This past summer I was able to participate
in an excellent educational program: the University of Illinois-Chicago’s Summer Institute on Sustainability and Energy (SISE). The SISE program, which
is partially funded by the US Department of Energy, brings together a cross
disciplinary group of students and professionals from across the United States
to learn about and engage the issues around the United States’ energy
infrastructure. The two-week program was housed on UIC’s campus.

Non-lecture components of SISE included
field trips to ANL and meetings with the Clean Energy Trust (CET). At ANL we
learned about some of their research. The research I found most interesting was
a project that was a partnership with FedEx around electric delivery trucks.
The results of their work showed that electric delivery trucks were much less
costly than their conventional diesel counterparts when used in dense urban
areas. This was due to the efficiency electric vehicle motors have over
conventional motors, especially in constant stop and go applications. CET
offers business development to clean energy start-up companies. They work with
a variety of firms ranging from solar energy to battery technologies. We got to
meet most of their staff and learn about exciting clean tech firms based in
Chicago.
When we weren’t in lectures or on field
trips, we were working on our projects. All SISE participants were split up
into cross-disciplinary teams and set to work on a problem. My team had an environmental
and an aerospace engineer, an urban planner and a Ph.D. student in urban
sustainability. Our project was creating a hybrid electric-natural gas vehicle
and a plan to develop the needed infrastructure for such a car. By combining research from what we had been
learning in and outside lectures, we presented our work at the end of the
program.
The experience overall was intense but
incredibly rewarding. It was a crash course in how energy works in our country
and all of the issues surrounding it. Such an education was invaluable,
especially because I want to go into the renewable energy and energy efficiency
industry.
This opportunity came by way of the Fowler Center for Sustainable Value. It was Beau Daane, the Fowler Center Director, who told me about the
program and encouraged me to apply. Roger Sallaint, the Fowler Center’s
Executive Director, wrote me a letter of recommendation. If it wasn’t for them,
I most likely would not have been able to attend. SISE was just one of the
great opportunities in the realm of sustainability that I have been able to
experience at the Fowler Center for Sustainable Value.
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As a second year MBA student here at Weatherhead School of Management, I write about how I’ve been able to use my time at the school to dive into the sustainable business world. I'll describe my experience with different projects, fellowships and other programs in and outside the school. In my studies I focus on sustainability and finance.
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