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BREAKTHROUGH GENERATION FELLOWS
2011 Breakthrough Generation Fellows
2011 Associate Directors
Yael Borofsky
Devon Swezey
Jesse Jenkins
 Linus Blomqvist graduated from University of Cambridge, UK, with a degree in geography and management in June 2011, and is currently heading the Breakthrough's new Conservation Program. His academic interests are centered on climate change and ecology, but also encompass international development and political economy. After finishing gymnasium (high school) in 2004, Linus went into self-imposed exile with the aim of learning three new languages and gaining experience from development and conservation projects around the world. Today, he speaks four and a half languages (Swedish, English, Spanish, French and some Russian). In addition to fieldwork in Ecuador, Slovenia, Malta, and Kenya, he has been an intern at the Brussels office of the global conservation organization, BirdLife International. In 2009, Linus authored a policy report on ecosystems and adaptation to climate change, and subsequently followed this issue at the UNFCCC negotiations in Bonn, Germany, and Copenhagen, Denmark. The following year, he reviewed the science and policy concerning bio-energy from forestry for the UK-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). When not studying or working, Linus hits the road with his backpack, and has so far visited nearly 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
 Michael Burnam-Fink is a Ph.D student at Arizona State University in the Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology Program. Michael's areas of expertise are national innovation systems, the complex relationship between expert advice and democratic self-governance, and the political and social implications of human enhancement. He has written on topics such as political censorship of the Internet in China, biopower and measuring the mind, as well as drone warfare. Michael spent two summers in Washington DC, one with the Consortium for Science Policy and Outcomes, and another as an intern in the office of Senator Dianne Feinstein. He has a bachelor’s in Science, Technology, and Society from Vassar College, and in the distant past was almost a robotics engineer. When he's not thinking about the future, Michael enjoys relaxing with some good sci-fi, skiing, and indie rock.
 Jeff Kessler graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with his BS and MS in Chemical Engineering where he focused on renewable energy and environmental catalysis. After graduating from Boulder, he spent some time abroad in England further researching renewable energy. Being dissatisfied with the often apparent disconnect between policy and technology, Jeff returned to Boulder to further his studies in energy policy. He is presently a Doctoral student at UC Davis working as a Low-carbon Fuel Standard Policy Fellow. In his spare time, Jeff enjoys hiking, wordsmithing, and playing guitar; he considers himself to be a self-proclaimed professional folk singer.
 Jessica Lovering grew up in Northern California and attended University of California Berkeley, where she received a BA in Astrophysics with a minor in South Asian Studies. She then began a PhD program in Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences and the University of Colorado Boulder, but slowly realized that her real passion lay on Earth and not among the stars. Leaving Astrophysics with a master's degree, Jessica began a graduate program in Environmental Studies focusing on energy policy (and sustainable agriculture). She is now in her final year and plans to graduate in May 2012. Based on her interest in nuclear power, Jessica has created and organized a graduate course on the topic for the Spring 2012 semester, which she will teach. The course will be an interdisciplinary look at all aspects of nuclear power including social, environmental, financial, security, and legal issues. When not advocating for a complete nuclear revolution, Jessica enjoys ballet, playing guitar, volunteering as a docent at CU's dinosaur museum and as a news anchor for Boulder's community radio station.
 Nick Murray grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from the Earth Systems Program at Stanford University. Grateful for the opportunity to spend much of his academic career in the Amazon, he’s worked on climate policy with the state government of Amazonas, Brazil, and studied agro-economic obstacles facing members of Brazil's Landless People's movement. Although his earlier work focuses on agriculture, Nick is interested in getting involved with clean technology development in the United States. Presently Nick works in the environmental division of Abt Associates, a public and social sector consulting company.
 Eva Shapiro has spent the last two years getting the European perspective on public and economic policy while earning a Master of Public Affairs from the London School of Economics and the Institute of Political Studies in Paris. Eva's past research includes transatlantic competition policy and merger review, and she is looking forward to becoming more involved in environmental and energy policy while working with the Breakthrough Institute. Eva earned her bachelors degree in economics from Princeton University, with minors in French and political economy. Having grown up in the East Bay, Eva is excited to be back in Oakland and researching regulatory policy closer to home!
 Alex Trembath is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley where he received his BS in Environmental Economics and Policy. While at Cal, Alex was active in California Lightweight Crew and the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative. He interned at San Francisco City Hall in 2009, working on local clean tech and community development in the Mayor's Office of Climate Protection Initiatives. Alex recently completed a policy fellowship with Americans for Energy Leadership, where he wrote on US energy policy and politics. He has his own blog, Energetics, where he writes about climate and energy issues. He has been published at Forbes and the Huffington Post, and also writes regularly for The Energy Collective and WattHead - Energy News and Commentary. After completing Breakthrough Generation 2011, Alex was hired as a full-time policy associate in Breakthrough's Energy and Climate Program. He has lived in San Francisco for the last ten years, and is a proud son of South Bend, Indiana. He enjoys rowing and exploring the Bay Area. Follow Alex on Twitter @atrembath.
2010 Breakthrough Generation Fellows
2010 Associate Directors
Devon Swezey
Jesse Jenkins
Yael Borofsky
 Mark Caine is currently a graduate student in Geography at the University of Cambridge, where he is studying resource management, science and technology policy, and quantitative data analysis. His master's dissertation is an in-depth analysis of how recent austerity measures in the United Kingdom are affecting the structure and function of the UK's emergency management system. As an Energy and Climate Fellow at The Breakthrough Institute, Mark researched energy poverty in the developing world and analyzed strategies for achieving development progress through improved energy access. Mark has previously conducted research in paleoclimatology and science education, focusing specifically on strategies for communicating technical information to audiences ranging from students to policymakers to the voting public. Upon completing his graduate studies, Mark plans to continue exploring how governments and industry can employ new technologies to create socially-responsible economic growth. When he is not reading or working on his dissertation, Mark enjoys rock climbing, long-distance bike touring, unusual beer, and dystopian science fiction.
 Sara Mansur graduated from Brown University in spring 2009 with a degree in International Relations, focusing on the Political Economy and Development Track. At Brown, Sara spent time researching social welfare policy in the Middle East, and played on the Varsity Women's Tennis Team. After graduating from Brown, she spent a year working in her hometown for the City of Houston, through a program called City Hall Fellows, which places recent graduates in local government. Sara
worked for the Office of Sustainable Growth in Houston, where she was introduced to renewable energy policy and energy efficiency programs at a local level. Most recently, Sara produced a white paper on opportunities for solar residential financing for the City of Houston, and conducted energy consumption analysis of various City programs. Sara is particularly interested in combining her background in international economic development with her new experiences in energy policy. In early 2010, Sara was selected as a StartingBloc Fellow, which provided her with training in social entrepreneurship and
driving social change. Sara is fluent in French and proficient in Arabic, and hopes to continue learning as many languages as possible.
 David Mitchell is currently a Master's Candidate in Environmental Management at Yale, with a focus on Economics, Law, and Policy. David's academic interests include Clean Tech Development, Energy Policy, Environmental Law, Corporate Strategy, and Private Investment. At Yale, David is Research Assistant to Professor Dan Esty, Director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy. David graduated from Oxford University in June 2008, with a BA (Hons) in Geopolitics and Environmental Studies. At Oxford, he was Student Body President of St Catherine's College. David has worked as a Research Assistant to David Sandalow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., and as a Master in Geography at Eton College in the UK. He also spent two months teaching English at the Oxford International College in Shanghai. David is the Director of 2 children's camps: 1 in Colorado, and 1 in Vancouver. He loves to play soccer, surf, read, and play guitar.
 Jerome Roos was born just above sea level in the small historical town of Utrecht, the Netherlands. He graduated from University College Utrecht and the University of Bologna with a B.A. (Hons) in Social Science, and earned an M.A. International Affairs from Sciences Po Paris and an MSc International Political Economy from the London School of Economics. Throughout his studies, Jerome specialized in issues of globalization and sustainable development and published a few articles in influential academic journals like the Oxford Energy Forum and the Millennium Journal of International Studies. In addition to taking up a Fellowship at the Breakthrough Institute in the Summer of 2010, Jerome's plans include finishing up three temporarily interrupted projects: his trip around the world, the website of an NGO he is setting up back home (www.spearhead-action.org), and the first chapters of a book on the crisis of global capitalism. When he is not obsessing with the global transformation that the millennial generation will have to bring about, he is probably off snowboarding, surfing or playing the guitar
 Shawna Russo graduated in 2009 from Tufts University with a B.A. in International Relations and a concentration in Global Conflict, Cooperation, and Justice. While at Tufts, she was active in the South Asian community, served as an Orientation Coordinator for the Class of 2012, served on the International Relations Program Director's Leadership Council, and was a Senator for the class of 2009 in the Tufts Community Union Senate. For the past year, she has been working in college access for underprivileged students in Boston, Massachusetts. At the Breakthrough Institute, Shawna will be a National Security and Counter-terrorism Fellow. Her main academic interest at Tufts was political violence, including terrorism, insurgency, massacres, and civil wars. She became interested in the cyclical nature of violence and closely studied how certain types of political violence can begin, progress, and end. She hopes that her studies and research will yield new, more successful strategies for preventing or ending violence. To that end, Shawna worked as a staff assistant at the Jebsen Center for Counter-terrorism Studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and as a Research Assistant in a brief internship at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She is looking forward to building on her academic knowledge and prior research during her summer in California at the Breakthrough Institute. After her experience as a Breakthrough Generation Fellow, Shawna hopes to earn her masters degree in Security Studies and work in counter-terrorism policy making and analysis. As a native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, she is very happy to be heading west to sunny, dry weather after spending 5 years in Boston.
 Matthew Stepp, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and holds a master's degree in Science, Technology, and Public Policy. Matthew's academic focus at RIT involved modeling combinations of national greenhouse gas reduction policies aimed at the light duty transportation sector in order to analyze for opportunities of synergy. Portions of this research have been published in the Journal of Energy Policy as well as presented at a number of conferences and working groups. As a Christine Mirzayan Fellow at the National Academies of Science, Matthew staffed the Committee on Potential Energy Savings and Greenhouse Gas Reductions from the Transportation Sector as well as assisted the initial organization of the America's Climate Choices Mitigation Committee. Previous to his policy experiences, Matthew received his bachelor's degree in Meteorology from Millersville University and conducted climate modeling research at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. In addition to his academic focus on climate science and policy, Matthew has been active in field organizing and local political campaigns, is a diehard baseball fan, and enjoys exploring old fashioned record and book stores.
 Ray Thornton grew up in the border town of Dundalk, Ireland, where his family grows cereals and potatoes on a farm just south of the line that divides the country politically. It was the conflict there that initially aroused his interest in public service and international relations, an interest that has seen him campaign for progressive political causes from Ireland to London and back to Virginia USA. Ray is hugely excited to work at the Breakthrough Institute, and hopes it will enable him to apply some of his insights to the most pressing problems in National Security policy in the USA. Ray is not happy to be leaving New Jersey for the summer, but has consoled himself with the old proverb that absence makes the heart grow fonder.
 Alexandra Tweedie, a San Francisco native, is currently pursuing a master's degree in Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, with an emphasis on environmental policy. Prior to completing her B.A. in Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, she spent a year studying abroad at Lund University in Sweden. There she was inspired by both the innovative technical solutions being adopted and the popular support for sustainability initiatives. Following that experience Alexandra decided to dedicate her career to promoting environmental sustainability in the United States. Her current interests and research revolve around renewable energy policies, particularly renewable portfolio standards, and she looks forward to working on clean energy solutions as Breakthrough Generation Fellow. Whenever she can, Alexandra escapes the city to hike and rock climb.
 Madeline Tyson works for American Renewable Energy and Power in Chicago on distributed energy infrastructure development. Her work focuses on designing models which demystify energy options for companies, religious organizations, neighborhoods, builders, individuals, and provide innovative approaches to promote sustainable distributed energy organizations. She graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in Environmental Engineering in 2009 with a focus in applied ecology and microbiology. During her university tenure she co-produced and founded a radio program entitled "Verdescope"on the subject of sustainability for local radio, worked on the Rwanda project for Engineers Without Borders on identifying the feasibility of different fuel options, worked for the United States Geological Survey, renewable energy financing, and the CU environmental center. She has also worked performing life cycle analysis, for different sectors of the automotive industry. Outside of work she is an amateur cartoonist, cellist, and avid bike rider
 Rachel Young, originally from Minneapolis, is a third year undergraduate at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. She is an Environmental Studies major with a concentration in Chemistry. She began in the climate movement as a freshman in college with an internship with Focus the Nation. From there she took off running with any training and campaign she could get a hold of including running the environmental club on her campus her sophomore year running national campaigns and reducing energy consumption on her campus. She was campus coordinator for Lewis & Clark for the Cascade Climate Network. From there she directed student run summer programs with the Sierra Student Coalition (SPROG), planned and executed strategic direct action in Washington DC with Avaaz.org, and organized 16 youth delegates to represent the Pacific Northwest at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen this past December. She is now the Outreach Director for Show Me Democracy, a national campaign to engage young people and community members with the Senators to pass a climate bill, and is heading up the International Policy group of the Cascade Climate Network.
2009 Breakthrough Generation Fellows
2009 Associate Directors
Teryn Norris
Jesse Jenkins
 Yael Borofsky graduated from Cornell University in spring 2009 with a degree in Human Development. During her time there, she worked as a sports writer and columnist for the Cornell Daily Sun and enjoyed opining about various sports controversies. She decided to pursue a career in the environmental field after spending a semester in Washington D.C. where she interned at Wildlife Alliance, a non-profit committed to ending the illegal wildlife trade. She also conducted research on the effectiveness of political documentary and its impact on the agenda setting of political elites. Her fascination with environmental communication and passion for writing led her to the Breakthrough Institute. Last semester, her course on expressions of nature in popular culture inspired her to blog about what it really means to "be green." When she is not convincing her housemates to recycle, she loves playing hockey, running, hiking, watching the Phillies win the World Series, and creating misshapen pottery on the wheel.
 James Burgess graduated from Princeton University in 2009 with a B.A. in Mathematics and a certificate in Environmental Science. James is particularly interested in clean energy, sustainable development, and market-based approaches to both. As an Energy Grand Challenges fellow, he spent time studying the technical and economic feasibility of a large-scale algae biomethane program. James also has done research investigating the role of forests in the global carbon economy. After his summer at Breakthrough, James went on to do research with the Azueros Earth Project, studying sustainable reforestation in Panama before moving to Boston to work as an Associate Consultant with Bain & Company.
Leigh Ewbank graduated from Australia's RMIT University in 2008 with a B.A in Social Science -- Environment. Last year, Leigh completed an Honours dissertation investigating his longstanding interest in the framing of 'environment'. Conducting a case study analysis of a leading Australian environmental group, he modeled the ways in which the environment is framed and discussed the effects of those framings on policy prescriptions and political action. Leigh seeks to publish the findings of his dissertation later in 2009. As the first Australian Breakthrough Generation fellow, Leigh will provide an international perspective on investment-centered and innovation-based policy responses to our changing climate. He will also highlight valuable lessons from the Australian Government's approach to climate change policy. Specializing in framing analysis, Leigh seeks to gain further experience with political strategy and communications through the fellowship program. He's excited to work with the Breakthrough Institute team and learn from the next generation of progressive leaders.
William Oman is a graduate student in the Master of Public Administration program at the London School of Economics. He has dual American and French citizenship, was born and raised in Paris, and has also lived in San Francisco and Montreal. He graduated with a BA in Economics from McGill University in 2009. There, he worked as an economics research assistant on the link between intellectual property right systems and innovation. In summer 2009, he worked as a fellow at the Breakthrough Institute. William currently focuses on European public and economic policy. He will pursue his interest in macroeconomics, political economy and financial systems next year at LSE as part of his MPA curriculum. As an inveterate traveler (he speaks French, English, Spanish and Portuguese), he has a passion for Latin America in general and Brazil in particular, and he hopes to travel and possibly work there in the near future.
Johanna Peace graduated from Wellesley College in spring 2009, where she studies sociology with a particular interest in mass media theory. While at Wellesley, Johanna served as a reporter and editor at The Wellesley News for over three years and served as Editor-in-Chief. She has also worked as an intern at The Cape Cod Times and reported on a UN conference for Non-Governmental Organizations as a student journalist. Her writing has appeared in numerous print and online publications, including CNN.com. Growing up on Cape Cod, Mass., Johanna developed an interest in clean energy technology from an early age--her environmentalist father has been a longtime advocate of the Cape Wind renewable energy project. Johanna hopes to dedicate her journalistic skills to advancing progressive environmental policy. She also looks forward to exploring sunny California after many years braving the wintry East!
Daniel Spitzberg is a graduate student in sociology of science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on prizes and the transition in philanthropy and science funding towards commodification. At the Breakthrough Institute, his work focuses on 'Smart Deployment', accelerating the process of making clean energy cheap by using lessons from past cases of technological progress to guide policy. Danny also works as a freelance photojournalist and reporter on science breakthroughs, emphasizing the often-obscured value to society. He has done environmental and business work in India, with the United Nations, and at NYU's Environmental Health Clinic. On land, Danny bikes and runs. On water, he rows on the Charles River.
Devon Swezey, a native of Boulder, Colorado, is a recent graduate of Stanford University and holds a bachelor's degree in International Relations with a concentration in International Political Economy. Devon's major academic interests are in energy and environment issues, particularly as they relate to international economic development and poverty alleviation. As a member of the Roosevelt Institution Center on Environment and Energy at Stanford, Devon authored a policy paper that argued for greater federal investment in solar energy technologies. The paper, "An Apollo Project for Solar Energy", was subsequently published in the inaugural issue of The Roosevelt Review, a national student research journal. While at Stanford, Devon worked on a political psychology project examining American's perceptions of global warming, and interned for the Millennium Challenge Corporation in Washington, D.C. After graduating from Stanford, Devon was as a field organizer for Barack Obama's campaign in Colorado. Devon is currently Project Director at the Breakthrough Institute, where he works as a climate and energy policy analyst and co-directs the Breakthrough Generation fellowship program.
Juliana Williams is a youth organizer, writer and activist. As the Great Plains Organizer for the Sierra Student Coalition, she works with youth across the Midwest building solutions for a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable society. Over the last five years, Juliana has won clean energy campaigns at Whitman College, organized the Northwest Climate Justice Summit, co-founded the Cascade Climate Network, helped establish the Midwest Climate Network, and supported the development and creation of statewide youth climate networks in Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri. Juliana is a frequent contributor to It's Getting Hot In Here, where she focuses her attention on movement strategy and communication that resonates with public values. She graduated from Whitman College in 2007 with a degree in geology and her organizing work has been recognized with the Thomas Cronin Award from Whitman College; Dr. Joseph Barbosa Award from the Sierra Club; the Adam Werbach Award from the Sierra Student Coalition; and as Finalist for the Brower Youth Award. Juliana will be pursuing a Master's of Public Policy at the University of Maryland in Fall 2009. In addition to organizing, she is an avid ultimate player, string bassist and obsessively nurtures her plants.
2008 Breakthrough Generation Fellows
2008 Associate Directors
Teryn Norris
Jesse Jenkins
Zach Arnold a native of Swarthmore, PA, is a senior at Harvard College studying social theory and environmental policy. At Harvard, he helps run the Resource Efficiency Program, working with students and administrators to green the campus. Zach is also a former co-chair of the Harvard College Environmental Action Committee, where he helped lead a campus-wide campaign for emissions reductions and expanded climate research at Harvard. He is particularly interested in environmental law, landscape preservation, and the ecological dimensions of agriculture. Before coming to Harvard, he spent time working for the National Park Service and as a farmhand in Pennsylvania and Italy.
Helen Aki is a senior at the University of California, Berkeley, where she is pursuing a self-designed major in Ecological Economics and a minor in the Energy and Resources Group. At Berkeley, she is involved with the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative (BERC), an interdisciplinary student organization that utilizes resources from the Bay Area clean tech world and the Lawrence Berkeley Labs to foster innovative energy solutions. Most recently, she worked as a policy consultant on a BERC Innovative Solutions team, contributing research to a white paper on regulatory reform in California's environmental permitting processes. Currently, she also facilitates a service-learning energy efficiency course with Building Sustainability at Cal (BS@C). Helen grew up in New Hampshire and completed her first two years of college in Massachusetts, at Bard College at Simon's Rock. After receiving her A.A., she moved out to California to work as a summer fellow at the Breakthrough Institute, where she helped advocate a climate policy agenda of government investment in clean energy R&D. Helen hopes to someday work for the Rocky Mountain Institute.
Rachel Barge is a social entrepreneur who is passionate about young people using enterprise-based solutions to solve pressing environmental problems. As an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley, Rachel helped establish a $2M Green Fund that tripled the amount of capital available for campus sustainability. After graduating with a B.S. in Conservation and Resource Studies and a minor in Forestry, Rachel founded Campus InPower, national consultancy that spreads innovative financial mechanisms for campus sustainability. With the support of Breakthrough Generation, she was responsible for raising $16M in the first year of the initiative, personally training over 2,000 students from over 250 universities. After developing a strong interest in private-sector models of environmental impact, Rachel then became the Director of the Business Council on Climate Change (BC3), a network of over 100 of the San Francisco Bay Area's leading companies committed to sharing best practices on climate solutions.
Rachel now serves as Executive Director of CleantechU, a new initiative that catalyzes cleantech entrepreneurship on college campuses through the unique avenue of human capital development. Rachel is winner of the prestigious David Brower Youth Award, the nation's top prize for young environmental leaders, as well as the Morris K. Udall Fellowship and of course, the Breakthrough Generation Fellowship. She is 25 and resides in San Francisco, CA.
Genevieve Bennett was part of the Breakthrough Fellows program in summer of 2008. Currently, she's pursuing her interest in innovative and pragmatic approaches to environmentalism on the Water Markets team at Ecosystem Marketplace, undertaking research and analysis on emerging trends in environmental markets supporting watershed restoration and conservation. Prior to joining Ecosystem Marketplace, she managed a demand assessment project for the Willamette Partnership in Oregon, modeling how risk and uncertainty affect demand for ecosystem service credits in the Willamette marketplace. Genevieve has also held positions at the United Nations and for the NYU School of Public Service. She holds an MS in Environmental Policy from the London School of Economics and a BA from New York University concentrating in international political economy.
Joanna Calabrese, is a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park and a 2009 Udall Scholar. At Maryland, Joanna co-founded a student clean energy advocacy group that has led successful efforts to implement a clean energy student fee, elect local green leaders to political office, and influence the passage of state-wide energy policy. Furthermore, as a leader in Student Government, she led a campaign that stopped the destruction of ten aces of campus woodlands, co-authored a climate action plan for the university, and helped host the first Powershift Conference at College Park in 2007. She has conducted research on social psychology and sustainable behavior change and has interned for the House of Representatives' Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. In 2008, Joanna served as a summer fellow at the Breakthrough Institute where she worked with fellow Udall Scholar Rachel Barge to create and launch Campus InPower, a national training program that helps student organizers create funding mechanisms to pay for large-scale sustainability projects on their campuses. After graduation, Joanna hopes to work in the Washington DC area for a few years before applying to graduate school for public policy.
Alisha Fowler was a part of Breakthrough's inaugural summer fellowship in 2008. After the fellowship, she began working with the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) as an Educator and Social Media Maven. With ACE, Alisha delivers presentations about climate science and solutions to high school students and works to engage thousands of students online as she drives ACE's social networking and online video efforts. Before joining ACE, Alisha worked in Communications with National Wildlife Federation in Washington, DC, where she performed media work around a massive global warming campaign. Alisha also worked with the State PIRGs as a Campus Organizer in Massachusetts. A native of greater Philadelphia, PA, Alisha graduated with a B.A. in geoscience and environmental studies from Hamilton College in 2006. When not blogging at work, Alisha writes at Watthead and ItsGettingHotInHere.
Lindsey Franklin, is currently launching ecoVC, a new nonprofit that promotes sustainable business practices within the venture capital and startup communities. She comes to ecoVC from an environmental background, and spent several years in environmental advocacy and organizing. Most recently, she focused on the 2008 Presidential Election, during which she coordinated three different environmental campaigns and ultimately worked wtih President Barack Obama's Campaign for Change in Michigan. Previously, Lindsey received a fellowship from the Breakthrough Institute, an energy policy think tank based in Oakland. She received her BA from Middlebury College in Environmental Studies and Philosophy.
Chris Knight graduated from UC Davis in 2007 with a B.A. with highest honors in economics and a minor in sociology. After his 2008 summer fellowship with the Breakthrough Institute, Chris moved to Washington, D.C. where he interned with the New America Foundation and took a research assistant position with the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. With ACEEE economist Skip Laitner, Chris has co-authored multiple papers on the application of information technologies in energy efficiency policy. He has also written a paper on U.S. solar photovoltaic policy that will be published in 2010 as a chapter in a Paradigm Publishers book edited by UC Davis Sociologist Fred Block. Chris currently divides his time between consulting for ACEEE and working in social and personality psychology labs at UC Davis.
Ashley Lin a Minnesotan transplant to Berkeley, CA, is in her final year at the University of California, Berkeley. She will obtain her bachelor's degree in rhetoric in Spring 2010. Upon graduation, Ashley plans to take a year off to teach English in Korea, after which she hopes to continue on to law school. Ashley's interest lies in environmental law, evidenced by her experience studying and writing about issues related to the environment and energy. Ashley has interned for the Institute for Food Policy and Development and for Breakthrough Institute. She has published a paper on bio-fuels in the student-run science journal, the Triple Helix and was a contributing writer to the "Case Studies in American Innovation," published on the Breakthrough Institute's website. Ashley is fluent in mandarin Chinese and is proficient in French. She enjoys learning new languages and believes that being multilingual will be important for her future career, as environmental policies are increasingly made on an international scale.
Lindsay Meisel earned her degree in Rhetoric from UC Berkeley. From there, she put her academic skills to good use by spending a season as a farmhand in Bolinas, California. After mastering the arts of tractor driving and compost tea brewing, Lindsay left her bucolic paradise for the Breakthrough Institute, where she learned to avoid the fall narratives of traditional environmentalism. She is now a copywriter at Underground Advertising, where she applies the Breakthrough perspective to non-profit communications.
Adam Rodriques is a senior political science major at Yale University. At Yale, Adam's studies focus on terrorism and insurgency, with particular focuses on those two phenomena in Iran and Afghanistan. Adam has worked with many different organizations both within and outside of Yale. As a member of the Center on Security and Foreign Policy of Yale's chapter of the Roosevelt Institution, he worked on a paper examining the feasibility of an international fund to promote person-to-person peace efforts in the Middle East. At the Breakthrough Institute, Adam worked on a project to develop a psychologically-resonant national security strategy for progressives; at the International Center for Terrorism Studies, he monitored the fallout of the 2009 Iranian election and its impact on Iran's support of terrorists. After he graduates from Yale, Adam hopes to work in Afghanistan for a time before embarking on a career making policy towards Iran and Afghanistan.
Molly Tsongas recently joined Citizen Group, a San Francisco-based advertising agency that builds brands for organizations and companies that lead with their values. She oversees program management and develops social media activation strategies for Citizen's clients, including the World Wildlife Fund, United Nations, Rock the Vote, United Way, and the SF School Alliance. In her prior work, Molly has over 10 years of on-the-ground and online campaign experience, collaborating with the Citizen Engagement Laboratory, managing a field office for the Obama for President campaign, and recruiting local governments to purchase and market clean energy as the PA State Director for SmartPower. She studied climate politics and messaging as part of the Breakthrough Generation Fellowship and was trained by Al Gore to give Inconvenient Truth presentations. She later partnered with Free Range Studios to develop the Alliance for Climate Education's high school assembly presentation that engages youth nationwide around climate solutions through animation, live action and storytelling. Molly graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Environmental Studies.
Natasha Yurk has been active on the speech and debate circuit for the past ten years: first as a high school national champion, and now as a regular coach and judge. As a sophomore in college, she spent a year debating solutions to the energy crisis, and soon became fascinated with the breadth of options for innovation in the field. In the spring of 2009, Natasha graduated Summa cum Laude from Northwestern University with concentrations in Social Policy and Legal Studies. She is currently a Paralegal in the Treasury Department, where she aides in litigating labor arbitrations and cases before the MSPB and EEOC
Adam Zemel is finishing up his first year at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA. He grew up in the D.C. area, where political and governmental awareness and discussion are a fact of life. A philosophy major, he is deeply interested in philosophy of language and theories of knowledge. Adam borrowed Break Through from a friend last November, and has been exploring the ecological and social ideas proposed in the book for the past few months. He is drawn to the Breakthrough Institute for the broad and big ideas about progressive politics, the recognition of a need to create a new social contract in America, and the acknowledgment of material security as a precondition for ecological concern and awareness. The understanding that humans organize their world and understand their individual places within it through narratives and stories, and the recognition that this is more profound a fact than liberals have appreciated up until now, is the reason he identifies with the Breakthrough Institute's mission.
2007 Breakthrough Generation Fellows
Teryn Norris (Founder, Breakthrough Generation): Teryn founded Breakthrough Generation in 2007 and co-directed its fellowship program in 2008 and 2009. He began working at Breakthrough Institute as a Research Fellow in 2007 and then served as Project Director until August 2009. Teryn is one of the nation's leading young policy strategists and currently serves as President and Founder of Americans for Energy Leadership. His full bio and contact is available here.
Aden Van Noppen (Founding Advisor, Breakthrough Generation): Aden is a Portfolio Associate at Acumen Fund, a non-profit global venture fund that invests in innovative market-based approaches to global poverty. Prior to Acumen Fund, Aden worked at Dalberg Global Development Advisors on the creation of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), a coalition to support oenterprise development in emerging markets. Aden was a Research Fellow at the Breakthrough Institute in 2006 and 2007, where she co-authored "Fast, Clean, Cheap: Cutting Global Warming's Gordian Knot," published in the Harvard Law and Policy Review and was a founding advisor of Breakthrough Generation. Aden graduated in 2009 with an Honors BA in International Development from Brown University. She founded and led emPOWER, Brown's campaign to support clean energy, served on the University committee to develop energy and emissions policies, and was appointed to the Providence City Council's Sustainability Task Force. Aden was named a Watson Associate by the Watson Institute for International Affairs in 2009 and is a 2007 Udall Scholar
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Linus Blomqvist
Policy Associate
The Breakthrough Institute
436 14th Street, Suite 820
Oakland, CA 94612
510.550.8800 x357
Email for more information:
linus(at)thebreakthrough(dot)org
Alex Trembath
Policy Associate
The Breakthrough Institute
436 14th Street, Suite 820
Oakland, CA 94612
510.550.8800 x353
Email for more information:
alex(at)thebreakthrough(dot)org
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