Civil PhD Receives 2026 Outstanding PhD Student Award in Humanics
Maharshi Pathak, PhD’26, civil engineering, was the recipient of the 2026 Outstanding PhD Student Award in Humanics, which recognizes graduate students who, through their education, have integrated human literacy with data and technology in their learning or research.
Maharshi Pathak, co-advised by CEE Associate Prof. Michael Kane and Bouve’s Misha Pavel, is a 2026 graduate of the department’s PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the first graduate of the recently established Data and Systems (DaS) degree cohort. The DaS program is designed for students with career goals that require application of data and systems analysis to challenges across any discipline of civil and environmental engineering, and offers instruction in data analysis and computing, systems and sensors, mathematics, computer science, engineering, economics, and policy.
Prior to Northeastern, Pathak modeled energy performance of US homes at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where he noticed shortcomings in the model’s understanding of human behavior and its effect on energy performance. He brought these insights with him to Northeastern, joining Prof. Kane’s research for the Department of Energy studying smart thermostats. The research aims to develop smart thermostats that help HVAC systems balance supply and demand on the electric grid to enable more renewable energy.
“I count on Maharshi’s humanics skillsets as the glue that holds together the technical and interpersonal aspects of my [DoE grant],” said Prof. Kane.
Following the submission of his contributions to journals and conferences, Pathak was invited by the ASHRAE Occupant Behavior in Building Design and Operation committee writing the ASHRAE Handbook to contribute his insights on modeling occupant behavior and creating human-centric buildings.
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