Clean Energy Trust

Today was some discussions on Green Energy and Sustainability careers. Career counselors from UIC and green team members from UIC and Northwestern came and spoke to us about things like CVs, resumes, interviews, and networking and even their career paths in the green/university field.

The afternoon was a mentoring session which found all project teams meeting with about 4 mentors in total who coached and questioned our projects. Karl and I (team 13 of awesomeness- we were the only ones who's entire team baled.. everyone else had 4 to 5 members) had some excellent advice from our mentors. The reaction to focusing on helium as a critical element of most concern was mixed. Some mentors thought it a relatively weak concern as it is not very economically viable (helium is only a $1 billion market, relative to the $1 trillion natural gas market from which helium is extracted. Helium is considered a contaminant in natural gas and is only removed and STORED by 22 natural gas processing facilities in the States). Some mentors thought it was amazingly important because of its critical applications for superconductors (particle accelerators, MRIs, etc.) and the fact that it LEAVES EARTH'S ORBIT once it is used.

Anyway, we got some excellent advisement and direction, so in fulfillment of some of that, Karl and I stopped by a Walgreens (the 3000th Walgreens EVER to be exact) and bought ourselves a balloon to use as a prop in our 2 minutes speech to our mentors, lecturers, and fellow SISErs at the Clean Energy Trust. Following this event, a handful of us wandered around the Loop for a bit, stumbling upon the Chicago Water Tower in the rain of the night. This building was one of the only ones to remain standing during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and served as a landmark for those searching through the rubble for remnants of their lives. (and as a shout out to WI, I just want to remind the world that Peshtigo, WI had a far worse fire the same day as the Chicago Fire, but it gained little recognition thanks to Peshtigo being the middle of nowhere.)