UGA’s Bioenergy Systems Research Institute and the Office of Sustainability have selected two undergraduate students to serve as ambassadors to the inaugural Southeastern Conference Symposium, which will be held Feb. 10-12 in Atlanta.
Heather Hatzenbuhler of Lawrenceville, a senior environmental economics and management major in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and Ian Karra of Roswell, a senior majoring in economics with an emphasis in public policy and finance in the Terry College of Business, will represent UGA at the symposium. The two were selected for their leadership, service and academic scholarship related to advancing renewable energy in Georgia and around the globe.
Led by UGA, the first-ever SEC Symposium, “Impacts of the Southeast in the World’s Renewable Energy Future,” will highlight the role of the Southeastern U.S. in the world’s renewable energy future.
“I was blown away by the activism of these two undergraduates and their commitment to renewable energy and environmental sustainability,” said Robert Scott, associate vice president for research and chair of the local organizing committee for the symposium. “They will make superb representatives of UGA.”
Hatzenbuhler has served as a leader on campus, in the local community and around the world to advance environmental policy through advocacy. Her undergraduate research has been related to clean energy affordability, biofuels production in Georgia and the impacts of hydraulic fracturing on water quality.
Karra has organized his academic, civic and research experiences around renewable energy and public policy to establish a career path in energy policy and grassroots advocacy. He has applied insights gained from study abroad at UGA Costa Rica and research activities in a UGA ecology lab to promote clean energy infrastructure on college campuses throughout the state as co-leader of Georgia Youth for Environmental Solutions.
