Interning at the Intersection: How ACE NY Shaped Me as an Interdisciplinary Energy Professional
By: Gabriel Mendez-Sanders, ACE NY Intern
What does it mean to work at the intersection? Many energy professionals have experienced working across boundaries. Whether those boundaries are state lines, organizational silos, academic disciplines, or political perspectives, bridging them is essential to building our energy future. Energy systems are inherently complex and multifaceted, meaning their development and impacts can rarely be confined to a single organization or field of expertise. As a result, organizations like the Alliance for Clean Energy New York (ACE NY), which seek to advance New York’s renewable energy industry, must not only advocate for clean energy across sectors and disciplines, but also act as a center point for diverse groups to convene and learn from one another. That role as a connector is what first drew me to ACE NY.
My goal is to become a knowledge broker: someone who bridges the gap between knowledge producers, like researchers, and knowledge users, like communities or policymakers. To develop this skill set, I am pursuing an interdisciplinary PhD at Cornell University. My degree and technical expertise are in Chemical Engineering, while my research employs social science methodologies to study stakeholder collaboration and education in the energy industry. As an engineer and researcher, I have seen many of my brilliant peers struggle to communicate their findings to non-expert audiences. Through my experiences conducting renewable energy research at ExxonMobil and the National Laboratory of the Rockies, I realized that many of the barriers to deploying mature technologies are social in nature, rather than technical. Bridging communication gaps and navigating social barriers requires a knowledge broker: someone who understands the technical and the social. Organizations like ACE NY play exactly this role every day, translating knowledge between industry, government, academia, nonprofits, and the public. I couldn't imagine a better place to continue developing as a knowledge broker.
My internship at ACE NY this summer has pushed me to constantly learn and adapt, equipping me with connections and knowledge that I will carry with me throughout my career. The first learning challenge will not be unfamiliar to anyone who has started at a new organization: getting to know everyone. While the ACE NY team is lean, the diversity of disciplines and backgrounds represented is impressive. How is it that a team with backgrounds spanning economics, political science, environmental science, engineering, agriculture, journalism, law, and business are able to work in harmony? I wondered early on. I quickly realized that every member of the team embodied the mindset of a lifelong learner: asking thoughtful questions, openly sharing expertise, and readily adjusting their thinking when presented with new information. With this culture, I felt comfortable setting up one-on-one meetings with each team member to learn about their disciplinary expertise, work at ACE NY, and energy career paths. It was exactly the kind of interdisciplinary environment I had hoped to find.
Beyond transcending disciplinary lines, ACE NY enabled me to learn from and impact professionals and projects in all sectors. One of my primary projects was supporting the development of an agrivoltaics documentary about New York farmers in collaboration with the American Farmland Trust, the American Solar Grazing Association, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Any assumptions I had about who holds expertise were shattered after spending hours speaking with upstate farmers. One cattle farmer described, in remarkable technical detail, the years of iteration he and his son undertook to successfully integrate cattle grazing with solar energy production. These farmers displayed advanced knowledge of energy systems despite no formal engineering training. These are the kinds of stories that ACE NY’s public-facing communications work is designed to uplift; stories that counter misinformation and highlight the ingenuity of New York citizens driving the clean energy transition. These are the stories that help policymakers, communities, and the public better understand how clean energy can strengthen local economies, improve air quality, increase energy security, and create opportunities for New Yorkers.
In addition to the policy knowledge, project experience, and deeper understanding of New York's clean energy landscape, I know the most lasting part of this internship will be the relationships. My mentor, Kyle, challenged me to think more strategically about integrating my research into existing energy projects while giving me the independence to grow. Deb generously shared her institutional knowledge and helped me orient myself to the world of energy policy. Nick and Alicia volunteered their own time to support one of my independent research projects, demonstrating a generosity that extended well beyond my internship responsibilities. Through my work with Barry, I discovered a deeper appreciation for the role of public outreach and communications in accelerating the clean energy transition. Jed, Jared, Kholood, and others all met with me one-on-one to answer my endless questions. And finally, ACE NY’s leader, Marguerite, believed in me from the very beginning. I know our paths will continue to cross, not just because she's also my neighbor, but because she exemplifies the kind of thoughtful, collaborative leadership I hope to carry forward in my own career.
Overall, ACE NY didn't simply give me projects to complete; it gave me opportunities to connect disciplines, sectors, and people. Every conversation and collaboration reinforced the idea that advancing clean energy isn't just about deploying projects. It's about building relationships, translating knowledge across communities, and creating spaces where people with different expertise can work toward a common goal. This perspective will continue to inform my dissertation research, where I am studying the designs and practices of energy technical assistance programs. Like ACE NY, these programs leverage the expertise of energy professionals from across sectors to disseminate knowledge to non-expert stakeholders, helping them make pivotal decisions on energy projects and processes. As our nation navigates a rapidly changing energy landscape and rising energy demands, energy technical assistance will be critical to accelerating renewable energy deployment and translating ambitious national goals into impactful local projects. If my goal is to become a knowledge broker for energy development, this internship didn't just strengthen that aspiration; it showed me what it looks like in practice.
