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 California, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, and Hawaii during the summer.
The fellowships run from Monday, June 23, 2025 to Friday, August 29, 2025.
Office description:
Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) is one of four power marketing administrations within the U.S. Department of Energy, whose role is to market and transmit wholesale electricity from multi-use water projects. Our service area encompasses a 15-state region of the central and western U.S. where our approximately 17,000 circuit mile transmission system carries electricity from 57 hydropower plants operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the International Boundary and Water Commission.
We wholesale this clean and carbon free power to preference customers such as Federal and state agencies, cities and towns, rural electric cooperatives, public utility districts, irrigation districts and Native American tribes. They, in turn, provide retail electric service to over 40 million consumers in the West.
WAPA recently finished a new strategic plan, PowerForward 2030, that was developed with our customers and employees that lays out the roadmap for safeguarding a sustainable energy future, modernizing the grid and investing in our employees.
Potential project:
WAPA is seeking a Stanford Shultz Energy Fellow interested in assisting WAPA in developing its Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy. WAPA is currently evaluating how AI will impact its business and the potential uses of AI within the agency.
Ideal Candidate: The candidate will assist WAPA in building an AI strategy to include goals, objectives, governance, risks, use cases, and business outcomes, among others. The candidate should possess knowledge of basic AI concepts including various types of AI and their common uses. The candidate must possess a natural curiosity about learning WAPA’s mission and objectives to effectively create an AI strategy focused on business outcomes related to energy delivery and transmission services for electric utilities. The candidate should also possess attention to detail combined with a desire to apply critical thinking, research skills, and a variety of analysis techniques to assist WAPA in this endeavor.
Work environment:
WAPA anticipates staff will have a flexible work policy for summer 2025. If this is the case, the fellow will have the option to work fully in-person, partially remote, or fully remote, with in-person work highly encouraged. WAPA has offices in the following locations:
- Folsom, California
- Billings, Montana
- Lakewood, Colorado (HQ)
- Loveland, Colorado
- Phoenix, Arizona
Potential mentor:
- Dave Tucker, WAPA VP and Chief Technology Officer
2024 WAPA Fellows:
- Lisa Fung, Computer Science ’27
- Danielle Amir-Lobel, MS in Management Science & Engineering, BS in Symbolic Systems, and BA in Economics
- Learn more about their experiences:
Eligibility and Requirements:
Desired Skills:
- Experience and/or coursework in Artificial Intelligence, Engineering, Data Analytics, Business analysis are highly desired
- Ability to development business outcomes and use cases for AI use within WAPA
- Prior experience with various types of AI and their uses to drive business outcomes
- Ability to quickly learn and interest in learning the electric utility business
- Strong communication and writing skills are highly desired
- Ability to build productive relationships and work with diverse teams and perspectives
Eligibility:
- Must be a U.S. citizen
- 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 and Visiting Fellow Felicia Marcus 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 1:30 pm – 2:50 pm.
Amount
$7500 – $9,500