name: Emma Pajak
pronouns: she/her

role:
  current: Doctoral Researcher
  home: OptiML Group · Sargent Centre for Process Systems Engineering
  university: Imperial College London

motivation: >
  I build computational tools that connect models, data and domain knowledge
  to support better decisions in real-world engineering systems.

working_on:
  - agentic AI for process systems engineering
  - LLMs for Bayesian optimization
  - sustainability tools for the chemicals industry

active_threads:
  agentic_ai:
    role: co_developed
    focus: process flow diagrams into flowsheet simulations
    aim: >
      Create automation workflows that reduce manual friction in process design
      and help accelerate decision-making in engineering workflows.

  LLMs_for_Bayesian_Optimization:
    status: in_preparation_loading_soon
    focus: expert-in-the-loop Bayesian optimization for scientific and engineering workflows
    idea: >
      Use LLMs as domain experts within Bayesian optimization loops, supporting
      candidate selection when experiments or simulations are expensive,
      uncertain, or resource-constrained.

  sustainability_tool:
    project: CarAT
    collaboration: BASF
    focus: >
      Carbon accounting for the chemicals industry to support decarbonisation
      via chemistry language models.
    status:
      - published in RSC Green Chemistry
      - adopted for industrial use by BASF

recent_experience:
  quaisr:
    role: Data Scientist
    focus:
      - applied modelling for complex engineering systems
      - Bayesian optimization
      - surrogate modelling
      - optimization under uncertainty
      - decision-support tools for industrial workflows
    learned:
      - working in a collaborative engineering codebase
      - version control and code reviews
      - CI/CD workflows
      - building tools that fit into real technical workflows

community:
  workshops: led multi-day technical workshops for 20+ PhD researchers
  representation: >
    PhD representative on the Equality, Diversity and Culture Committee
    in Imperial's Department of Chemical Engineering.

current_direction: >
  Building technical systems that make complex engineering workflows easier
  to understand, design, optimize and improve.