This summer, University of Pennsylvania junior Jesse Yoder remained on campus, not to take classes but to help prepare classes.

A political science major from Fort Wayne, Ind., Yoder spent eight weeks working as a research assistant to Ariel Ben-Amos, lecturer in urban studies in the School of Arts & Sciences and Andrew Huemmler, senior lecturer in energy and sustainability in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Yoder’s internship was sponsored through Penn’s Integrating Sustainability Across the Curriculum program that pairs research assistants with faculty interested in expanding or integrating topics of sustainability into courses.

He was one of three undergraduates and one graduate student recruited for the ISAC program. He found the internship was a great fit.

Yoder’s awareness of environmental issues began after he arrived at Penn. As a freshman his interest in energy policy, local politics and how institutions implement environmental policy led him to attend a couple of student Eco Rep meetings. By his sophomore year he was volunteering as part of Move-in Green and became a student Eco Rep. This year he continues as an Eco Rep but has stepped up his role joining the Eco Rep Executive Board.

ISAC and Penn Eco Reps are part of Penn’s Green Campus Partnership, an umbrella group of students, faculty, staff and community members charged with promoting sustainable practices and policies on campus.

As a research assistant for Ben-Amos’ “Cities & Sustainability” course, Yoder developed several case studies to be used in class.

One project he worked on addressed climate assessment and infrastructure.

“I aggregated national climate assessment reports, reports on infrastructure and budget documents for Maryland, California, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Idaho,” says Yoder. “Future students of the class will be asked to choose one of the five states and identify the top three infrastructure investments.”

As a guide for the students, Yoder followed the process to identify the top three areas for investment using Indiana as an example case study.

“Looking at my home state of Indiana. I put together a proposal addressing water quality and dam remediation,” he says. “The proposal gave me real insight into how hard infrastructure projects can be to implement”

He also identified possible topics the class might consider for discussion.

“I identified Youngtown, Ohio, as an interesting subject of the challenges faced by a ‘shrinking city,’” says Yoder. “Youngstown is investing $1 million dollars annually solely for the demolition of houses.”

For another case study, employing geographic information systems, Yoder developed maps to illustrate research questions and answers related to mayoral voting tendencies in Philadelphia. 

“I found that so interesting,” says Yoder “that I’m taking the course ‘GIS Applications in Social Science in Urban Studies this fall.’” 

For Huemmler’s course “Energy Systems and Policy,” Yoder helped to update slides, graphs and support materials.

“Things change quickly in the field,” says Yoder. “The day we started, June 2, the EPA Clean Power Plan to cut carbon pollution had just been proposed, and I had to update hundreds of graphs.”

Keeping the class current is a big part of Huemmler’s interest in applying for ISAC research assistants. It is the second year he had benefited from the program. 

“The topic is changing so rapidly, that there are piles of materials to comb through each semester. I take a look at new articles and proposed readings. I then had Jesse evaluate it with the eyes of a student to see what will speak to them,” says Huemmler. “I call it the student test. It is a great way to keep the material relevant.” 

Yoder says the internship was a great lesson in what it takes plan a course and prepare coursework. 

“Not only was it a huge educational value — I felt like I was taking the two courses, and being paid to take them — but it gave me a familiarity with the topic and what goes into teaching a course like this. It even got me to begin to consider becoming a teacher.” 

He says he is now much more “energy literate” and is looking forward this fall to taking that knowledge back to his peers as a “much more knowledgeable and active Eco Rep.”