Sustainability Alumni Spotlight

Sophia Masters

1. What year did you graduate?

2020

2. What was your major/minor?

Communication with a double minor in Business and Sustainability.

3. What was your co-curricular and student organization involvement on campus?

Recycling Coordinator for the Office of Sustainability, Community Service Chair of the Nu Alpha chapter of Lambda Pi Eta Communication Honor Society, UAlbany Students for Sustainability, Hillel, and Study Abroad & Exchanges

4. What are you doing now? Where do you live?

I currently work at New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, & Historic Preservation in the Energy & Sustainability Bureau as Sustainability Coordinator II. I work on projects related to renewables, with a focus on solar, as well as recycling, energy efficiency, and water conservation in state parks across New York State.

5. How have you applied your experience with the sustainability movement on campus and involvement with the Office of Sustainability into your post-college life and career?

I owe my foundational knowledge and my career in sustainability to the Office of Sustainability. I figured out what I wanted to do a little late in my undergraduate career but getting involved with the Office of Sustainability helped me find my footing and opened countless doors in my professional life. I hope to work in the renewable energy sector as I grow and develop as a professional in sustainability. With all of that being said, I have applied my personal experience with the sustainability movement on campus as well as my involvement with the Office of Sustainability into my life by simply acknowledging that everybody has the moral obligation to be more intentional in the way we think and act with regards to how we treat our environment, each other, and comprehensively, how we make our day-to-day decisions.

The Office of Sustainability is proud of the successes of our alumni! They were essential in the early stages of the sustainability movement at UAlbany and have shaped where it is now.