper at ASHRAE’s Winter Conference in February. 
Aung poses with Testudo at the Clark School's celebration for winter 2024 graduates. “Shwe’s assistance in working with the students was critical to their success,” Ohadi says. “Shwe is a momentum builder and motivator. She dedicates herself fully to the tasks assigned and has been a pleasure to work with.” Aung says, “I really enjoyed teaching the high school students and also learning from them. I realized that no matter whether a person is younger than you, there is always something you can learn from them.” Future plans Since receiving her master’s, Aung has transitioned to full-time work for CEEE and will continue until her contract ends in June. After that, she hopes to head into industry, where she’s searching for an engineering job in communications and signal processing. A Ph.D. may be in her future, but in the meantime, she wants a job to help support her family in Myanmar and her younger sister, who recently moved to the United States for her undergraduate studies. Aung is also looking forward to exploring more of the country; her favorite destination so far is the flowering meadows and spectacular lakes of Montana’s Glacier National Park. “Now that I studied here in the U.S., and showed everything that I was able to do, including my work for CEEE,” Aung says, “I’ve inspired my younger siblings and others in my country. I'm very grateful that I can offer them a little bit of inspiration.”
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