February 2025 Capstone Newsletter

What's New

Welcome to the February (and also our first ever!) Edition of the Masters of the Environment (MENV) Capstone Newsletter! MENV Capstone is a year-long collaborative project during which groups of students bring their expertise to build cutting-edge sustainability solutions in partnerships with partner organizations. The students’ work leads to tangible impacts for their organization and communities.

The Capstone 2025 Cohort just launched their projects last month – the students are currently in class to build technical and leadership & management skills, while launching their projects in preparation for summer execution. My Graduate Student Assistants - Sarah Nick and Emily Palanjian - and I will share stories of Capstone accomplishments monthly, but I am happy to connect about any aspects of our program!

Featured Capstone Teams

Boomtown Innovation Platform

For its second Capstone project, the Boomtown team will explore value chains for buildings, transit, and energy and engage with key stakeholders in the Boulder/Denver area. 

Team member Anna Brooks spoke on her interest in the project. “I am excited to research the intersections of using innovative solutions to drive sustainable urban development. I was drawn to work with Boomtown to gain experience in the start-up ecosystem.”

In preparation, the team is exploring the 2024 capstone team’s existing deliverables. Specifically, they are interested in expanding Boomtown’s research on Living Labs to maximize impact.

OneEnergy Team attends COSSA Conference 

In late January, the OneEnergy team was able to attend the Colorado Solar & Storage Association (COSSA): Solar Power & Energy Storage Mountain West Conference in Denver.

The team was able to kickstart their project by gaining new knowledge on innovative technologies in the solar and energy storage industries. The conference offered talks from industry professionals and networking opportunities with professionals ranging from system operators to green banks to women in the energy sector (such as MENV alumna Anna Buongiorno).

The team encourages those aspiring to work in renewables to attend conferences in the area.