Beniamin Strzelecki

The civil engineering program at NYUAD helped me develop many quantitative skills as well as project management knowledge.

“The civil engineering program at NYUAD helped me develop many quantitative skills as well as project management knowledge. Additionally, during my study away in New York, I took several courses and a directed study that focused specifically on the energy sector, allowing me to gain a deeper understanding of this subject.

Environmental sustainability and climate action have been at the core of my interests since high school. At university, I was able to refine these interests and narrow down what areas of work give me the best opportunity to make an impact in addressing the climate crisis. The energy sector is responsible for 70% of global greenhouse gases and this sector will undergo transformative changes over the next 2-3 decades, offering great career prospects, especially considering that we are based in the Middle East which is at the heart of the global energy markets.

Home Region: Krapkowice, Poland
Current: Analyst, AFRY
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Major: Civil Engineering

During my time at NYU Abu Dhabi, I was fully invested in sustainability initiatives on campus as the chair of the Student Sustainability Committee, student assistant at the Office of Sustainability, and co-chair of the Student Energy Summit 2023. These engagements exposed me to different areas of work within the sustainability landscape. I also had several engagement opportunities outside university, including my involvement with the SDG7 Youth Constituency, IRENA Youth Council, Student Energy, and the Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change to the UN Secretary-General. I had the privilege of engagement with the world of climate diplomacy and I developed a high-level understanding of global climate change and energy transition. Thanks to this exposure, I was able to better contextualize my possible contribution to addressing the climate crisis. 

At this stage of my career, it is critical for me to get in-depth expertise in my area of interest, and in my current job, I get to learn about the energy sector from the inside out, including power system modeling, project finance, and regulatory regimes.”