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Description: "My internship included: 1) summarizing and merging academic articles about the life cycle and chemical composition of photovoltaic solar panels. This work was used for the preparation of a conference about the life cycle and environmental impacts of photovoltaic production in Europe. 2) conducting and compiling research for a proposal which was submitted to the German Environmental Ministery (BMU) addressing the need for an increase of renewable energy resources and technology in developing and newly-industrialized countries. 3) conducting research of social energy indicators as tools for energy development in megacites, such as Johannesburg, South Africa as part of IZT’s EnerKEY project. The findings were used in a supervisor's presentation at the University of Stuttgart. 4) I could use IZT resources to conduct my own, self-designed research of the impacts of Lokale Agenda 21 in Berlin. I spoke with the founders of Project AGENCY at IZT, which raises and disperses funds to local NGOs Berlin working to implement LA21’s goals of a sustainable Berlin, and I met with several different NGOs to discuss their perception of LA21’s progress."

Comments: "The best part of my internship was when I was able to start conducting my own personal research with the help of my co-workers. They encouraged me to get out into the city to research the issues that were interesting to me. Because I was interested in Local Agenda 21 in Berlin I got the chance to go on a garden tour of the whole city, see a variety of different non-profit organizations at work and speak with faculty from the different universities in Berlin about possibly continuing a project in the future. Without the encouragement and help of the people at IZT, it wouldn’t have been part of my experience and I’m very grateful for it."

German language skills: "My German naturally improved some, and my co-workers were good about forcing me to speak German so I feel like I genuinely made some steps forward, but I also realized just how hard German is and how much work I still have to do, so it was a bit disheartening at times."