Meet Nicole Pavia! She’s a New York native who enjoys running, shopping for vintage clothes, taking long walks with friends, and a good diner.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
When I was growing up, I wanted to be quite a few things. First, I wanted to be a paleontologist, an archeologist, and then a marine biologist. My biggest early career influences were my grandmother’s National Geographic VHS collection, a kids nature magazine called Zoobooks, and of course, Bill Nye the Science Guy.
What was your most rewarding experience prior to working at EFI?
While I was in graduate school in London, I had the opportunity to work in the House of Commons for the former shadow Secretary of Energy and Climate Change. It was a really exciting experience. I had the opportunity to better understand the UK’s political system generally and to work in a very storied setting. One interesting experience I had was canvassing in Yorkshire after the Prime Minister called a General Election in the middle of my time working at Parliament. Surprisingly, no one asked me why an American was knocking on their doors in Yorkshire. It was a really rewarding time overall because it changed my career trajectory and my understanding of how I wanted to contribute to solving climate change. Before this opportunity, I thought that I wanted to take on climate change from a purely environmental perspective. However, I got to attend a number of energy technology events, meet with businesses and government representatives on energy topics, and contributed to climate reports and speeches. That experience really pushed me to think about the impacts of the energy sector, specifically on climate, and how to apply my education to work in the energy field.
What’s the best thing about working at EFI?
Throughout my career, I’ve realized that I value jobs where I have the opportunity to continuously be learning, no matter what job I’m doing. At EFI, I really appreciate that I am challenged to scale up on a wide variety of policies and energy technologies. So far, I’ve really enjoyed learning more about electricity markets and offshore wind. Those are two areas that I’ve never worked on in depth before.
What are you the proudest of since working at EFI?
Unfortunately, all of my projects right now are top secret. But make sure to keep an eye out for new reports in the coming months!
What gives you hope for the future?
What makes me most optimistic for the future is seeing the passion, enthusiasm and activism of Gen Z. I am very impressed with their concern for the future, and the interesting and innovative ways that people are communicating very complicated and challenging issues. I feel like we are in pretty good hands with the younger generations.
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