Six Students Receive Irving Institute Summer Mini-Grant Funding

Six Dartmouth students received funding for their energy and society related projects and experiences for the summer of 2021 through the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society Mini-Grant Program.

The program seeks to help Dartmouth students who are advancing the Institute's mission of transforming humankind's understanding of energy issues, and driving the creation of ideas, technologies, and policies that improve the availability and efficient use of energy for all people. The purposes of the program are to: 

    •    Support student initiative in energy and society

    •    Foster learning through experience

    •    Inspire creativity, and 

    •    Directly involve students in accelerating transitions toward socially and environmentally sustainable energy futures


The Summer 2021 Mini-Grant awardees are:



• Jonah Kahl '22, an Economics modified with Environmental Studies major, who will intern at Solaflect Energy, focusing on business operations, including cost analysis, market research, and marketing.

• Chelsea Moore '22, an Environmental Studies major, who will analyze specific elements of the renewable energy policy in targeted markets, develop market entry strategies for select new markets leveraging the learning from the first phase of the internship, and help further the company's goal to install solar panels at every east coast ski resort as well as working to help expand Solaflect's trackers and batteries to western communities beyond the Upper Valley.
• 
Evan Bass '24, an Engineering major, will conduct a research project, "Just Transitions in Sustainable Energy," investigating the movement in Central Appalachia and the Chesapeake Bay Watershed to build a marketplace and supply chain for biofuels and biochar across the Eastern seaboard. The study will focus on Eastern Biochar, the grassroots organization based in West Virginia, which collaborates with major players in agriculture, aviation, and the federal government to achieve these goals. Specifically, the research will build an understanding of the social and environmental impacts of the movement.
• Harrison Sholler '24, an Engineering Sciences major, who will be an intern with the Green Energy Times, a Bradford, Vermont-based publication. He will be managing its social media presence, posting material from the G.E.T. website to its accounts on various platforms, and even adding new material to the website. He will also be responsible for managing all social media outreach of the company.
• Abigail Wiseman '22, an Engineering major, who will be interning with the Sustainable Hanover committee, supporting Hanover Community Power and other municipal renewable energy projects, supporting the new website tracking Hanover's transition to 100% renewable energy and doing data processing for thermal and transportation energy baselines. 
• Ellery Curtis '22, a Government and Environmental Studies major, who will be interning with the Massachusetts Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (MASS EEA) where she will focus on MASS EEA's climate resilience initiatives by beta testing a new climate tool that was released this summer for their energy projects and also doing multi-state research on climate approaches in climate-related policy (like renewable energy and energy efficiency) programs in other states.

The Irving Institute Mini-Grant program, launched in 2018, has helped support the research, professional and educational development, and unpaid internship expenses of 63 Dartmouth undergraduate and graduate students to date. The deadline for enrolled undergraduate and graduate students to apply for fall 2021 funding is Wednesday, August 4 by 5 p.m. ET. Learn more here.