Western society seldom touches the northeastern slope of the Andes Mountains. There are few cars. People commute to terraced fields by foot or horseback. Any many communities still lack electricity and running water. Yet climate change has changed every aspect of their lives. The last few decades have upended centuries-old farming traditions, threatened water sources and compromised the future of this tiny farming village.

I lived in the isolated village of La Jalca in northeastern Peru with my wife for more than two years as a Peace Corps volunteer. It’s a tiny part of the story of climate change. But it left a mark on me. Climate change is profound, it’s happening, and it’s global.

The world needs to revolutionize trillions of dollars worth of energy and transportation infrastructure in the next two decades. This is both the greatest challenge and the greatest opportunity of our time.

I enrolled in the business school at Cornell to learn the skills I will need to make an impact in this industry. My time at Cornell has only solidified my passion for this industry.

Hitachi Consulting is the the consulting arm of Global Fortune 100 technology and manufacturing giant Hitachi, Ltd. The company offers energy saving solutions to clients across a number of industries. Hitachi Consulting Energy Solutisons (HCES) offers technology, software, and building management upgrades that eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars worth of wasted energy.

HCES in 2015 contracted with the Environmental Defense Fund's Climate Corps to help build out its solutions. I received  training and support from the EDF while working within HCES's strategy team to grow the HCES business

Working with team from Cornell's Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise, I helped identify the market opportunity for microgrid expansion in Latin America.

About 30 million people in Latin America lack access to reliable electricity. Advances in power generation and distribution mean that the technology now exists to deliver electricity to even the most remote corners of the globe. Yingli - the world's largest solar manufacturer - is at the forefront of this innovation. It was a pleasure to be a part of an advancement that can lift millions of people out of darkness.

I was a 2014 ARPA-e scholarship recipient, which allowed me to participate in the  ARPA-e Energy Innovation Summit in Washington, DC. ARPA-e is a federal research initiative modeled after DARPA, the organization that decades ago pioneered the  Internet. ARPA-e funds research at universities and national laboratories aimed at transforming the way the United States produces and uses energy. The program has delivered advances in storage, wind, solar, and fuel cell technology.