Bekenstein Climate Leaders Program

Goal: Improve the quality and quantity of environmental data to inform better decision-making and outreach on water management and land conservation.

Salma Huque traces her interest in water resources to the time she spent in the western U.S. as an undergraduate at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Up until that point, she took water for granted, but out West, she experienced drought and other water issues firsthand.

“The West is such a water-stressed area. People on the radio are talking about water all the time,” said Huque, who grew up in suburban Atlanta.

Goal: Accelerate supply chain decarbonization

How do you get a company to implement a step-by-step action plan to reduce emissions and help decarbonize the economy? As a shareholder advocate at Green Century, a Boston-based firm that promotes environmentally responsible investments, Annalisa Tarizzo ’27 MEM used shareholder proposals to press companies to reduce emissions.

“Many companies have really ambitious net-zero goals, but there are gaps in actually implementing actions to achieve them all the way through to the supply chain,” she said.

Goal:  Build a cleaner, more resilient energy system for future generations

During college, Haley Weinstein ’27 MEM enrolled in an online course offered by the Iceland School of Energy at Reykjavik University. The following summer she took a field trip to Iceland, an experience that started her on an entirely new career path. Until then, her undergraduate research at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) had centered on ecology, but her studies in Iceland — where the energy supply is from entirely renewable sources, such as geothermal energy and hydropower — catalyzed her interest in building a clean energy system in the U.S.

Goal: Expedite decarbonization by helping to move clean energy projects to implementation on the legal side

Sara Cody entered Yale with the goal of pursuing a career in environmental litigation. However, her studies in the joint degree program at the Yale School of the Environment and Pace University’s Elisabeth Haub School of Law led her in a different direction. Her courses gave her a deeper understanding of environmental economics — and the inseparability of market forces and climate change mitigation, she said. 

“My focus has shifted to more affirmative decarbonization efforts,” Cody said.

After she graduates, Cody would like to work with clean energy companies on legal agreements that allow them to build out key environmental infrastructure projects.

Goal: Quantifying and communicating the impacts of climate change on public health 

Phoebe Merrick believes that she can have the most impact on climate mitigation efforts by communicating more directly to the public about how climate change affects human health. Using the data visualization skills she learned at Yale, Merrick plans to pursue work in quantitative analysis and climate communication, helping to display data in ways that are accessible to the general public. 

“We talk about the economic reasons to mitigate climate change, but we don’t talk as often about the health benefits,” she said.  “I think that there's a place to move health communications to the forefront.”

Goal: Reducing corporate supply chain emissions

Vermont is the third-most forested state of the U.S. mainland, with approximately 4.5 million acres of forestland covering nearly 80% of its territory. After witnessing the destructive effects of mining activity on the state’s forests, Colby Richardson’ 25 MEM, who grew up in the rural town of Thetford, was inspired to study environmental policy in college.

Richardson spent several years working in environmental consulting and at an online renewable energy marketplace. He came to YSE with the goal of deepening his quantitative skills to build a business case for sustainability, and last summer he interned at The Coca-Cola Company, where he focused on the company’s sustainability strategy. After graduating, Richardson would like to continue working to reduce supply chain emissions.

Goal: Mitigate climate change through carbon dioxide removal

In her first semester at the Yale School of the Environment, Olivia Rhodes ’25 MEM took a class in carbon dioxide removal (CDR). The class changed the direction of her studies.

Rhodes arrived at YSE with a desire to focus on energy after a stint at a bioenergy firm, but when she learned of CDR’s potential for helping to abate greenhouse gas emissions, she saw an opportunity in a growing field.

“At the rate we're going without reducing our overall emissions, there's going to be a bigger need for it with every passing year,” Rhodes said. “CDR is an area that's very much still being created.”

Goal: Lead thoughtful siting processes for a rapid, equitable build-out of green energy infrastructure

As an urban studies student at Yale-NUS College, Angela Ferguson ’25 MEM/MBA focused on how to make places more livable — and climate change has to be factored into that equation.

Referencing research by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Ferguson said, “The climate crisis worsens many other issues, whether it's socioeconomic inequality, racial disparities, or disease burden. The question is, how we can meet human needs while remaining within our planetary boundaries.”

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: Decarbonize the energy sector globally in sustainable, scalable ways

Shubh Jain ’25 MEM first became interested in climate change through a class in documentary filmmaking. As an undergraduate initially majoring in physics at the University at Buffalo, Jain took a class with filmmaker John Fiege, who is known for his film and photography work on global ecology and environmental justice issues. Jain worked with Fiege on the production of “Raising Aniya,” a documentary about a young dancer’s life after Hurricane Harvey. 

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.