Aya Ochai EVST and MENG ’25, is carving out a custom concentration: Communities and Environments of Energy

Aya, EVST & MENG ‘25, is a rising senior in Timothy Dwight College concentrating in Communities and Environments of Energy with a double major in Mechanical Engineering. She recently spent several weeks in Idaho studying the impacts of nuclear energy testing, research, and waste storage on the communities and environments of the Snake River Plain. Since 1949, southeastern Idaho has been the U.S.’ center of nuclear energy research, including the home of the first nuclear reactor that produced electricity, the first nuclear submarines, and much more. The area has also been the host of waste storage for much of the Cold War nuclear complex. She is interested in impacts of scientific communities and facilities and their interactions with local, Indigenous, and other communities in the West, ultimately to shed light onto how we can best steward these areas and benefit nearby communities. 

This research is the beginning of her senior essay for Environmental Studies, advised by Alan Burdick, and was funded by the Summer Environmental Fellowship.