Profile: Nicholas Dahlberg, Joint M.A.

Joint M.A., Economics, 2017

“I came to UEP for two main reasons. The first is that the program’s flexibility was valuable to me. The second is that a very explicit focus on social justice pervades the program. I fundamentally believe – even more so now, at the end of the program – that planning is about people first and foremost, and I found that the social justice emphasis constantly brought me back to what is most important about the work we will do as planners.

“I have really enjoyed being exposed to academia again over the past couple years, though I see my career returning to the public or private sectors after UEP. My area of professional interest is energy resource planning, and I am really excited by the fast-paced, paradigm-shifting work going on in governments, research nonprofits, and private companies around the country and the world. The most important thing to me is to end up somewhere where I can actually implement 21st century energy policy. I see myself turning vision into practice – and feeling personally fulfilled – in one of the many organizations doing on-the-ground work that moves us towards a cleaner, more just, and more equitable energy system.

“UEP has provided such an important atmosphere and experience for me. Energy policy is not one of the traditional “tracks” offered in planning programs, and the ability to forge my own path at UEP has been indispensable. I am really happy that I chose the joint UEP/Economics program, which is the only one of its kind in the country, as far as I can tell. The program has given me exactly what I wanted: a theoretical background in planning with hard quantitative skills to match. I feel well-positioned for the future.”