Rami Darwish ’11 is part of an ambitious effort to make Sweden fossil-free by 2030.
A government initiative, Fossil Free Sweden calls on all sectors of Swedish life to help convert the northern European nation to 100 percent renewable energy.
“In Europe, a significant increase of total industrial greenhouse gas emissions has been contributed by the transportation industry,” Darwish said. “I am researching the business-model challenges facing transportation organizations — both public and private.”
There are considerable technical and social obstacles for manufacturers, operators, transportation authorities and energy providers, he said.
The 34-year-old is earning a doctorate as a researcher at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, a world-class technical university in Stockholm. His work is funded by a European Doctorate in Industrial Management fellowship, through the European Union’s Erasmus Mundus program. It is a joint-university fellowship, so Darwish will spend a year studying in Spain at the Polytechnic University of Madrid.
Darwish credits success in Sweden to his global resume.
Rami Darwish ’11 earned a master of business administration degree as a Fulbright scholar at St. Cloud State.
Armed with a bachelor’s degree in software engineering and systems analysis from Tishreen University, Latakia, Syria, Darwish worked as an information technology administrator for a shipping company. He left that position to be a Fulbright scholar in St. Cloud State’s master of business administration (MBA) program.
Darwish said his Fulbright experience was a landmark period that gave him more knowledge and sharper analytical skills.
“I had great time with nice people,” he said. “I met friends for life and a host family that I love.”
Darwish told an interviewer in a 2009 Fulbright video that he won a campus ping pong tournament and delivered a Cultural Cafe presentation about Syria.
After earning his MBA, Darwish leveraged an Erasmus Mundus scholarship to earn a master’s degree in strategic project management through Heriot-Watt University in Scotland and the University of Umea in Sweden. His thesis tackled decision-making biases in project portfolio selection and prioritization.
Now he is focused on how Sweden can manage the transition to sustainable transportation solutions, specifically electric trucks and buses that are conductively- and inductively-charged. The former technology typically requires overhead transmission lines. The latter is a wireless technology.
Among the projects in which he is engaged is ERSET, the Electric Road Systems Engineering Toolbox. A collaborative study of European electric road systems, its partners include private organizations, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and the Swedish Energy Agency.
A key demonstration project is a mile-and-a-quarter test highway, 90 minutes north of Stockholm. It uses conductive technology to power hybrid electric-biofuel trucks.
Sweden, he said, is seeking “zero emissions, or a significant decrease, energy efficiency and relatively silent solutions.”
“I like Sweden and I think I will be pursuing a career here,” he said.
A hydrid electric-biofuel truck on an experimental electric road north of Stockholm, Sweden.
