The Columbia Climate School Office of Columbia’s Undergraduate Program recently hosted its third annual Alumni Career Dialogue Group, which includes three alumni from the Sustainable Development Program (SDEV). The event provides an opportunity for current Colombian students to learn about open departments and future career paths for students interested in pursuing careers related to climate and sustainability. Kayran Abasali (CC’13), Annie Evangelakos (Block) (CC’19) and Anthony Perez (CC’21) shared their diverse experiences during and after the program, including work across the public and private sectors.
The group is chaired by Professor Jason Smerdon, a professor of climate, a collaborative director of the MS of the Climate Academy and a former director of the undergraduate program in Sustainable Development in Columbia.
Abasali is a Grade 6 graduate of the special concentration of sustainable development in Columbia, consistent with her goal of pursuing a degree with social impact. Abasali started with IBM’s technical sales career and has since worked in ESG consulting in the technology industry. She is currently completing her MBA and recently launched her own social influence, focusing on helping Caribbean women gain STEM careers.
Evangelakos is the project manager for sustainable construction at Jones Lang Lasalle, where she reduces emissions through energy-efficient building design. Through her leadership in energy and environmental design certification and undergraduate thesis for Brooklyn Green Infrastructure, she has developed an interest in sustainable infrastructure, which she now brings into projects for architects and building developers.
Anthony Perez, the latest graduate of the Sustainability Program, is currently a senior analyst for the Resilience Working Group at the New York City Mayor’s Office of Budget Management. Perez is dedicated to building financial avenues for his senior capstone to the Hudson River community in upstate New York City, a project that shapes his trajectory after graduation. Through this experience, Perez has not only become familiar with public grant programs and budget allocations, but also learned how to apply these programs to understand sustainability and climate resilience.
While the three group members have taken different paths after graduation, they have similar reasons to want to pursue a sustainable career. “I don’t want to be in the lab all my life. [I wanted to] Work directly with people while still focusing on science. ”
For speakers, the SDEV program provides opportunities to interact with science while learning how to apply it to policy, business and careers in ESG. Students in the audience explore this intersection, asking the group members how to shape their current career roles.
Perez explained that understanding of the social and policy aspects of the climate he gained as a student was crucial to his cooperation with the New York City government. “Everyone in my work has a climate background, but the social aspect is what helped me thrive,” he said.
Through a balance of physical science, policy and social impact, the SDEV program builds graduates working in different fields, with these ideas applied in both the public and private sectors.
Abasali’s career spans multiple departments and scopes of technology, consulting and social influence. But everything she works on “Back to the Sustainability Circle.”
The Sustainability Program provides a wealth of background for alumni to address climate and sustainability challenges, open up a variety of career paths, and provide opportunities for meaningful work in climate and sustainability in all areas.
As climate schools’ undergraduate programs expand their offerings to majors that include sustainable minors and climate and sustainability majors, students are encouraged to explore climate and sustainability from all perspectives. As illustrated by the Alumni Group, the impact of these programs, from ESG to government programs, is the impact in this work.
For all three panelists, the multidisciplinary aspects of the program guide them throughout their careers and remain a key element of their success today. “Education plays a big role. Ten years later, I remember what I learned in that program and now I am revisiting my MBA,” Abasali said.
