1/19/2024 Riya Agrawal
Written by Riya Agrawal
“Anna had this vision of putting in scientific hardcore research during her PhD and going somewhere like the FAA, making a real impact in the world,” said Bei Tse Chao and May Chao Professor Tonghun Lee. “She had the vision and the competence to pursue that.”
Lee is talking about MechSE alumna Anna Oldani (BS AgE 2012, MSME 2014, PhD ME 2019), who was recently promoted to a new position as Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor for Environment and Energy at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Oldani’s standout doctoral work with Lee in his Advanced Propulsion and Energy Lab focused on alternative jet fuel combustion and characterization. Her research earned her both an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and an Illinois Distinguished Fellowship.
“Being a student with Tonghun really enabled me to present my work and meet people across industries, including program sponsors at the FAA,” Oldani said. With Lee, she collected information from many national labs and cohesively built the FAA’s first database on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) through the FAA’s Office of Environment and Energy Center of Excellence for Alternative Jet Fuels and Environment, known as the Aviation Sustainability Center (ASCENT). This test database for jet fuel data, which analyzes different ways of incorporating fuel data as it pertains to developing new fuel pathways. She also worked to integrate this database with other fuel databases in Europe.
Research done in the Office of Environment and Energy aims to inform new policies around sustainable aviation practices as well as support decision-makers as they develop policies. As an engineer in the FAA Office of Environment and Energy, she directed many sustainable aviation research projects in both academia and industry. Her work focused on SAF development and deployment to make near-term progress while ensuring long-term aviation sustainability. In her new role at the FAA, Oldani will work across the organization to achieve environmental goals for aviation.
“I’ve been here for four years and I feel like I’ve really been able to do a lot in that time, thanks in large part to my educational background,” Oldani said.
Some of her earliest research projects laid the foundation for her career path. During her freshman year, Oldani started research on fuel production, including ethanol fermentation and ionic fluids. As a sophomore, she worked with algae-based alternative fuels. Indeed, some of the coursework she undertook as a student also had a major influence on her current work. For example, studying life cycle analysis enabled her to learn about renewable electricity and the different ways to produce sustainable power. Lessons from a graduate-level NRES (Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences) class about renewable energy policy have also provided valuable input into her current work. Furthermore, her involvement in GradSWE showed her that she was also good at other things than just school. She believes that even though having a strong technical base is important, having the soft skills is also vital to succeeding in any field.
“As a student, I was really fortunate because I was able to go and not only present our work but actually meet with the different program managers and the people who facilitate the program,” she said. “Through that, I was able to be a part of this unique part of the FAA.”
Oldani advises current students to try new things, whether in aviation or elsewhere. As a sophomore at the career fair, she was turned down from her dream company at the time. However, a representative at the next booth offered her an internship, which got her interested in offroad engineering, the eventual focus for her bachelor’s degree. This internship also helped reinforce that she loved teaching and public service and wanted to go in that direction. This led her to continue her graduate studies and eventually accept a job offer with the FAA.
“Don’t limit yourself to what you're comfortable with,” she said.