We proudly congratulate both of our 2022 scholarship recipients. Awardees are selected through a competitive process by our scholarship committee and receive financial and mentor support:
Ria Nakahara
Ria Nakahara is a second-year undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley. She is double majoring in Environmental Science and Data Science. In her free time, Ria loves to run, hike, and read. Ria is actively involved with the Society of Women Engineers chapter on campus and currently serves as a Conservation Coordinator at the Housing and Dining Sustainability division of Cal Dining. Ria is a student researcher at the Sedlak Research Group, who are assessing the efficacy of constructed wetlands in filtering carcinogenic compounds from a wastewater treatment plant in the East Bay.
Ria is looking for mentors who could support her interests in the intersection between data and clean energy. As an international student, an ideal mentor for Ria would be someone who shares a similar background and/or someone willing to offer guidance on how to navigate the energy space.
Ria is currently looking for paid internships for Summer 2023 related to data science/analysis in the energy space. She is open to remote work but prefers staying in the Bay Area/California. With the YPE scholarship, Ria plans to pursue either a Master's or Ph.D in data science and climate science (or a combination of the two).
Peter Pham
Peter Pham is an undergraduate student at University of California, Berkeley, majoring in Public Health and Molecular Environmental Biology with a concentration in Environmental Health. He is the son of working class immigrants and learned the value of hard work and community throughout his life. These experiences shape his motivations to serve his communities and others like it across the country.
As a student, he researches LongCOVID. He previously conducted a regional surveillance study of COVID-19, and the data was shared with public health departments to inform the public health response to the pandemic’s evolving conditions. He has worked on Pfizer’s phase 2/3 pediatric vaccine trial, which contributed to the US Food and Drug Administration granting Emergency Use Authorization for children 5-11 years of age. He has complemented his clinical research work with patient-facing experience as a medical interpreter and COVID-19 testing and vaccine distribution volunteer.
Outside of medicine, Peter has served as a redistricting commissioner for his county, drawing new electoral boundaries for one of the most populous and most diverse counties in the country. He serves on citizens advisory commissions for his regional transportation and public land agencies. He engages in the youth climate movement to pass climate action at the municipal, county, and state levels, and is a board member of a youth-led nonprofit focused on empowering and organizing young people to fight climate change. He also served as an observer delegate to COP27: the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
In his free time, Peter enjoys baking with new recipes, going down rabbit holes on Wikipedia, and learning languages. Peter is looking for mentors who can advise on how to navigate the clean energy space and current policy issues regarding clean energy development. He hopes to build more connections to discern what role he hopes to play in the work of building clean energy.
Interested in supporting their journey through mentorship or other opportunities? Please reach out to ypesfbayareascholarship@gmail.com.