Graduate Blog / Graduate Life

Entrepreneurship for a Sustainable Future

I was offered a summer internship position with the EDF Climate Corps last Wednesday. The Climate Corps fellows bring to the table a combination of prior experiences in consulting, financial analysis and engineering skills that are used to identify potential emissions and energy savings for partner companies. Through the Climate Corps program, I will work as an energy analyst with CSX Transportation in Jacksonville, Florida. CSX is one of the largest freight transportation companies in the US and I will work to document the savings in their data centers and rail yards. There is a mandatory three-day training session (to be held at MIT) during May to interact with other Climate Corps fellows and to prepare for the assignment.

The opportunity was arranged by the Babson Energy Club, one of the most active clubs on campus (details on the upcoming Babson Energy Conference on March 31st below – REGISTER NOW!!!). Our club co-President, Adam Ostaszewski, interned with the Climate Corps last year and arranged for an information session this fall for interested applicants. The initial application consisted of three essays, a cover letter and three professional/academic recommendations. I received recommendations from Dean Raghu Tadepalli, my strategy professor Sam Hariharan and Adam. The fact that senior members of Babson’s faculty and peers take the time to help a student reflects in the community aspect of the program and the personal relationships that one can build here.

My career advisor at the Babson Career Center helped me prepare my application by reviewing my resume and coached me through mock interviews. I was also given handouts of behavioral questions to guide my preparations and document relevant experiences. This was my first US interview and I was feeling slightly intimidated, but the experience itself was very friendly. The interview (over Skype) lasted sixty minutes with the first thirty minutes being spent on behavioral questions and the latter half was devoted to discussing companies of interest.

I came to Babson with a goal of entering the clean tech industry and this internship opportunity is a step towards my desire to build companies where sustainability in energy, transportation and urban planning structures can be applied to create healthy living spaces. I will document my experiences over the course of the summer and also put up pictures of sunny Florida! Wish me luck!

The Babson Energy Club is organizing Babson’s largest energy conference on March 31st, 2011. The theme for the conference is “Entrepreneurship for a Sustainable Future”. The list of panelists is impressive and covers a wide range of topics that are relevant in the current business context, especially with President Obama calling this the nation’s Sputnik moment.

Whether you are just learning about clean tech or are a veteran in this space, this conference will help you meet and network with 500 students and professionals in this space. Register now to avail of early bird discounts and mark your calendars! This one promises to be good!

This post is cross posted at Rocky’s Journey to a Babson MBA.
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