Internships

Ivy Wang ’23

Major

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Project Title

Downscaling Energy-System Transitions

I worked on analyses to inform decisions regarding the siting and associated impacts of energy-system infrastructure. I used geospatial analysis techniques to evaluate environmental, technical and safety criteria associated with siting existing biomass power plants in the United States. I also reviewed public filings for nuclear facilities to determine the safety criteria to be used in modeling. In addition, I created visualizations of how energy-systems transitions would impact employment for fossil fuel energy sectors. I also researched air pollutant emissions associated with different vehicle types. I found this work interesting because people talk a lot about the benefits of switching to renewable energy, but scarcely with concrete facts and figures or a scheduled plan. Through this project, I was able to look at the effects of different transition pathways modeled over time. I gained more experience with geospatial modeling software, programming in R, and data visualization. My summer internship reinforced my decision to study civil and environmental engineering at Princeton.