I am a full-time consultant at Yale University. I edit two environmental finance news websites that are independent and nonpartisan. Both sites are global but focus mainly on the United States. These sites emerged from a news project that I started when collaborating with a national NGO in 2012.
In 2006, I completed a graduate degree focusing on science and environmental journalism. I also have a college degree in mechanical engineering. Recently, I've taken courses in entrepreneurial journalism.
I grew up in Chicago, where I became curious about physics and math after taking a class with an enthusiastic geometry teacher. During high school, I wrote my first news articles.
I began studying mechanical engineering in college because of my interest in energy conservation. Since then, I’ve worked in machine shops, built hybrid race cars, and designed cooling systems for utility power electronics. Working as an engineer taught me how to manage projects.
For years, my enthusiasm for writing stayed in the background, like coffee bubbling slowly. When I was 26, it began boiling rapidly. To change careers, I attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Half of my coursework was in journalism and half of it was in environmental studies (with an emphasis on energy resources).
In 2008, I began writing about clean energy. Now, I combine my concrete experiences from engineering with my enjoyment of journalism every day.
My blog won an award from WordPress in 2012. My work has appeared in Scientific American, Midwest Energy News, ecoRI News, Wisconsin State Journal, On Wisconsin, Earth Island Journal, GreenBiz, Renewable Energy World, Energy Efficiency Markets, WBUR's blog, and many other publications.