Meet the Interns
This summer, ODOE staff had the pleasure of working with a handful of bright up-and-coming professionals through our internship program. We’re extremely grateful for their many contributions and the chance to be a part of their educational journey into the professional world. Get to know a few them and what they’ve been up to at ODOE!
Ellen Mickle
Ellen Mickle, a student of Portland State University’s Master of Urban and Regional Planning program, has been working on an Electric School Bus Guidebook that will help school districts electrify their fleets. Ellen was excited at the opportunity to work on a unique project related to transportation electrification, while gaining experience working in state government and learning more about work in the policy and research world. Ellen says she’ll walk away from the mentorship program with “insight into one thread of the massive transition before us: learning firsthand, through interviews, the challenges and opportunities being faced by school districts, and the state agencies, utilities and advocacy organizations working with them in these early days on electrifying the country’s largest mass transit system—school buses!” In the future she hopes to work in a field connected to climate change mitigation and/or adaptation. In her spare time, Ellen enjoys growing and foraging medicinal herbs, which she aspires to do on a farm-scale someday.
Asif Haque
Asif Haque is entering his second year graduate school and is also in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program, with a Graduate Certificate in Transportation, at Portland State University. He was drawn to ODOE’s mentorship program because of the “opportunity to serve a state agency with strong ethical values, and to work on a topic deeply connected with mitigating the emissions of the transportation sector and improving the health of the environment.” While at ODOE he has been working on updating the Electric Vehicle Dashboard and contributing additional informative data visualizations based on priorities expressed by the public, partners, and stakeholders. During his time with us he has gained public-sector experience in data analysis and visualization, and knowledge about data analysis software packages. After graduate school, he hopes to enter the urban and regional planning field as a transportation planner, specializing in public transportation planning and/or bicycle and pedestrian planning. Asif enjoys the outdoors and spends his free time going on walks, hiking, and biking.
Hanford and the Columbia River
Brenna Crossley is a Master of Public Health student at Oregon Health and Science University in the Environmental Systems and Human Health program. Brenna has been helping the Nuclear Safety and Emergency Preparedness team with a Natural Resources Damages Assessment of the Columbia River Basin in relation to the Hanford Nuclear Site. She was excited to find an internship that aligned so closely with her career aspirations. She says she has “already learned so much about the geology of the Columbia River Basin, influence of anthropogenic activities on sediments, and historical radiological monitoring activities in the Columbia River.” In the future Brenna hopes to find work in the field of environmental fate and transport of contaminants. She was born and raised in Colorado and spends her free time enjoying outdoor recreational activities.
Ian Curtis
Ian Curtis is studying political science as an undergrad student at Willamette University, where he also runs cross-country and track and field. His passion for environmental issues and interest in the inner workings of Oregon’s executive branch are what drew him to working with ODOE. Ian hopes to make meaningful connections and gain experience working for a state agency during his internship and will be spending his time with us working to improve the agency’s internship program as a whole. In the future, he hopes to work in government, either in a state agency or as an elected official, and fight for action on environmental justice issues.