Teresa Irigoyen-López ’19

Major

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Project Title

Understanding China’s Sustainability Efforts in New Development Plans

Presentation Link

View Teresa's Presentation

Certificate(s): East Asian Studies, Robotics and Intelligent Systems, Sustainable Energy

I worked at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Beijing Representative Office as a research intern for the Climate and Energy team. I conducted research on clean-energy initiatives in China, and produced reports on the global impact of the Paris Agreement as part of NRDC’s oil-cap and coal-cap projects. I also researched national parks policy in Argentina and Brazil for an important project on national parks legislation. My work was presented at an international symposium hosted by the regional government and it will be used by the NRDC to advise Chinese national parks policy. My experience taught me a lot about environmental issues and the efforts China is making to solve these, and it exposed me to how NGOs, the government and other stakeholders work in China. I used a lot of my knowledge in engineering and climate policy, and performed translation work in Spanish, Portuguese, German, English and Mandarin. My internship renewed my interest in environmental work and renewableenergy projects; I hope to focus my independent work on wind energy in China. This summer also made me more excited to continue my studies at the graduate level.



Internship Year

2018

Project Category

Climate Change and Environmental Science

Organization(s)

Natural Resources Defense Council-Beijing, China

Mentor(s)

Alvin Lin, Climate and Energy Policy Director, China Program, Natural Resources Defense Council; Hua Ning, Policy Analyst, Land and Wildlife Team, Natural Resources Defense Council