Impact Stories from Environmental Sustainability Policy Area

Fellow appointed president of oil & gas governance NGO

Fellow(s): Jessica Obeid (Lebanon, 2012)

Country: Lebanon

Cohort: 2012

Policy Area(s): Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development

“There’s a new President in town,” shared fellow Jessica Obeid (Lebanon, 2012) in an announcement of her recent appointment as President of the Organization for Petroleum and Energy Sustainability (OPES), a non-governmental, non-profit organization that works to ensure governance and transparency in the oil and gas sector of Lebanon. “With an impressive background in energy engineering and extensive expertise in energy policy, sustainability, and low-carbon technologies, Jessica brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to lead OPES into a sustainable and promising future,” the organization shared in a recent post. Among many roles, Jessica is a founding partner of New Energy Consult in Dubai and a Senior Global Advisor for Azure Strategy in London, England.

Report Date...: 08/14/2023

Fellow joins delegation at 1st Climate Resilience Salon

Fellow(s): Safiya Aliyu (Nigeria, 2018)

Country: Nigeria

Cohort: 2018

Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development

Fellow Safiya Aliyu (Nigeria, 2018) recently served as a delegate at the first Climate Resilience Salon to take place in Nigeria. Supported by the U.S. Consulate General Lagos, the event convened women-led organizations, climate-tech entrepreneurs and local leaders championing efforts to mitigate climate change in their communities. Event speakers included U.S. Consulate Deputy Political and Economic Chief Kenise Hill, who emphasized that “climate change is a threat that sees no borders.” Safiya has served in the renewable energy sector for over 15 years. She is a general manager at SOSAI Renewable Energies Company and the country director of their Matan Arewan Initiative, which works to amplify the capacity of women working in all aspects of the northern Nigerian renewable energy industry. “It was an eye opener to understand how climate affects any sector you can think of locally, nationally and globally,” Safiya shared in a recent post.

Report Date...: 08/21/2023

Fellow delivers smart tech talk at Google I/O event

Fellow(s): Kseniia Tsyganova (Kyrgyzstan, 2022)

Country: Kyrgyzstan

Cohort: 2022

Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development

Fellow Kseniia Tsyganova (Kyrgyzstan, 2022) gave a talk centered on internet of things (IoT) technology at the Google I/O Extended conference in Bishkek this August. Kseniia’s presentation, “Smart Home: Simpler than you think,” led the audience through her years-long journey of trial and error to embed her own home with smart technology. She also offered tips for adopting home automatization technology and explored the prospective advancements of near-future smart homes. “My journey and its first fruits inspired me to share my knowledge with the world,” she shared in a recent post. Google I/O Extended is a global event that brings together tech-community specialists to share and learn about new Google technologies and products, connect with industry experts and expand their networks. It was organized by the local Google Developers Group (GDG) and held at Ololo Planet, an innovation and creativity hub in Bishkek.

Report Date...: 08/28/2023

Mentor(s): Mentor Page Crahan

Company: Tapestry

Mentor Type: Professional

Policy Area(s): Environmental Sustainability

Mentor Page Crahan recently announced that a division of X’s “Moonshot for the electric grid” called Tapestry, where she serves as General Manager, was featured in Google’s 2023 annual environmental report. Google’s annual environmental report highlights initiatives under the umbrella of Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, working to advance sustainability. Tapestry’s moonshot mission is to build out a single, virtualized view of the stratified, century-old electric grid and develop tools to gather data and insights to facilitate a widespread shift toward clean electric power. Their aim is to provide electricity stakeholders across the board with the data to reduce carbon footprints, move toward a net-zero economy and maximize clean energy use. X, formerly Google X, is a company on a mission is to develop “moonshot” technologies by inventing radically innovative technologies to solve the world’s greatest challenges. “This is just the beginning for Tapestry,” Page penned in her recent blog post marking the event. “Virtualizing the entire world’s electricity system is an ambitious goal, but we’re committed to bringing it to life one step at a time. Milestones like these keep us forging ahead!”

Report Date...: 08/07/2023

Fellow arrives in SF Bay Area to start 12-month research scholar role at Berkely Lab’s Molecular Foundry

Fellow(s): Raushan Nurdillayeva (Kazakhstan, 2020-2021)

Country: Kazakhstan

Cohort: 2020-2021

Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development

This August, fellow Raushan Nurdillayeva (Kazakhstan, 2020-2021) arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area to start a 12-month research scholar role at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (Berkeley Lab/LBNL) Molecular Foundry. She credits access to this momentous opportunity to her supportive TechWomen mentor, Virginia Altoe, who made her aware of the research possibilities at Berkeley Lab, and Kazakhstan’s Republican Commission for Training Personnel Abroad, which awarded her a grant this June covering the travel and cost of living expenses for a fellowship program at a leading scientific center of the world. Her project “Investigation of 2D-passivated 3D halide perovskite thin films” is being conducted at two lead centers, the Inorganic Nanostructures Facility, where her assigned scientist is Dr. Carolin Sutter-Fella, and the Imaging and Manipulation of Nanostructures Facility, where her assigned scientist is Virginia Altoe. Both of these scientists will be serving as 2023 TechWomen mentors. Raushan is the Head of her Department at Ahkmet Yassawi University in Kazakhstan. She has an M.S. in Environmental Science from Almaty University of Power Engineering and Telecommunications. “I’m proud to share my success story of the impact of the 2020-2021 virtual TechWomen program,” she expressed in recent communications.

Report Date...: 9/11/2023

AFITech

Fellow(s): Aziza Krimaa, Fatima-Zahra Benyaaqoub, Hajar Salamat, Manar Ouaritni, Meriem Haddouchi (2022)

Country: Morocco

Cohort: 2022

Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Empowering Women and Girls, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development

VMWare has donated an additional $3000 USD to Team Morocco 2022 for their impact project AFITech, Alert Fire on Time Initiative.

Fall 2022 Team Morocco has recently received just over $3,000 USD in additional seed funds from program partner and sponsor VMWare, to assist in the development and implementation of their seed-grant winning impact project, AFITech, Alert Fire on Time Initiative. Earlier this year, Aziza Krimaa, Fatima-Zahra Benyaaqoub, Hajar Salamat, Manar Ouaritni and Meriem Haddouchi launched a fundraiser seeking additional capital for the launch of AFITech. Mohna Dhomse, a VMWare Information Experience Leader and TechWomen mentor since 2011, spearheaded the company’s donation. Mohna shared that her extensive volunteer hours made her eligible to “further amplify my service learning contributions by recommending a VMware Citizen Philanthropy Investment grant to a nonprofit of choice.” VMWare’s funding will supplement costs for AFITech’s early wildfire-detection system, which will protect precious argan trees by deploying a network of tree sensors that measure temperature, humidity and carbon monoxide levels in argan forests. These sensors will then send alerts to local emergency authorities when fire is indicated, triggering early firefighting efforts and reducing the devastating environmental and economic impacts of argan forest wildfires. The pilot program will defend women farmers of Amskroud Village, whose livelihoods depend on the harvesting of argan oil, a globally-marketed skin and hair care ingredient.

Report Date...: 09/04/2023

Fellows collaborate on paper addressing crop threat

Fellow(s): Flora Asibe (Nigeria, 2020-2021) Edith Mugehu (Zimbabwe, 2018)

Country: Nigeria, Zimbabwe

Cohort: 2018, 2020-2021

Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development

Fellows Flora Asibe (Nigeria, 2020-2021) and Edith Mugehu (Zimbabwe, 2018) recently collaborated in the publication of, “Status and management strategies of major insect pests and fungal diseases of maize in Africa: A review.” Combating food insecurity caused by threatened maize crops, the review examines pest and disease management practices in the region and provides integrated recommendations to mitigate the threat. Edith is a research fellow at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Flora is a research fellow at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and the co-founder of EduChamps. “Through our work, we have demonstrated that borders cannot hinder our impact,” Flora wrote in a letter to TechWomen. “Instead, they become bridges that transform our communities and the global village.”

Report Date...: 08/07/2023

Fellow awarded for Covid-19 Medical Library Guide

Fellow(s): Diala Al Samarani (Lebanon, 2022)

Country: Lebanon

Cohort: 2022

Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development

Fellow awarded for Covid-19 Medical Library Guide

“COVID-19 USEK Medical Library Guide,” a digital guide created by fellow Diala Al Samarani (Lebanon, 2022), has won the 2023 PR Xchange Award in the materials promoting collections, services and resources category. Her guide connects Holy Spirit University of Kasilik (USEK) students and faculty with the online resources, services and tools available in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Diala’s guide was selected among over 215 entries in print and electronic formats, submitted from over 100 institutions, including libraries from the public, academic, school, state and specialty sectors. The PR Xchange Committee coordinates the annual awards competition under the direction of the Awards and Scholarships Subcommittee of Core, a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The competition was decided by 15 jurists and winning entries were displayed at the PR Xchange Event on Sunday, June 25 at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, IL.

Report Date...: 07/03/2023

Fellow earns hydropower assessor accreditation

Fellow(s): Asligul (Mavluda) Mamadatoeva (Tajikistan, 2017)

Country: Tajikistan

Cohort: 2017

Policy Area(s): Economic Impact, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development

Fellow earns hydropower assessor accreditation

Fellow Asligul (Mavluda) Mamadatoeva (Tajikistan, 2017) recently announced her completion of the Accredited Assessor training organized by the Hydropower Sustainability Training Academy based in London. Asligul works as a Senior Environmental and Social Officer at Pamir Energy Company (PE), where she has held a leadership role in the yearslong process of securing the Sebzor hydropower project as the first project of its kind to be certified by the Hydropower Sustainability Standard, as announced on March 22, 2023. In her areas of expertise, Asligul held direct responsibility for 10 out of 12 topics assessed by the International Hydropower Association.

Report Date...: 06/19/2023

Mentor-conceived Climate Smart Women Energy Leaders program launches at Berkeley National Lab

Fellow(s): Mentor Reshma Singh

Country:

Policy Area(s): Empowering Women and Girls, Environmental Sustainability, Professional Development

Mentor-conceived Climate Smart Women Energy Leaders program launches at Berkeley National Lab

Mentor Reshma Singh recently took part in the formal launch of the Climate Smart Women Energy Leaders program (CS-WEL) as part of the Net Zero World (NZW) Initiative. Hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where Reshma works as a Senior Advisor and Program Director, the new initiative serves to empower women leaders in the energy sector from partner countries through intensive training, peer learning and ongoing coaching and mentoring. The launch included leaders from seven countries, including India, for which Reshma serves as the Country Co-Coordinator for the NZW. The NZW initiative was launched in 2021 by DOE Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, with the aim of transitioning to net zero energy systems across multiple sectors, including transportation, industry, buildings, carbon capture and geologic storage, energy storage and the power grid. Berkeley Lab contributes leadership and technical expertise in the recently established NZW Action Center, which is part of a network that promotes global net zero emission energy systems that are inclusive, equitable and resilient.

Report Date...: 06/05/2023

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