Alex Yoshizumi, a 2019 graduate of the Master of Environmental Management (MEM) program, recently shared insights into mentoring current students, how his Master's Project (MP) and skills developed at Duke helped prepare him for his career, and also his advice for anyone considering the program. 

Yoshizumi is senior project manager, transportation, at the N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center at N.C. State University. 

How have you co-advised recent Nic School students MPs and what has been the most rewarding part of that experience?  

This past academic year, I co-advised two Master's Projects (MPs) at the Nicholas School of the Environment. One project investigated the use of microgrid technologies for improving the resiliency of critical facilities in eastern North Carolina. That project resulted in a spatial multi-criteria decision analysis indicating where microgrids may be most optimally sited within the Upper Coastal Plain Council of Government’s member territory and an economic analysis that estimated the optimal configuration of energy generating resources and the expected return on investment. For the other MP, the student team built out a passenger rail emissions model to explore the potential emissions reduction that might result from a transition from conventional diesel-electric locomotives to an alternative fuel like hydrogen. 

The most rewarding part of advising MPs has definitely been working with the students. I really enjoy breaking down challenging questions and identifying optimal ways to solve problems. So, the opportunity to share that experience with talented students who are excited to be tackling those same questions is enormously motivating. 

How did your Master's Project help prepare you to transition to your career?  

My own MP was an analysis for the N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center and GoTriangle that assessed which transit bus routes might be most optimal for battery-electric bus implementation. That analysis looked at a wide array of criteria to better understand in which areas emissions reductions might be most impactful and assessed what impacts battery-electric bus adoption might have on the grid. 

I was fortunate in that my MP brought together three of the topics I am most interested in: energy, transportation, and geospatial analytics. The MP cemented for me that I wanted to pursue a career in research and, following my MEM degree at Duke University, I pursued a Ph.D. at the Center for Geospatial Analytics at N.C. State University. During my time at N.C. State University, I have continued working with the N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center and have contributed to many projects related to clean transportation and energy resilience. 

What skills did you develop from getting a Nicholas School MEM that have been valuable in your current role?  

Some of the skills I developed while pursuing my MEM that have proved most valuable to my current work include energy modeling (and systems modeling more broadly), geospatial analytics, time series analysis, and environmental statistics. The more projects that I have worked on, the clearer it has become to me that there are often many ways to tackle a single problem, and there is not always one clear “correct” way. So, having a large methodological toolkit is incredibly valuable, and it has made me a stronger problem solver. I learned so much over such a compressed timeline at the Nicholas School of the Environment, and that contributed substantially to the successes I have had in my work since then. 

What advice do you have for current or future Nic School students? 

My primary advice to current and/or future Nic School students is to deeply engage and make the most of your time there. Whether that is coursework, research projects, or extracurricular activities, your time at the Nicholas School has the potential to be a period of intense and rapid growth. You have the opportunity to learn from insightful instructors, become more expert on topics that interest you, and form bonds with other students that could last for the rest of your life. 

My secondary advice is somewhat of a foil to the first: be kind to yourself. There will always be more opportunities than there are hours in the day. Find a balance that feels manageable and healthy, and focus in on the things that really matter to you.