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Energy Career Panel
September 27 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Have you thought about working for a cleantech startup? Maybe you’re really interested in clean energy or climate change but aren’t sure how to find a paying job that matches your passion. Register to Attend
Wednesday, Sept. 27
7:30 – 9:00 pm
Talley Student Union Coastal Ballroom
Join this event to gain insight from clean energy industry leaders, including:
Carl L. Wilkins served in managerial, research, and consultative roles working with electric and gas utilities. Combining engineering, sales, marketing, and project management expertise with applied technical skills he leads a team that performs grid interconnection studies for distributed generation projects and area planning studies, including load forecasting and resilient grid design. His team also supports hosting capacity, reliability improvement, grid modernization, distribution operations, distributed energy resources (DER) system impacts, data analytics, and electric transportation. Carl has completed
distribution storm-hardening assessments and emergency preparedness plans for large electric utilities. Carl holds a BSEE degree from NC State University and is a registered professional engineer.
Jeff Thomas, PE is an engineer with the NC Utilities Commission Public Staff, where he advocates on behalf of electric ratepayers in matters before the Commission. He has been in his role since 2017, and has worked on implementing state energy legislation, including the recent Carbon Plan. His focus is on long-term planning, energy modeling, and competitive resource procurement, and has also participated in customer renewable energy programs and net metering revisions. He obtained his bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois and his master’s degree from NC State University and spent six years in manufacturing operations prior to joining the Public Staff.
Ansh Nasta is a Principal Energy Systems Analyst at GTI Energy where he researches and develops low-carbon energy solutions to combat climate change. He is passionate about energy and climate issues and has been in this space for ten years. Past companies include Energy Futures Initiative, Smart Wires Inc., and Environmental Defense Fund. Ansh received his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering, with minors in Business and Sustainable Energy, from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2018. He earned his Master of Science degree in Energy Science, Technology & Policy from Carnegie Mellon University in 2019.
Binghui Li is a clean energy engineer at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). He received his bachelor’s degree from Zhejiang University, China and his doctoral degree in Civil Engineering from NC State University, where his research primarily focused on techno-economic assessments of innovative renewable energy systems and long-term state-level energy system analysis. Prior to joining INL, he was a Research Associate at the University of Texas at Dallas. His research interests include solving real-world power and energy challenges that involve environmental, technical, economic and policy aspects by conducting interdisciplinary analysis.
Taylor Jones is currently an attorney in the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, where she advises on legal policy matters as well as manages certain legal aspects of loan transactions. Her professional experience includes providing counsel on project finance and other transactional matters to renewable energy project developers and financial institutions at Baker Botts L.L.P in San Francisco and working to advance clean energy policies at the North Carolina Utilities Commission and other policy-making venues as regulatory counsel for the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association. Taylor graduated from the University of Florida in 2015 with a degree in Environmental Science and from Yale Law School in 2018.
Heather Hildebrandt has worked at the intersection of transportation and air quality since graduating with a Master of Science in Civil Engineering/ Environmental Programs from NC State University. At the Division of Air Quality, she gained expertise with alternative fuels and emission controls. Heather currently works with NC DOT in the Transportation Planning Division where she supervises the Statewide Initiatives Group that oversees clean transportation and statewide multi-modal planning. She helped develop the NC ZEV Plan and co-lead the planning efforts in the development of the NC Clean Transportation and National Electric Vehicle (NEVI) Plans.
This event is sponsored by FREEDM Systems Center and the Student Energy Club at NC State as part of NC State Energy Week.
