Even as AI and technical advances transform the workforce, the skills that set professionals apart remain distinctly human — the capacity to work in teams, communicate across differences, and translate complex ideas into meaningful action. This is especially true in the energy sector, where every challenge sits at the intersection of multiple fields.
This fall, the Irving Institute's Amanda Graham, PhD, Director of Academic Programs and Master of Energy Transition (MET) Program Director, and Megan Litwhiler, PhD, Assistant Director of Academic Programs, taught a Team Dynamics & Professional Communications course in Dartmouth's MET program. The course helps students develop and practice the skills for effective communication and collaboration across disciplines.
"We need to come together to help solve the challenge of creating more just and sustainable energy systems," said Litwhiler. "Great communication skills are critical in any sort of discipline, but particularly in multi-sector spaces. You don't get more interdisciplinary than energy systems. We need to work in diverse teams and listen to and synthesize a lot of different voices and perspectives."
Graham added that it's essential to work toward genuine connection and shared understanding.
"You need to think about your audience," remarked Graham. "It's all too easy, when information is moving so fast, to use a software program or AI for your messaging. But the reality is that you can't make people understand if they aren't ready for your message. We need to think beyond the message and anchor around human needs."
The MET is an accelerated, nine-month program and serves as a launch pad for students pursuing impact-oriented careers in energy. Taking three courses each term, students are encouraged to treat their career discernment and search process as a "fourth class." Graham and Litwhiler's course helps ground them in this work.
In addition to refining interpersonal communication, MET students practice presentation and interview skills while developing their professional personas and expanding their networks. A central project is building an online portfolio — a tool they can link from resumes and professional profiles and continue using throughout their careers.
"We look at how you want to be represented," explained Graham. "In succinct formats — like interview introductions and LinkedIn posts — and more expansive formats. How do these pieces interrelate as you create a rich picture of who you are and stand out in the workplace?"
As part of the MET program, each student is paired with a mentor — a Dartmouth alumnus working in energy — and offered opportunities to broaden their network through the Irving Institute Advisory Board and beyond.
"We support them in developing their own personal career advisory council," shared Graham. "They're building a group of thought leaders and trusted guides who can offer holistic, resilient support."
To complement their coursework, students also meet with guest speakers from across the energy landscape, gaining insight into leadership journeys and practicing their networking and interviewing skills.
Graham has been a part of the Irving Institute since 2018. Prior to her role at Dartmouth, she was the Executive Director of MIT's Environmental Solutions Initiative and Education Director for the MIT Energy Initiative. At Dartmouth, she oversees the Institute's educational portfolio, which emphasizes interactive and experiential programming that engages students and connects them with hands-on opportunities to understand both the fundamentals of energy systems and their deep integration with daily life.
"Energy is crucial, it's complex, and it's full of opportunity," she remarked. Reflecting on undergraduate student experiences in energy bootcamps, immersive treks, and other programming, she noted: "There are big and small transformational moments. Something shifts that makes them feel more empowered, knowledgeable, motivated — more positive about their ability to make a difference."
Graham is a member of the University Energy Institute Leadership Collaborative (UEILC), a partnership of more than 150 university-based energy institutes, where she served on a subcommittee focused on equity and inclusivity in the energy transition.
"We're working to help students, researchers, and local and global society to navigate this fascinating, complicated, changing energy landscape," she shared. "We're learning from each other about energy education and how to gather and share effective practices in higher ed."
In 2020, while focusing on equity in the energy transition, Graham saw a gap in resources for educators and professionals interested in energy justice. In response, she developed an asynchronous online Coursera course, "Energy Justice: Fostering More Equitable Energy Futures," for those concerned about the unequal distribution of benefits and burdens in energy systems.
"The course explores what each of us can do to better diagnose the inequities and to be more flexible and creative in identifying interventions that increase the equity, human health, and social well-being of our energy systems," she said. "We can all be a part of that."
Before joining Dartmouth, Litwhiler worked with researchers at the Museum of Science in Boston, providing scientific communication training to help interdisciplinary research teams collaborate more effectively. She noted that while many professionals have learned the basics of communication and teamwork, the real challenge is putting those skills into consistent practice.
The throughline in Litwhiler's work has been creating spaces where students and scholars from different fields can connect, communicate, and innovate together.
At Dartmouth, she oversees the TuckLAB: Energy program, a week-long multidisciplinary introduction to energy systems for undergraduates co-hosted by the Tuck School of Business.
"It introduces students from any major to energy systems and their different facets," she explained. "Because energy affects us all, we've found that students across the humanities, social sciences, and STEM programs are interested in energy, climate, and creating more just energy systems."
Each summer, Litwhiler directs the New Energy Summer Summit, which brings early-career energy and climate scholars to campus to strengthen their interdisciplinary collaboration skills.
She emphasized that these kinds of spaces — from undergraduate programs to the MET to post-doctoral networks — are essential for sustaining cross-sector partnership and creativity in the energy transition.
"There is a magic thing that happens when you gather people who are motivated to work in multidisciplinary spaces and solve problems," remarked Litwhiler. "The folks in these cohorts have a real drive to connect with people outside of their usual circles. They're eager to work across traditional academic and industry barriers to solve problems, and that creates enormous opportunities for discovery and innovation."