“Be optimistic” – A Career Conversation with Nkiruka Avila

Climate Justice Career Interviews help students connect climate justice to their field of study by showcasing professionals working on equitable climate solutions across industries.

In this video, Nkiruka Avila discusses the importance of using systems thinking and a bottom-up approach to solving climate and energy challenges. Nkiruka is an interdisciplinary research scientist and engineer working on system-scale decarbonization. Speaking with Center for Climate Justice Program Manager Remy Franklin, Niruka shares her career journey – from petroleum engineering to the Berkeley Energy & Resources Group, micro-grids, and Community Choice Aggregation – and the importance of focusing on who gets to decide what’s the right solution.

If you’re interested in a career similar to Niruka’s, here’s a word of advice from her interview:

“Don’t give up. There’s a lot of climate pessimism, but I would caution everyone to be optimistic because we have the technology and relationships, and those things are great tools for us to actually solve the problem.

I know the climate is on a rough trajectory, but I’m actually optimistic. I believe the work that we can do in the next decade or so could put us in a good spot.”