Dimitrios Pagonakis

Long before he was interested in energy, Dimitrios Pagonakis’ first love was math. Starting on the island of Crete where he grew up, Pagonakis began competing regionally, nationally, and eventually internationally as the captain of the Greek Math International Olympiad Team. When he found himself at MIT, however, and discovered that he really enjoyed engineering, amongst other things, he began referring to math as a hobby. He kept up with his hobby with a double major in theoretical math to accompany his new interest in civil engineering, which introduced him to the world of sustainable engineering, and eventually, energy.

While it wasn’t his first or even second love, studying energy changed the way Pagonakis looked at every problem he came across. “I was looking at problems and wanting to solve them for the sake of making something better, and improving the quality of life, but I never had energy as a vital parameter whenever I would sit down to solve a problem or design something. Slowly, when I started taking energy classes I saw how crucial energy is,” said Pagonakis.

From energy policy to the physics of energy, Pagonakis began to get a holistic view of the energy challenge with the energy studies minor that he has been able to apply to not only his engineering coursework, but to his interest in finance and math as well. Last summer, he interned with a financial group that focused on large wind and solar panel farms.

Pagonakis will be staying on at MIT to pursue a MS in civil engineering. As far as career plans go, he knows he wants to be working in an energy-related field, whether as an engineer or in finance. As our energy landscape shifts to include more renewable sources, we need more people looking at energy from all perspectives, Pagonakis says.

Without two majors and a minor to juggle, Pagonakis looks forward to the extra (hopefully less chaotic) year at MIT.

“It’s a community of genuine people. Everyone’s here because they want to pursue what they love,” says Pagonakis.

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