The Office of Sustainability and Energy now has six new and returning student associates -- all talented, smart, and commited to helping the campus reach its sustainability goals. We are sharing their answers to a few questions below by way of introduction. Join me in wishing them a fun and productive year!
Name: Amy Craik
Major: Sustainable Environmental Design, Minor: Environmental Design and Urbanism in Developing Countries
Title: CSREL Student Ambassador
Work I'm doing for the Office: Along with student fellows across UC, I will be the curator of Climate and Sustainability Education Resource Library (CSERL) for our campus. The CSERL is a new digital gateway intended to host course curricula, lectures, seminars, podcasts, tutorials, and other learning materials related to climate change and sustainability. It is designed to increase collaboration and faculty engagement among UC educators, and to enable more faculty to easily incorporate climate change and sustainability into existing courses across disciplines. I will also continue to support other the communication efforts of OSE.
Favorite Course at Cal: Architecture 140 with Gail Brager and Stefano Schiavon
Last item I recycled: TerraCycle collection for the CalGreeks community of 1,200+ Shampoo and cosmetic containers waste
What I did this past summer: Got my U.S. Green Building Council LEED Green Associate credentials!
Name: Jordan French
Major: Environmental Engineering Science
Title: Carbon Neutrality Initiative Research and Metrics Fellow
Favorite Course: Last year I took Engineering, the Environment, and Society with Khalid Kadir. Still reeling from that class, which introduced me to so many issues around social and environmental justice, and made me consider my role as an engineer in that context.
What I did this past summer: This past summer I worked as a summer fellow for blueEnergy, an NGO that works to provide clean water and energy to residents of Bluefields, Nicaragua. I investigated various models of efficient cook stoves with technical tests, trial runs, and surveys. I got to experience what an energy engineer's work with an NGO might be like, and after my fellowship I had the opportunity to travel around Central America with my family!
Name: Rory Jacobson
Major: Rhetoric (L&S) and Society and Environment (CNR)
Title: Green Team Associate
Favorite Course: ESPM 102D Climate Policy
Last item I recycled: Mason jar
What I did this past summer: I worked at the Victory Briefs Institute- a summer research intensive for high school Lincoln/Douglas debaters. I was responsible for generating a curriculum and doing research on a wide variety of ethical and political issues, including environmental topics.
What I wish the campus could do (sustainability-wise): I wish the students and faculty would become more conscious of food-waste on campus. When a large portion of students are food insecure and campus waste goals are "0 by 2020," our campus culture requires the communal support of leftovers, conscious purchasing, imperfect aesthetic, food pantries, and composting.
Name: Jean Ji
Major: Environmental Sciences
Title: Carbon Neutrality Fellow
Work I'm doing for the Office: Update website and Facebook page with carbon-related and climate-related articles to educate and engage our community, meet with solar- and energy-related groups on campus to establish collaborations, assist with the implementations of more renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives.
What I did this past summer: I interned at the Solar Energy Industry Association in Washington D.C.. I helped with their research department to actively track the installed capacity of solar across all states and congressional districts. I also produced fact sheets for our lobbying efforts, and these fact sheets were read by congressional representatives and were recently used in the Democratic National Convention during their energy panels.
Favorite Class at Cal: Political Ecology (ESPM 168): a deeper dive into how social issues, such as poverty, gender inequality etc. relate to environmental degradation.
Name: Matthew Kozuch
Major: Energy Engineering
Title: Green Department Associate
Work I'm doing for the Office: I'm working with two other student associates to help departments around campus become green certified and become more conscious environmentally.
Favorite Course at Cal: E45 (Properties of Materials)
What I did this past summer: I worked this past summer for the San Francisco Public Utility Commission doing energy benchmarking and solar analysis.
Random fact: I'm a skilled pogo stick rider!
Name: Jacob Levine
Major: Forestry and Natural Resources & Environmental Economics and Policy
Title: Green Department Associate
Work I'm doing for the Office: Assisting in the certification of departments on campus as sustainable, "green departments". I mainly communicate and work with departments in order further their sustainability efforts and verify their achievements.
Favorite Course: ESPM 134: Fire, Insects and Disease in Forest Ecosystems
Last item I recycled: The Amazon cardboard box that my house's new power-washer came in.
Favorite sustainability action: Cutting down trees. (Is that really sustainable? Yes, and is in fact beneficial for most California forest ecosystems, in moderation).
What I did this past summer: Attended the University of California Forestry Camp in Quincy.
What I wish the campus could do (sustainability-wise): Remove all of the Eucalyptus trees from the property.