Oskar Kohlbrenner

What is your internship this summer, and what are your basic duties?

I am a summer intern at an environmental nongovernmental organization Green Empowerment, where I assist Innovation Director Joaquin Viguez. My tasks and duties range from scholarly, third-party, and commercial research, assessment, ideation, and design on knowledge management systems and frameworks. I utilize a design-thinking approach to prepare a comprehensive plan for Green Empowerment, optimizing its operations through an enhanced knowledge cycle. Any knowledge management system aims to minimize duplication of work/ “reinvention of the wheel,” promote organizational learning, and enhance informed decision making. With this internship, I assess third-party solutions for knowledge management, both for internal and external purposes; for example, interorganizational organization of resources (technical, theoretical, practical, etc.) and a publicly accessible platform with technical resources on WaSH and innovative energy systems.

What’s the best part of your internship?

The subject matter and the organizational culture. Knowledge management is a truly fascinating and inspiring subject of various applications, ranging from individual and collective to organizational practices.

Green Empowerment promotes and maintains an open and inspiring working environment. Its members are gems—purely empathetic, creative, and hardworking individuals with rich experience and expertise.

How has the Sustainability Internship course supported you in the process of finding and securing your internship?

The Summer Sustainability Internship Course increased my chances of finding a professional position. This year there was a large number of positions and similar number of applicants, making the application process enjoyable. It reduced stress, worry, and anxiety, and it paired us with dedicated and passionate employers who were really interested to get to know their future employees.

How do you see this internship leading to a career in your chosen field and aiding in your overall career development?

Every professional experience enriches one’s career development on multiple facets. This particular internship not only is closely related to my field of study, but it is intertwining additional domains of design and computing, consequently broadening my horizons.

How does this internship support your interest in sustainability?

Frankly, I tend to avoid vague terminology around sustainability. I would rather associate this professional learning experience with multidimensionality of its tasks and objectives, necessitating cross-sectoral skills ranging from IT, environmental academics, to design. This reflects boundless opportunities within the environmental studies domain.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about your experience?

I would like to thank my supervisor Joaquin Viguez and the entire Green Empowerment community for entrusting me with this summer internship. It has been a pleasure working with such a passionate and insightful team working toward noble values and goals of improving standards of living through innovative water and energy systems in remote locations around the world.

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