Jessica Parineet, a second-year Master of Public Policy concentrating in Climate and Energy Policy, is one of five recipients of a NJ Wind Institute Graduate Fellowship, sponsored by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. Graduate fellows are nominated by a faculty advisor.
The fellowship is designed to encourage and support student research in topics that further the development of offshore wind and build student and faculty advisor expertise in offshore wind research and innovation in the state of New Jersey. Rutgers University serves as one of eight higher education institutions— others include Montclair State University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Rowan University, Seton Hall University, Stevens Institute of Technology, and Stockton University— that is working together with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and Opportunity Innovation to offer upperclassmen students the opportunity to conduct paid, independent research related to offshore wind for the entirety of a year.
Prior to pursuing her graduate degree, Jessica completed her undergraduate degree in Economics at Rutgers—New Brunswick. She is passionate about climate justice and addressing economic inequality through climate mitigation policy.
Bloustein School Assistant Professor Mark Paul will serve as Jessica’s faculty advisor. Dr. Paul is a member of the Rutgers Climate Institute. His research interests include understanding the causes and consequences of inequality and assessing and designing remedies to address inequality. He also writes extensively on the climate crisis, focusing on economic pathways toward deep decarbonization that center on economic and environmental justice.
“This is a wonderful accomplishment, and I look forward to working with Jessica over the next year. She is a hard-working master’s student here at Bloustein focusing on environmental justice and the relationship between climate change risks and overburdened communities here in New Jersey,” he said. “Her fellowship, which was awarded as part of a highly competitive applicant pool, will provide her time to research the potential equity-related impacts of offshore wind energy and the opportunities to increase the number of beneficiaries of the clean energy transition through innovative policy design. I know Jessica will do important policy work during this fellowship that helps us understand how to have the most equitable transition possible.”
Jessica’s fellowship research will focus on the current policy mechanisms being used to ensure net socioeconomic benefits to the state of New Jersey. She will assess potential opportunities to not only secure these benefits through additional policies but also to build on the progress of offshore wind implementation with complementary legislation. Her work will also analyze well-established offshore wind industries in the EU and UK to generate recommendations for decision-makers.