The OSU Sustainability Office would like to congratulate two interns, Ava Wright and Jeff Huang, who have just graduated from Oregon State University! Ava and Jeff are hard working individuals who have made significant contributions to the Sustainability Office over the past few years!
Ava Wright is from Vancouver, Washington and started at OSU in 2020. She is graduating from the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences with a degree in Environmental Sciences, a major in Sustainability, and a minor in Natural Resources.
Ava joined the Eco-Reps program in 2021, a partnership between the Sustainability Office, Campus Recycling, UHDS, and CEL. As an Eco-Rep, Ava worked to improve sustainability in Sackett Hall by conducting outreach to residents about recycling, composting, and saving energy. Ava managed a composting program in the hall that diverted more than 350 pounds of food waste from the landfill!
In 2022, Ava was hired as the Outreach Coordinator for the Sustainability Office. She wrote the bi-weekly “Sustainability at OSU” newsletter, posted on social media, represented the Sustainability Office at events, and made website updates. A year later, she transitioned to the Policy Coordinator role to develop Sustainability Council, a new program that unites students to advance sustainability at OSU. During her time at the Sustainability Office, some of her proudest accomplishments include successfully mentoring incoming interns and facilitating relationship building in Sustainability Council. A few of her favorite memories are a day trip to Newport and attending the Washington Oregon Higher Education Sustainability Conference twice in-person and once virtually!
Outside of the Office, Ava enjoyed running, participating in intramural bowling, assisting a professor with soil science research and interning at the Corvallis Environmental Center. Ava is now looking forward to starting an Environmental Scientist position with the California Department of Transportation. She will be moving to the East Bay later this summer. Ava loved working at the Sustainability Office and will miss everyone so much!
Thank you, Ava, for the passion you brought into the office and all of your hard work!
Jeff Huang is from Portland, Oregon and became an OSU student in Fall 2020! Before attending OSU, he spent a year at Purdue as an Electrical and Computer Engineering major. He transferred to OSU during the pandemic because he preferred OSU’s remote learning styles.
Jeff graduated from the College of Engineering with a degree in Computer Science (a focus in Web and Mobile Application Development). Since graduating, Jeff plans to move back to Portland and possibly pursue a job in mobile payment development!
During his time at OSU, Jeff played in the Corvallis-OSU Symphony Orchestra in the Fall of 2023. Although he couldn’t continue with the orchestra beyond that season, he still takes private violin lessons working on pieces such as Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major and Bach’s Partita for Violin No. 3. In his free time, Jeff enjoys biking around Corvallis, reading both English and Chinese novels, gaming, and working on coding projects.
Jeff has been the Software Engineer Intern at the Sustainability Office since December 2023. His primary focus has been the Energy Dashboard, where he fixed database errors and introduced new features such as time comparison tools. He automated data synchronization between Pacific Power and the Energy Dashboard, enabling the public to access more meter data. Additionally, Jeff conducted monthly meter reads, which required visiting basements to photograph energy meters that couldn’t automatically upload to the dashboard.
Beyond his main responsibilities, Jeff assisted other interns with various tasks including setting up events and IT support for “Kilowatt Crackdown,” an annual competition run by eco-reps to encourage residence halls to save the most energy over two weeks. Jeff also spent lots of time creating a wiki website for software documentation. This expedited his daily development process and facilitated the onboarding of new interns!
Thank you, Jeff, for all of your hard work and dedication! The Sustainability Office is very grateful for the contributions you have made to our projects and team!
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