Goals for Summer 2020

My goal this summer includes learning more about alternative fuels. I hope to learn more about businesses who are on the frontlines to combating climate change like Peregrine Fuels. I am hoping to develop more researching skills and improve my communication and writing skills. I want to learn how to effectively communicate the mission of the company to the local community and beyond. I am prepared to use my optimism, team work and determination to get projects done during my internship. This internship allows me to see what starting a business is like and how working on combating climate change is not limited to researching. This experience is opening my eyes to see the possibilities of not pursuing academia as a career. I am unsure if I will go into academia or industry but this experience is allowing me to see my options.

GeoScience Career Panel Reflection

During the career panel last week, I saw how people can take different paths after undergrad. Of the stories I heard, there were three that resonated with me for different reasons. I plan on taking a gap year between undergrad and grad school to work, save money, and prepare for the grad school application process. This is why Scott’s story stuck out, as he took a six year gap before starting grad school. His story showed me there is no rush to start grad school. For a time I thought about going to grad school abroad, this is why Rikke’s story resonated with me. They were an international student and seeing their perspective on grad school in another country was interesting. As any student, I worry and stress about post-graduation and finding a job related to my major. Hearing Ellen’s story to find her current non-research job was motivating and reassuring, I had no idea science communication was an option but it is a theme for a portion of these summer internships. I was happy to hear all the panelists’ stories, these were just some that I really connected with.

Going forward, I want to learn more about other non-research careers like Ellen’s that are out there for Earth Science majors. I really enjoyed the GeoInterns Issue 2 that talked about these non-research jobs. Within the department, research is heavily emphasized but learning about non-research careers is more hidden. During the panel, many panelists brought up taking on more internships, especially participating in Pathways to get more research experience. I think we should learn more about the difference between internships and fellowships. Another thing I personally want to learn about is the process of Ellen and Scott working with Adina in the lab. Do you need to be a grad student to be a lab manager? Or can people with a B.S. apply and work in a lab?

The panel and the third issue both reassured me that the world will not end post-graduation; in fact, there are many routes I can take post graduation, I am still nervous but also excited. I already planned on taking a gap year but hearing all these professionals also recommend it just reinforced I was making the right idea for me. There is one aspect the panel did not change my outlook on, that is what program will be best for me, Master’s or PhD. Ultimately, I think I need to get more research experience before I decide on that, but thanks to the panelists I can apply to pathways and temp jobs during my gap year and decide then on a program.

Final Reflection

Summer 2020 has been unlike past summers; it has been a long yet short and valuable summer. With the pandemic persisting, the days are still spent mostly indoors; yet, with the fires that have continued to persist, the worry and stress causes the days to be distorted. The Geopaths internship has provided a stable routine and work experience this summer. I was matched with a small biofuel startup business called Peregrine Fuels. Prior to this experience, the only things I knew about alternative fuels were that they were better for the environment than fossil fuels and the only alternative to gasoline is electric cars. Initially, I expected to learn about different kinds of alternative fuels, how Peregrine Fuels and other businesses are helping to address and fight climate change and improving my research skills and scientific communication.

As it turns out, throughout the internship I learned all that I expected to. Apart from electric cars, there is biofuels, this is what Peregrine Fuels specializes in. Within this category, there are several types of fuels, I learned more about Biodiesel, Renewable Diesel and E85 because these are the products Peregrine Fuels offers. I learned from my supervisor Bill there are other types of biofuels apart like methane and second-generation ethanol fuels. The benefit of biofuels to fossil fuels is they are carbon-neutral, some second-generation ethanol fuels are in fact carbon-negative, meaning these fuels either have a net zero carbon footprint or no footprint at all.

Up until now the only business experience I had was working in retail. In this internship, I was exposed to the startup phase of a business. I have attended webinars about business and climate change this summer with my supervisor and independently. While the market feels small, there are a lot of people in business and non-profits that are actively working to solve the current climate crisis. As for Peregrine Fuels, they are providing a convenient biofuel delivery service to spread awareness of biofuels as a solution for climate change. The goal is to be less dependent on fossil fuels; in order to do that, these businesses and non-profits must first overcome the smear campaign the fossil fuel industry created against biofuels.

While I did not conduct any academic research with lab or field work, I was able to improve my research skills in a different way. A great portion of my time was spent refining and effectively communicating a business model in writing. Without a background in business, I had to co-write a model while researching definitions, ideas and clauses that needed to be addressed. Google, U.S Small Business Administration, Santa Cruz Works and Score and Investopedia were common resources I used to become familiar with business jargon and steps to create a successful startup business.

As far as my overall expectations for this summer, this internship accomplished all of them. There were other things I learned from this experience and the weekly GeoIntern meetings that I did not initially expect. I was aware that my supervisor is a businessperson rather than a scientist and expected to combine environmental issues with business, I was expecting both business and climate change to be equally emphasized and was surprised when the business aspect was focused on more. We did converse about the environment, how biofuels are sourced and why biofuels are more effective than electric cars. The reason for this emphasis could be because Peregrine Fuels is still in the startup phase and this summer Bill needed more help with the business model rather than outreaching to convince more people to switch to biofuels.

Since I was unfamiliar with alternative fuels to fossil fuels, I believed previous notions that biofuels were more expensive than fossil fuels and believed they were less accessible to the public. I was wrong on both fronts, my supervisor showed me that for now biofuels are slightly more expensive than fossil fuels, but this will change as demand increases and the carbon cap and trade keep favoring biofuels. In fact, Bill recommended a documentary called Pump, this documentary shows how Brazil has fully accepted biofuels and the price of bio and fossil fuels are comparative with the biofuel option being the cheaper choice.

One of my tasks during this internship was to locate where there are stations and wholesale retailers in the state. I was able to find out from the National Biodiesel Board and Alternative Fuels Data Center there are a lot more than I thought but nowhere near the amount of gas stations carrying fossil fuels. In the middle of the country, particularly by the Great Lakes, there are more ethanol and other biofuel stations because that is where a lot of biofuels are produced. Overall, biofuels are much more accessible than I thought, it is the lack of exposure in the media that makes biofuels feel inaccessible.

I enjoyed the weekly GeoIntern meetings and their emphasis on professional development and graduate schools. There was a career panel in the middle of the program, I was amazed to hear the professionals’ stories, how varied they were and how some of them ended up not pursuing careers in academia. I was not expecting to learn about someone working in Science Communications or that this career was even an option for Earth Science Students. I appreciated the diverse panelists and want to learn more about these unique non-academic careers I have never heard of.

I knew this would be an informative experience and I am glad I participated in it. In retrospect, there are things I would tell my former self what I wish I knew from the beginning. First, this internship will feel similar to my previous job at my community college before transferring to UCSC. I was essentially an assistant to Bill where I did a little bit of everything: researching topics, helping with projects, working on social media, attending webinars, working on excel and multitasking between a few projects. In that aspect, I was perfectly matched with this business and felt qualified to do the job. I now know I do not want to pursue a career in business, and I will actively look for another internship that is research based to gain more relevant experience for grad school.

The second thing I wish I knew was how difficult it would be to keep motivating myself while working from home. I felt as though I hit a wall especially during the heat wave and later the fires. I was still productive, but I did notice that it became harder to stay focused when external factors were out of my control. I rediscovered the power of music at this time and listened to upbeat and calming French Café music to refocus. I will remind myself in the upcoming fall quarter to get up, go outside for a quick walk and come back to my desk when I am feeling unmotivated and listen to Café music to refocus.

This Geopaths internship has been an educational experience personally and professionally. My choice of career has narrowed down and I have found ways to transfer the skills I acquired with Peregrine Fuels to future jobs. The weekly meetings have helped improve my professional skills and I am ready to start the search for research opportunities either on or off campus. I am glad this internship was remote so I could practice working remotely. I will always prefer working in person to remote, but now I have the tools to cope with remote learning and know how to improve my study habits in time for fall quarter.