Grant Go-Getters

Two cohorts of MSES students helped the Illinois International Port District land a large portion of more than $95 million in EPA funding to create a more eco-friendly transportation hub.

A master student’s life is a balancing act of obligations and achievements, from studying for tests, to reading background materials for class discussions, and eventually graduating. So when the Environmental Protection Agency announced two Illinois grants totaling more than $95 million recently, a group of alumni from Northwestern's Master of Science in Energy and Sustainability (MSES) program were able to add one more item to their extensive list of accomplishments.

Two MSES cohorts provided foundational research for the Illinois International Port District (IIPD) — one of the subrecipients — as part of their capstone practicum experiences. The grants, announced Oct. 29, were part of the EPA’s Clean Ports Program, which funds zero-emission port equipment, infrastructure, and planning projects aimed at reducing air pollution, promoting job creation, and advancing environmental justice.

MSES is jointly offered by Northwestern Engineering and the Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy. The project practicum is a 10-week team consulting project for a corporate, non-profit, or municipal client.

“Providing this opportunity for the students to get experience but also for the port to get this really great report and baseline information was a win-win,” IIPD executive director Erik Varela said. “The hard work of the students was impressive.”

The first cohort helped the port figure out exactly how much energy it uses, information necessary as a first step toward creating a plan to transition to cleaner energy. That cohort looked not only at the port itself, but also at the port’s tenants and surrounding businesses.

“That obviously was productive because it led to two things. The first was getting the grants, which is fantastic,” Varela said. “But then it also led to the second cohort.”
That second cohort took a look at the first cohort’s recommendation and added new research to refine their projects.

Declan Sofen (MSES '24) was part of that second group of MSES students. He and his classmates specifically examined whether installing electric vehicle (EV) chargers at the nearby Harborside International Golf Center was economically justifiable as a way to help improve the port’s environmental stewardship.

Ultimately, because of the announced installation of nearby EV charging stations that would compete for user demand, the students recommended against the new hookups.

“It was exciting to learn about the economics and business models of public and private EV charging solutions,” said Sofen, who now works as a finance and capital markets associate with Invenergy, North America’s largest privately held renewable power generation company. “Accepting the fact that not every problem has an economical solution was hard at first.”

But that kind of critical analysis was exactly what Varela and the IIPD was looking for when it reached out to Northwestern and the MSES program for student assistance.

Varela said he saw the disappointment from the students in the second cohort when they recommended against the new charging station.

“But I reminded them that, hey, this is actually really good because it shows why you need to do these types of studies,” he said. “It would have been worse if the port would have just pursued this development only to find the charging stations sitting idle, which could have been viewed as a waste of public money.”

The IIPD moves more general cargo than any other Great Lakes port – more than 19 million tons annually. That makes the port one of the top 40 in the nation.

Despite that, it operates on a comparably small budget, Varela said. The EPA grants will support the deployment of sustainable cargo handling equipment as well as the development of a greenhouse gas emissions inventory that will lead to further environmental improvements.

“Our master plan identified the opportunity to develop the port in a way that can help reduce our carbon footprint and possibly improve the diesel emissions that are coming out of the port," Varela said. "We can be a leader in the clean energy space."

The MSES students helped move the IIPD forward in that effort. Varela was impressed with the professionalism from the students he worked with. He also hopes they realize the value and impact they brought to the IIPD — and themselves.

"Their efforts, while for the classroom, are being put to use in the real world, making positive change, bringing much needed funding not only to my port, but to other ports, and really helping move the needle on greening our transportation supply chain," Varela said. "Hopefully I'll have another opportunity to work with MSES students again."