2022 Shultz Energy Fellowships: California Energy Commission, Office of Vice Chair Siva Gunda
Regional-, state-, and city-level efforts are essential in our fight against climate change, especially in the field of energy. Stanford University is committed to helping by integrating its students into energy and climate ecosystems in the West through the Shultz Energy Fellowships program, an energy-related summer fellowship program for undergraduate and graduate students.
Named in honor of former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, one of the most widely admired American public servants of the past half-century, the program offers a suite of paid, energy-related public service fellowships for Stanford students in Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawai'i, and Utah during the summer.
You will be one of two Stanford students placed at the California Energy Commission (CEC); and will be with the office of Vice Chair Siva Gunda. The fellowship runs from Monday, June 20, 2022 to Friday, August 26, 2022.
Organization/Agency mission or role in state government
The California Energy Commission is the state’s primary energy policy and planning agency. Created by the Legislature in 1974 and located in Sacramento, the California Energy Commission has seven core responsibilities:
- Forecast future energy demand (electricity and natural gas) to assist in planning California’s energy infrastructure;
- Promote energy efficiency by developing, implementing and enforcing the state’s appliance and building energy efficiency standards, encouraging energy efficiency upgrades in existing buildings and implementing the California Clean Energy Jobs Act (Proposition 39);
- Certify and issue environmental permits for thermal power plants 50 megawatts and larger;
- Invest in energy research, development, demonstration, and technology commercialization;
- Support renewable energy development by providing incentives for solar photovoltaic systems on new residential buildings and new geothermal facilities, and implementing the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in collaboration with the California Public Utilities Commission;
- Develop and deploy low-carbon alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies and infrastructure; and
- Plan for and direct state response to energy emergencies in close partnership with the California Office of Emergency Services.
Potential Projects
Vice Chair Gunda is the lead commissioner at the California Energy Commission over energy assessments, reliability, and equity. Vice Chair Gunda’s office is engaged in reliability and resource planning, whith a focus on assessing California’s energy systems and trends, long-term electricity planning, as well as planning for changes in California’s electricity and natural gas grids needed to meet California’s ambitious energy and climate goals. In 2022, Vice Chair Gunda’s office will be leading the Energy Commission’s efforts on grid reliability and the 2022 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR). These include:
- An analysis of the state’s energy system.
- Planning for a managed transition of the state’s energy system with a focus on equity.
- An analysis to ensure reliability of the electricity system in summer 2022 and beyond. This includes additional research on resource adequacy, distributed energy resources, and regionalization.
A summer fellow will have the opportunity to work with Vice Chair Gunda and his staff to create a project that contributes meaningful to one or many of these ongoing projects.
We anticipate CEC staff will have a flexible hybrid work policy for summer 2022. If this is the case, the fellow will have the option to work fully in-person, partially remote, or fully remote, with partial or full in-person work highly encouraged. Otherwise, the fellowship will be fully remote.
Potential Mentors
- Siva Gunda, Vice Chair
2021 CEC Graduate Fellow
- Xinkun Nie PhD '22, Computer Science
Graduate Fellow, Office of Commissioner Andrew McAllister - Learn more about Xinkun's experience at the CEC:
- View Xinkun's final project.
- Strong research skills
- Writing and public speaking skills are highly desired
All Shultz fellows must be enrolled in the spring quarter before their fellowship.
All Shultz fellows must take a one-unit spring workshop course, 'Energy Policy in California and the West' taught by Professor Bruce Cain that will provide an in-depth analysis of the role of California state agencies, the Western Interstate Energy Board, and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council in driving energy policy development, technology innovation, and market structures. Course number is CEE 263G / POLISCI 73 / PUBLPOL 73 / ENERGY 73. Schedule: Wednesdays from 9:45 am - 10:45 am (Shriram Ctr BioChemE 108).
Please note that this opportunity is for graduate students. Interested undergraduates can apply via SIG.
