Hello, I am Brittany Anstead and I am Haliwa-Saponi from North Carolina…and a recent graduate from…Master’s of Science program at the University of Michigan, majoring in Sustainable Systems.
What first attracted me to this internship program here at Sandia National Labs was the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get hands-on experience with renewable energy projects throughout Indian Country.
I first became interested in renewable energy on tribal lands from a very young age. I was always interested in energy and where my electricity was coming from, so once I was getting my bachelor’s at North Carolina State University, I explored this curiosity and did a couple of research projects on renewable energy development on tribal territories and I’ve been studying it ever since!
The biggest takeaway from this summer’s internship experience here at Sandia National Labs, will have to be the week-long road trip that we took to Navajo, Hopi, and Hualapai. And on this road trip, while we were at the Hopi reservation, it was pretty empowering to see that individual residents and citizens were taking care of their off-grid solar system.
Yes, I would definitely recommend this internship program to other people. As far as I know, it is the only internship program where you can get extensive hands-on experience with renewable energy development on Indian Country, within a 12-week period.