Admissions

Researching natural ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Ben Girgenti ’22 MESc tested whether adding minerals to wetland ecosystems can reduce biological methane emissions. After adding iron to the soil of mini wetlands, Girgenti found that methane was reduced by the mineral enhancement.

“If you’re building or using wetlands for natural carbon capture, you could shut off or decrease methane emissions, reducing the amount of time it takes for wetlands to begin having new sequestration of carbon,” Girgenti says.

As a YSE student, Morgan Pierce ’20 MEM did her summer internship at McDonald’s, where she worked with its global suppliers on strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. After graduating she was hired as manager of strategy and alignment, where she has continued to address sustainability issues related to customers’ experience with dining and take-out.

“If we have YSE graduates like me sitting at the tables in these large organizations that control decisions on sustainability, then we can really be a catalyst of change,” Pierce says.

As co-leader of Black Marble, NASA’s light dataset, Eleanor Stokes '18 PhD is currently tracking the effects of Russian military strikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure and climate-induced natural disasters across the world. NASA’s Black Marble science team, which uses data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite aboard NASA’s Suomi NPP satellite spacecraft  to map disaster impacts in vulnerable communities, was awarded the 2020 NASA Group Achievement Award for helping realize the vision of the NASA-ESA-JAXA COVID dashboard and enabling international partnership in a time of need.  “Humanity is facing major global risks from extreme weather and rising sea levels,” Stokes says. “It’s very important to have a satellite record that can speak to the human piece of the puzzle.

As a YSE student, Rita Effah ’12 MFS participated in COP 17 in Durban, South Africa. She says her experience at the annual U.N. climate change conference was the catalyst that sparked her interest in working to mitigate climate change impacts in Africa.

Now a senior climate finance officer at the African Development Bank, Effah is managing the Africa Climate Change Fund, which implements small grant projects in 28 African countries.

Washington state is aiming to eliminate or offset its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Mike Johnson ‘16 MEM heads the auction process of the state’s cap-and-invest program, which has generated massive revenue for investments in climate resiliency, clean transportation, and other community programs.

“Washington taking action on climate change through a market-based approach not only creates financial incentives to reduce emissions but also drives innovation in energy production and carbon removal — whether through natural processes or engineered solutions. Our goal is an economy-wide transition away from carbon fuels, toward more efficient, equitable, and sustainable solutions.”

After Rae Wynn-Grant ’10 MESc studied bears in the Nevada mountains, the National Geographic Society sent her to conduct similar work with the American Prairie Reserve in the grasslands of Montana — a region where bears are not common.

The nonprofit is seeking create a national wildlife refuge. Wynn-Grant began working with carnivores while at YSE, tracking lions in Tanzania. She has leaned on her expertise to predict which habitats will attract bears, using state and federal data and camera traps to monitor bear movements and habitats.

Transitioning to clean energy is key to combating climate change. As director of policy and network at the Coalition for Green Capitol, Nenha Young ’20 MEM is targeting greenhouse gas reduction initiatives through investments in the environmental, social, and economic sectors and working to establish the National Green Bank.

“I attended YSE because of its leadership in the clean energy field,” Young says. “Through coursework, internships, and independent studies, I was able to design a career at the intersection of clean energy and economic development.”

Forests help mitigate climate change because of their ability to remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but they become carbon emitters during wildfires. PhD student Reid Lewis '20 MF is researching how satellite data and machine learning models can help fire-prone forests become more resilient.

“When we make these forests more fire resilient, we can not only store more carbon, we can also help protect human communities, foster wildlife habitat, safeguard watersheds, and can use the process of restoration to partner with and empower Indigenous nations,” says Lewis.

Over the past seven years, George Gemelas ’18, '21 MEM has worked to educate people, mainly young Americans, about climate change, clean energy, and carbon dividends—the policy of putting a price on carbon emissions and returning the money directly to the people.

As a fellow at the Mitch Daniels Leadership Foundation, a development program for young professionals, Gemelas launched Build Clean Indiana to accelerate the clean energy transition in Indiana and inform fellow Hoosiers of business opportunities made available by continuing to grow the state’s clean economy. “Our strong business environment, our pragmatism, and our excellence in agriculture and industry will be needed to meet our country’s environmental challenges.”

The art and science of raising and deploying capital for conservation is at the heart of the work being done by Leigh Whelpton ’12 MESc. She is executive director of The Conservation Finance Network. “You often hear people talk about how there’s not enough money,” says Whelpton. “That’s not quite true. It’s a lack of capacity and connection, a lack of risk-adjusted return opportunities, and a limited supply of projects that can meet the requirements for financing. We focus on increasing the project pipeline and scaling up capacity to get more money on the ground.”

As wildfires across the U.S. and Canada continue to endanger human health and wildlife, Pete Caligiuri ’10 MF, forest strategy director for The Nature Conservancy in Oregon, is working on fire suppression.

And these efforts include setting fires. “Frequent, extreme wildfires are a threat, but fire has to be part of the solution. Fire always has been a part of these landscapes. Beneficial fire — like prescribed burns and managed wildfires — is essential to the long-term resilience of these forest landscapes into the future,” Caligiuri says.

Goal: Model climate-related disturbance and integrate forest management strategies to develop nature-based climate solutions

Forest restoration through sustainable management practices in Nepal can advance nature-based climate solutions. Forest fires in the country, however, are altering composition and growth rates and making forests more vulnerable to disease. There were more than 5,000 wildfires in Nepal in 2024, and climate models predict the country will face more frequent drought conditions. 

Bishwabandhu Acharya ’26 MFS is researching how disturbances such as fires impact the health and regenerative capabilities of forests. 

Goal: Integrating environmental justice with ecological stewardship 

As a child, Landry Guillen ’25 MF lived near acres of farmland in California's arid Imperial County. The region is one of the country's leading agricultural producers but has been grappling with the effects of climate change, including persistent water shortages along the Colorado River. 

While attending the University of California, Santa Barbara, Guillen worked at the university’s urban farm and food bank and that led her to realize that circular food systems can play a major role in climate solutions.

Goal: Develop and enhance community-centered policies and programs that build climate resilience and foster economic development and empowerment in the Global South

Bhutan has a constitutional mandate to become carbon neutral and a requirement that 60% of its land must remain under forest cover. Ultimately, it aims to become carbon negative. 

Sherab Dorji ’26 MEM is working to balance conservation goals in Bhutan with economic growth through effective policymaking. She is specifically focused on the impact of climate change, which has disproportionally affected lower-income and rural areas of the country.

Goal: Open new  pathways to an equitable clean energy transition

As a program specialist at the United Nations Development Program in Zambia, Watson Mwabila ‘26 MEM supported the Bank of Zambia's policy development on the issuance of green bonds. The bonds are a vital part of the country’s climate mitigation, adaptation, and financing goals. They are also personal to Mwabila, who grew up in a rainfall-dependent, rural area of the country and saw first-hand how climate change-fueled droughts negatively impacted livelihoods and communities.

Goal: Generate and communicate science to preserve ecosystems and biodiversity

Ecuador, where Sofía Montalvo is from, is one of the world’s most biodiverse countries. Climate change, however, is exerting intense pressure on many of the country’s ecosystems. Forest habitats are disappearing due to local extractive economies. 

“Ecuador has many excellent people and a lot of potential, but we need someone to offer encouragement and support to get different environmental projects going,” Montalvo says. “I want to be that person.”

Goal: Work on renewable energy solutions to transform industry and government, thereby, helping his home state achieve the goal of 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040

Ethan Cypull ’24 MEM first glimpsed the effects of climate change at age 12, when he listened to his parents talking on the phone to family members in the Philippines whose homes and livelihoods were devastated by a typhoon. 

“That introduced me to the idea that these types of natural disasters are only going to get worse,” he said.

Goal: Build bridges between UN programs and Indigenous communities in the Amazon

How do you turn high-level climate commitments into on-the-ground action?

This is a question that Felipe Storch de Oliveira has grappled with for some years. A native of the state of Acre, Brazil, he has spent much of his career working to connect international financing from the United Nations to small NGOs within the Amazon rainforest. While he understands the value of this work, he also has seen how it can go wrong — how partnerships fray and how municipalities most in need of aid often struggle the most to secure it.