Coming from Singapore, a country that has historically relied on Malaysia for much of its water supply, Trinetta Chong understands the problems that accompany limited natural resources. “Trying to achieve self-sustainability in our water supply means turning to alternative sources such as desalination and wastewater reclamation,” Trinetta explained. “While these technologies help to supplement our water supply, they consume very high amounts of energy.” Read more…
Growing up, Greg Dobbels recalls being immersed in the hard sciences. But his academic focus shifted slightly in college. While studying Government, he realized empiricism was important to him. “I settled on economics as a field and theoretical framework to guide future pursuits,” he said. Read more…
Michael Galperin’s interests in environmental and energy topics developed during his undergraduate study at the University of Chicago. His senior year, he enrolled in a course taught by Anjali Adukia on Education Policy in Development Contexts. Though he was already studying economics, the class showed him how economic analysis and tools can be used to improve the living condition of the world’s poor. Read more…
Azhar Hussain’s interests in energy and environmental topics grew during his role as a Research Associate at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), a network of affiliated professors from 49 universities whose mission is to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. At J-PAL, he was exposed to energy access and accounting problems faced in India through his work on the Light Up Bihar study, which focused on improving the revenue parameters and checking commercial losses incurred by the Power Distribution Companies in Bihar. Read more…
Johanna Rayl hopes to increasingly focus her research specifically on climate change. “I realized early on in college that climate change presents a fascinating, complex, and never-ending challenge that intersects with nearly every other social, economic, and environmental issue,” she said. Read more…
Patrick Schwarz looks forward to greater exposure to the world of academic research during his Pre-Doctoral Fellowship at EPIC. He decided to join the team of researchers at EPIC because of his interest in applied microeconomics, with a specific interest in energy. Read more…
Yixin Sun she worked at a startup specializing in credit insurance and for the Global Capital markets Division at Morgan Stanley. But it was during a sustainable development class at Columbia University—where she studied Economic-Statistics—that she developed an interest in energy and the environment. Read more…
Growing up in Beijing, Jingyuan Wang witnessed firsthand the worsening pollution around her, but assumed it was a normal part of city life. “At first I supposed that pollution is a stage which all developing cities should experience and there is no solution except time,” she explained. “However, during the Olympic Games in 2008, the sky became surprisingly blue.” Read more…