How can cities reduce their carbon footprint? How do new energy technologies and business ventures go from initial idea to finished product? What would a fully sustainable power grid look like?
These are just a few of the questions that students explored this summer through the Young Innovators Program.
The Young Innovators Program is an immersive experience designed to empower high school students for academic and career success in STEM, particularly in green innovation. The program is a collaborative effort between the University of Chicago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Polsky Foundation, and leading clean energy solutions provider, Invenergy.
At a time when both the public and private sectors are making significant investments in green technology, the Young Innovators Program helps high school students take their first steps toward a career in this emerging economy. The program focuses on entrepreneurship and innovation – skills that are essential both for students’ individual success and the competitiveness of the national economy.
“Our goal with this program is to get students inspired,” said James G. Nondorf, vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid at the University of Chicago. “Many young people assume that entrepreneurship is something that’s not for them, something that’s only open to a select few. We wanted to show students that their ideas matter and teach them how they can turn their vision into a reality.”
The Young Innovators Program accepted applications from high school students around the country. 30 talented, high-achieving students from nine different states were selected for the program out of a highly competitive applicant pool.
The program kicked off with a series of interactive workshops. Led by experts and peer mentors, these workshops gave the Young Innovators an opportunity to explore entrepreneurship essentials, renewable energy, and the college admissions process.
One of the highlights was a “fireside chat” hosted by Michael Polsky, MBA’87, an energy entrepreneur, University Trustee, and Invenergy’s founder and CEO. Mr. Polsky fielded questions from the students about his career, the energy industry, and his advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.
In addition to industry veterans like Mr. Polsky, the Young Innovators also learned from peers who are just starting their careers. At one workshop, students heard from a panel of four current University of Chicago students pursuing careers in clean energy, quantum science, and green engineering.
The panelists – whose experiences in the field included attending the United Nations COP27 climate change conference and interning with top research laboratories like Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory – shared tips with the students on how they can get started in the field and make the most of their future college experience.
Noor Malo, one of the Young Innovators, said, “I had so much fun and loved learning more about the life of an innovator.”
Alongside the workshops, the Young Innovators worked together in teams on a collaborative project. The challenge: analyze carbon dioxide emissions for a particular city and recommend ways that city could reduce its carbon footprint. Each of the six teams received a different city to research.
After four weeks of working together on their projects remotely, the Young Innovators all traveled to Chicago for a three-day capstone experience on the University of Chicago campus.
On the first day, the students completed a series of academic and professional development seminars hosted by College Admissions, the Office of Career Advancement, the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation. These included a session on entrepreneurial ideation, a workshop on Google Design Sprint methodology, a training on how to apply for highly selective colleges, and a discussion panel with three entrepreneurs who founded energy and sustainability startups.
“It was so, so fun, I had a blast,” said participant Flo Correa Agazzi. “I learned so much about the processes of obtaining seed funding and the small details that help run companies. I also had so much fun immersing myself in the college experience and meeting new people.”
For the second day, the Young Innovators headed to downtown Chicago to visit Invenergy’s headquarters. The group met with a cross-section of professionals at the company and participated in interactive roundtable discussions over lunch. The discussions included further insights into the fundamentals of renewable energy and feedback on the students’ capstone projects. After the Invenergy visit, the students spent time exploring the city with an architecture tour and a group photo at The Bean in Millennium Park.
On the third and final day, the students worked with coaches from Invenergy and the Polsky Center to polish their projects. The program culminated with each team giving a presentation to outline their research findings and recommendations for how their assigned city could reduce its carbon footprint.
The Young Innovators headed back home inspired to continue their journey.
“Getting to dorm at UChicago, meeting incredible people, working with other students with shared interests, it is such a delight to be a participant in this!” said Young Innovator Gregory Reis. “This is one of the few summer programs that I can walk away from with new direction in my life as someone now interested in a green career and having met some new friends too! I may well be a different person if I were to not attend this event.”