Charting My Policy Path: Connecting the Past to Drive a Sustainable Environmental Future

October 8, 2024 | ,  

A graphic featuring the headshot of Holly standing in front of the California State Capitol, smiling, with the title of the blog in gold and white font on a blue background, along with CCST's logo and a 15 year anniversary Fellows seal on a white background.
Holly Rudel, PhD, is a 2024 CCST Science & Technology Policy Fellow placed with the California State Senate Environmental Quality Committee. Holly earned a PhD in Environmental Engineering from Yale University and a BA in Chemical Physics from Bowdoin College.

There is one piece of career advice that has stuck with me over the years: you can only connect the dots looking backwards. As a perennial planner, I was initially resistant to this advice. How could I know what direction to head if I didn’t know where I was going? But looking backwards on my choices, I realize that I have found my way by staying curious, following my interests, and, most importantly, listening to and trusting my gut. After all, navigating my career choices has felt a lot like the story of Goldilocks—trying on different ideas until I find something that feels just right.

My First Pivot: Discovering my Passion to Find Solutions

It started in undergrad, at Bowdoin College in Maine (Go UBears!), where I was encouraged to take classes across subjects and disciplines. I learned how to ask questions, engage in dialogue, and challenge my preconceived notions. I also learned that I was deeply curious in trying to understand how and why things work. My coursework and research in a physical chemistry lab ignited my curiosity in wanting to understand the fundamentals, but I realized during my senior year that I was also interested in learning about the applications of such knowledge, particularly to tackle environmental challenges.

I trusted my instincts and left my lab work to pursue an internship with an environmental health nonprofit, where I got to work with community members advocating for increased safe drinking water education, outreach, and testing. Many of these folks realized that the well water they had been consuming for years had elevated levels of arsenic, but didn’t have the resources to install expensive household water treatment systems. It was heartbreaking and inspiring to work with people who were using their experiences and their voices to advocate for something that, in my view, is a fundamental human right.

It struck me that this issue of safe drinking water was an opportunity for me to leverage my training as a chemist to make an impact; maybe I could use my knowledge to design better, less expensive water treatment technologies and work towards ensuring equitable access to safe water. This was my first pivot towards something that felt right, from my chemistry undergraduate major to pursuing my PhD in environmental engineering.

 

It was heartbreaking and inspiring to work with people who were using their experiences and their voices to advocate for something that, in my view, is a fundamental human right.

 

My PhD was my opportunity to dive right into exactly the type of work that I had dreamed of doing—engineering low-cost materials to be better at removing contaminants like arsenic. It also was a way for me to keep feeding my curiosity. In grad school, I was a part of the Yale Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering, where I was challenged to consider the interactions between scientific, social, and economic systems and question our societal reliance on hazardous and unsustainable chemicals. I got to lead a collaborative paper highlighting the synergies between green chemistry and environmental justice, which reaffirmed the commitment I had made when starting grad school: to make a positive difference in solving environmental challenges.

Holly posing with her family and diploma for a selfie in front of a Yale University building.
Holly and family at her Yale graduation, earning her PhD in Environmental Engineering.

My Second Pivot: Green Chemistry for Sustainable Change

My next pivot came from an unexpected opportunity to participate in an internship with the Environmental Technologies team at Apple. Besides never having worked at a large company before, I had never lived in California, and being 3,000 miles away from home was a daunting prospect! I learned a lot about corporate sustainability and the implementation of green chemistry in consumer products, but I learned even more about trusting myself. I was able to take on a new challenge and grow in new ways. I never stopped asking questions, I took initiative to be involved on projects, and I learned how to communicate my green chemistry knowledge in ways that were understandable and useful to a variety of people. I was beginning to see how my unique experiences afforded me an important perspective and the ability to make positive contributions.

Holly and Fellows post for a group photo with Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot.
Holly and the 2024 Fellows post for a photo with California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot, following a leadership training seminar.

My time as an advocate, my time in grad school, my time as an intern, all of it included some level of policy involvement or awareness. As I kept trying on different hats in my quest to figure out the different levers to pull to impact positive, sustainable change, I realized that the policy arena was the last hat I had yet to try on. I had always been interested in policy, but I just didn’t know how to couple it with my scientific interests too. The CCST Science & Technology Policy Fellowship presented itself as a great learning ground for me to understand how policy is made and implemented. And what better place to try and make an impact on environmental policy than in California?

 

Being placed in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee was everything and more than I expected. I was thrown right into analyzing bills ranging across topics from green chemistry, to safe drinking water, to organic waste, to plastics reduction.

 

After going through the policy bootcamp, my head swimming with new information, I was eager to get started. Going through the interview process, I knew that I wanted to be placed in an office where my knowledge and skills would uniquely set me up to contribute to the team and, hopefully, to California’s environmental policies. Being placed in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee was everything and more than I expected. I was thrown right into analyzing bills ranging across topics from green chemistry, to safe drinking water, to organic waste, to plastics reduction. The team was incredibly trusting and supportive of me taking on new challenges, and I grew in my self-confidence in ways I had never expected or anticipated. I loved the dynamism of the Legislature, the unexpected challenges and victories, and the opportunity to be involved in conversations with a whole host of people setting the direction for California’s leading environmental policies.

Holly and Senate Environmental Quality Committee colleagues post inside on the steps of the California State Capitol for a photo.
Holly with Senate Environmental Quality Committee staff following her Senate recognition, including alumni Eric Walters (2019) and Brynn Cook (2020).

Looking Backwards While Going Forward

I was recently made aware of a Māori proverb, “Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua,” which translates to “I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past.” Now as I look towards the next stage in my career, I will be taking all my past learnings with me. I’m still the person I was in college searching for ways to make a positive impact in the fight for a safer environment, I have just collected tools along the way to figure out how to best make that happen. My constellation of experiences only connects when I look backwards because each of my pivot points were steered by my personal motivation to effect this positive change. I didn’t stay fixed on a rigid “plan” for my future, but let my intuition and my interests guide me. I’m incredibly grateful for all of the opportunities that I have been brave enough to take advantage of, and excited for the places I may go as I continue to chart my path and find my way.

Holly stands amongst giant trees, looking up.
Holly charts a new path.

 


About the CCST Science & Technology Policy Fellowship
The CCST Science & Technology Policy Fellows program places PhD-level scientists, engineers, and social scientists in the California State Legislature, State Agencies, and Offices of the Governor for a year of public policy, leadership training, and public service—training scientific thinkers to be policy-savvy, while helping equip California’s decision makers with science-savvy staff. Discover how CCST S&T Policy Fellows make a difference in California’s policy arena and learn how to apply at CCST.us/CCST-Science-Fellows-Program. Applications open December 1.

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