The Student Energy Club was established in January 2019 to provide students with the opportunity to participate in the energy decisions made on campus and to explore their interests in the field of energy.
“The goal is to really be a hub for the energy community on our campus,” President Aditya Keskar, a second-year PhD student in the Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering department, said.
Despite the club having only just started, they have already made an impact around campus, according to Keskar.
“I think that, for a club that just started, the response from the NC State Energy community has been so good to us,” Keskar said.
According to their website, the club’s impact ranges from campus policies to informing the students on campus about energy research. Along with helping with bigger overall energy guidelines, the Student Energy Club also provides many opportunities to involve and teach students about the energy community on campus, from mentorships to professional panels.
Keskar and Vice President Martina Gonzales Bertello, a third-year studying environmental technology and management, said the club also offers a mentorship program for undergraduate students.
The mentorship program is a great opportunity that connects undergraduate students with current graduate students in the same area of interest in energy and energy research in order to help students create connections and ask the questions they want to know about their field of interest in energy.
“We want to give you a pathway into energy research,” Keskar said.
To sign up for the mentorship program, students simply have to fill out a form on the club’s website. Once a person is chosen they are paired up with a graduate student and given a meal voucher so the student and the mentor can get lunch and have a chance to get to know each other in an informal setting.
The club is also hosting a panel on Women in Energy on Tuesday, Nov. 5, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Ocracoke Ballroom in Talley Student Union. The panel features the speakers Melanie Kenderdine, principal of the Energy Futures initiative; Mozine Lowe, executive director for the Centre for Energy Education; Johanna Mathieu, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan; and Emily Grubert, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
“The panel focuses on the role of women in energy leadership, academia, the corporate sector, government, and also allows students to inquire the panelists about more of their research in a Q&A session,” Gonzalez Bertello said.
No tickets are needed in order to attend this event. To find out more information about the panel, visit the event website. In order to learn more about what the Student Energy club does and how to get involved visit their website or contact them at group-student-energy-officers@ncsu.edu.
