What inspired your interest in climate change and environmental economics?
While I care about “the environment” itself, my concern for people is really what comes first. Changes to the climate threaten human lives and can exacerbate various social issues from inequality and hunger, to disease and conflict.
I find environmental economics inspiring because it allows us to put an actual dollar value on the consequences of climate change. We can then design policies that bring this cost to the short term, to disincentivize the use of fossil fuels and other emitting behaviors. This type of approach can be quite powerful and is often more palatable to those focused on the bottom line.
There are also short term “co-benefits” to climate solutions: For example, shifting away from fossil fuels can reduce air pollution, which disproportionately affects low income neighborhoods and communities of color. The intersection of these issues is very motivating to me, and I have always felt an urgency to be involved in this work.
What led you to study Data Science & Analytics at Simmons?
I really enjoyed taking Intro to Data Science my freshman year with Professor Goldman. Within the first month he had told me to become a Data Science major, but it took a couple years — and encouragement from Margaret Menzin — before I could see that future for myself. Once I took a computer programming class my junior year, I loved it and decided to switch from environmental chemistry to data science and analytics. As someone with a wide variety of interests, I liked the versatility that strong technical skills offer. I can’t rave enough about how cool it is to be able to change topics entirely and still use those transferable skills!
What types of projects have you worked on?
In my previous position at Woodwell Climate Research Center, I worked with a soil scientist, modeling the amount of carbon in soils to better understand its role in climate change. Poor management of soils has historically been a source of carbon emissions through practices like tilling or deforestation. There is great potential to restore soils and bring excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere back into the ground. Improvements to soil health also have local benefits in terms of crop yields and water retention, making it an appealing strategy for those who may not even care about climate change.
However, the true potential of soil carbon as a natural climate solution needs to be explored further through methods like soil spectroscopy and satellite imagery, which we used at Woodwell. Soil spectroscopy involves scanning a soil sample in the lab to measure its absorbance at different wavelengths of light, and then using regression and machine learning models to predict the soil carbon content of the sample. I built off of the R skills, data mining, and regression modeling that I learned at Simmons to perform this type of chemometrics. Satellite imagery can be used to estimate soil carbon changes by modeling plant growth and decomposition over time. We used spatial vegetation and climate data (like a whole stack of maps) to track carbon changes at a few ranches in Montana.
Before this project, I had limited experience with spatial data, but having a strong programming background allowed me to learn an entire new language and use different tools for this project- including building a web application on Google Earth Engine (shown above) Once you have the basics of programming down, you can teach yourself so many skills on the fly.
Tell us about your work at The Brookings Institution.
As a Research Assistant in Economic Studies, I primarily worked on a project looking at the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, which is the keystone of the EU’s climate policy. The EU sets a cap on total carbon emissions, and then companies are either allocated permits or purchase permits for each tonne of CO2 that they emit. If a company has more emissions than permits, they can trade with another firm to comply. There’s a huge database of all the trades that occur between firms, so over the last few months I’ve worked on webscraping and downloading that dataset using Python and Java — both of which I learned the basics of at Simmons! The next stage will involve looking for trading patterns across countries, sectors, and firms.
In my new position as a Research Analyst in the Center for Sustainable Development, I am working with an economist who focuses on poverty and inequality in the developing world. The Center has a more global perspective on sustainable development, with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) goals as a guideline for our overall work. An exciting project that I’ll get to work on looks at how to finance the green transition — sustainable infrastructure, nature conservation, etc. — in developing countries.
What did you learn about leadership at Simmons?
I was involved with the Sustainability Club [now Sunrise Simmons] and was able to take on leadership roles. I learned project management, how to take initiative, and plan events and really enjoyed working with other students. I’ve taken these skills into my professional life — at Woodwell, I enjoyed organizing fun activities over Zoom to try and connect people during the pandemic.
Any advice for students interested in studying climate change?
If you are considering studying climate change, make sure to take care of your mental health. I have found therapy useful for processing some of the emotional barriers to this type of work. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem and feel helpless. While extreme climate mitigation efforts are critical in the next decade, we cannot get caught up in an “all or nothing” mindset. There is a spectrum for how bad the results of climate change will be, and it’s important that we continue to reduce emissions and warming — each degree matters. I hold onto hope and know that I will not regret having tried to make an impact in this space.
As for data science, don’t be afraid of the learning curve. You may feel lost for a long time — there’s a lot of jargon to learn, and that can intimidate people. Ask yourself, how do you feel when you finish a project? I have found the work to be very challenging and have questioned my own aptitude for it at times. But when I face obstacles head on and complete a project, the end result is so rewarding.