Synapse and Climable Welcome New Participants of the Internship Program for Energy Justice
This summer we are thrilled to welcome the latest participants of the Internship Program for Energy Justice! In fall of 2021, Climable and Synapse partnered to establish the program, aiming to diversify the energy analysis field through mentorship, relationship building, and exposure to regulatory, utility, and energy processes.
Welcome Nicholas Pape and Yuyou Chen! Check out their brief introductions below.
My name is Nicholas Pape, and I am currently entering my third year as an Earth and Environment PhD student at Boston University where I do energy, environmental, and climate change economics research. I graduated in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from MIT where I did a few different energy and environmental research projects as a part of their UROP program.
I believe that climate change is the greatest issue of our time and that making progress towards tackling it will require scientists, engineers, economists, other experts, and stakeholders coming together to design effective solutions. At BU, I’m specifically using general equilibrium modeling analyses to determine the carbon dioxide emissions and welfare effects of carbon pricing. I’m passionate about using modeling and data analysis techniques to tackle energy and environmental problems. Topics of most interest to me include carbon pricing, solar and wind energy, battery storage, and electric vehicles.
In my free time I like to go to rock concerts.
My name is Yuyou Chen, and I am currently an MS student in Civil Engineering – Water, Environmental, and Coastal Systems at Northeastern University. I received my B.S. degree in Environmental Science and Management (GIS Track) and B.A. in Economics at University of California, Davis. I am passionate about implementing data-driven tools to understand and solve various environmental problems.
During my time in Northeastern, I am working on my Master’s thesis that is themed on deriving time-series ungauged streamflow by leveraging regionalization and network topology methods using R and ArcGIS Pro. As a Graduate Research Assistant at Northeastern in Spring 2023, I conducted an exploratory study on sustainability trends of beauty and personal care industries focusing on a global consumer product dataset and in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team. I performed text mining and created time-series charts of cosmetics products to understand how companies would launch/relaunch/phase out consumer products under Prop 65 interventions. During my undergraduate at UC Davis, I also had internship and research experiences in environmental and sustainability consulting, green building, and energy geography.
During my time in Synapse, I am interested in learning about the renewable energy landscape and any water-energy nexus topics and I plan to do so by getting involved in related projects. I hope my skills in data analytics and problem-solving can bring value to the team.
In my free time, I like to go to the gym, practice table tennis, travel around, or go to jazz/EDM concerts with my friends. I enjoy my time in Boston in general given the ample arts exhibits and music concerts happening all throughout the year (My favorite spot in Boston, MA is MFA!). I am also very into photography and enjoy documenting great moments to cherish memories.