Sustainability Award recipients reflect on their college careers
this Sustainability Undergraduate Program Proudly celebrates the hard work and outstanding dedication of its recent graduates. Six students from the Class of 2023 received departmental honors: Divya Agarwala, Clio Dakolias, Heidi Lichtl, Kiara Ordóñez Olazábal, Justas Pakašius and Maris Welch.
Sustainability Departmental Honors are awarded to students with a minimum grade point average of 3.7 in the major and a minimum of B+ in both courses in the Senior Thesis Seminar.
For this spotlight, we interview Divya, Clio, and Heidi about their post-graduation plans, their understanding of sustainability, and their advice to current students. Stay tuned for more senior spotlights highlighting other sustainability student honorees!
Q&A with Divya Agarwala
What advice do you have for students looking to complete a sustainability program?
1. By major. While sustainability is often considered a profession in itself, it is indeed very broad and can be applied to any industry. So pick a few trades (or skills like coding/GIS) and start specializing! Personally, I found myself leaning towards transport, energy and infrastructure and chose courses and placements accordingly. In this case, if you have the space, pursue the minor. I found that focusing on the business helped to apply SusDev concepts and hone my interests.
Overall, I’ve found “Specialization” to be very helpful in highlighting my skills on resumes and interviews. No one is going to stick with your choices, it’s really more about marketing yourself.
2. Interns! Without a doubt, the best experience I had in undergrad was taking time off to work on the Tesla charging team during my junior year. I believe I learned a lot more from doing a semester-long internship than if I only spent one summer there. A previous internship on the Earth Institute Communications team is great preparation!
3. Find a community. As the former Ecoreps co-president, this article would be remiss without a shameless interjection. Through Ecoreps weekly meetings, I’ve made some of my best friends and met my future roommates. I also highly recommend the SEE-U (Summer Eco Experience – Undergraduate) program. I took the NYC option, made lots of friends, learned about green farming, and earned SusDev credits. What more could one ask for?
What are your plans after graduating from this program?
Gap year! I’m planning a solo backpacking trip in Europe and working on sustainability-related content creation. I think a lot of work needs to be done when discussing the nuances of environmental issues.
What drew you to the Sustainability Major or Specialization?
Don’t think I need to sell anyone here on the importance of tackling climate change — like many, I think it’s one of the biggest and most pressing societal challenges we face. SusDev truly puts you at the forefront of this global discussion. The courses feel very relevant and everyone in the department, from students to staff, is very enthusiastic and engaged. Really a lovely, supportive group!
What was your favorite class in the Sustainability Program? Why?
“Solid Earth Systems” with Dr. Sidney Hemming. Her enthusiasm and excitement for geology was incredibly contagious and opened my eyes to the field. Wish I could take it myself!
How has the program shaped your understanding of sustainability?
Majoring in SusDev has helped me develop a broad systems lens, which is key to better understanding the scale and causes of environmental challenges and evaluating potential solutions.
What was your greatest achievement at Columbia?
Landing my Tesla internship after numerous rejections – keep it up!
Outside of the classroom, what extracurricular activities did you participate in?
I tried everything from Consilience (Journal Editor) and RHLO (Furnald Hall Council Chair) to Multicultural Business Association (VP). I also live in Environmental SIC Greenboro and serve as a tour guide on the Multicultural Hiring Committee. Over the years, I did cut back on extracurricular activities and focus on Ecoreps and classes.Also, I highly recommend cooperative. Yes, it’s a cult.
Q&A with Clio Dakolias
What advice do you have for students looking to complete a sustainability program?
The program offers a wide variety of classes – take as many classes in different focus areas as you can! Part of what makes SusDev great is its interdisciplinary nature, and I love the opportunity it provides to learn about a variety of topics.
What are your plans after graduating from this program?
I’m going to travel this summer and then work for a year before going to grad school.
What drew you to majoring in Sustainability?
When I first started college, it was really hard for me to choose a major – many majors had different aspects that I liked. The SusDev major allowed me to explore how my interests, such as policy and environmental science, work together. Also, within the major, you have a lot of freedom to explore courses and topics that interest you, which really appeals to me.
What was your favorite class in the Sustainability Program? Why?
Advanced Capstone Workshop! We have an electrification plan for Columbia’s vehicles and our team has had a great time working together. It’s also great to address issues about sustainability in the team. Such interdisciplinary problems can be addressed more effectively when different perspectives work together in a collaborative space.
What was your greatest achievement at Columbia?
I think my senior thesis explored migration and environmental pressures in West Africa! While stressful at times, it feels fulfilling when finished. I gained critical insight into the qualitative research process and learned how to present my research more effectively orally and in writing.
Q&A with Heidi Lichtl
What advice do you have for students looking to complete a sustainability program?
Enjoy and appreciate what the SDEV program is all about, providing us with such an incredible survey of the knowledge and skills that will help us sustain and improve the world. That being said, however, don’t be afraid to get specific and follow what interests you. I took a class my junior year on food, public health, and policy, then an incredible class with Lisa Dale on qualitative research methods at SDEV – it was all a bit random for me The choice, which just sounded interesting – ended up completely reshaping my passion and giving me a whole new perspective on my post-graduation plans.
I am especially grateful for the SDEV program because our professors and administrators are enthusiastic and eager to participate. Make sure to take advantage of their incredible wealth of knowledge and other resources they are happy to make available to you, not just about Columbia’s course content or planning, but also about your future and the wide world of SDEVs available to us after graduation chosen profession.
I fell in love with sustainability because of its breadth, positive spirit, deep connection to the world, and the enthusiasm shown by my teachers and classmates. As you explore the SDEV program through coursework, remember to look beyond it: grab opportunities to do relevant work whenever possible, get in touch with internship and funding opportunities, write a thesis about what you’re passionate about. Get excited about the world beyond Columbia and all the ways you can change it with what you learn.
What are your plans after graduating from this program?
Next year I will be in Spain to solidify my Spanish skills and spend time refining my passion and future plans while I teach English to children in a public school. I eventually hope to find a graduate program that combines my passions for community health, food systems, and the refugee health crisis, especially in Latin America, where my family is from. I’m excited to refine my passions and deepen my understanding of the world, and I’m excited to have more time to pursue personal passions and projects, including continuing the research I’m doing for my senior thesis project in City Health and Mental Hygiene Bureau about their Stellar Farmers Market plans.
What drew you to the Sustainability Major or Specialization?
It’s so vast, it’s the first discipline to take all the things I love about biology, psychology, sociology and ecology and apply them to the incredible goal of helping the world sustain itself Target. I’ve always been passionate about helping others and giving back with all the opportunities that come my way, SDEV showed me a way to not only help others but to use my passion and personal skills to do it in such an incredible and engaging way a little way.
What was your favorite class in the Sustainability Program? Why?
The Capstone Workshop course was a very incredible and rewarding experience for me for many reasons. First off, working in a team is amazing interpersonally, allowing me to connect with my classmates in a very small and focused work environment. It taught me that being part of a team is definitely what I want in the future, and then gave me the skills to be able to do that. Also, not only actually applying my specific knowledge, but applying my critical thinking and other skills more broadly to produce something for our clients is really rewarding. I found it very rewarding, not to mention really fun! I’m also lucky to have a great client (CU Transportation) and an absolutely incredible professor, Jenna Lawrence, who supported us throughout the process, was a caring and knowledgeable mentor, and helped us throughout the process Maintain enthusiasm and positive energy.
What was your greatest achievement at Columbia?
Undertook and completed a senior thesis on a stellar farmers market project in New York City. It’s been a long and challenging process that has taught me a lot and has been incredibly rewarding in the end. It also helped me become fully aware of my passion for research and community health. I look forward to continuing to refine this research with my advisor, Pam Koch, and hope it gets published!
For information about the program and upcoming events, visit the Undergraduate Program in Sustainability website.
