2015-2016 Luce Scholar

Opower SINGAPORE



For her Luce year, Jenny Cooper will work at Opower in Singapore, where she will have the opportunity to assess energy policy and regulatory environments across the Asia-Pacific region. Opower!provides cloud-based software to the utility industry and their customers. By providing the tools, information and incentives consumers need to make smarter decisions about their energy use, Opower’s services enables utilities to involve their customers in programs that support energy efficiency goals and smart grid and lower the cost of service. Opower’s technology platform analyzes more than 300 billion meter reads to deliver its services, and has created enough energy savings through behavior change to power all the homes in a city of 1 million people for a year. The World Economic Forum named Opwoer a Technology Pioneer for 2011.

Jenny Cooper is a graduate student at the University of Michigan’s Erb Institute, a partnership between the School of Natural Resources & Environment and the Stephen M. Ross School of Business. Jenny’s graduate work focuses on climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the intersecting roles of the private and public sectors, and in May 2015, she is expecting to graduate with dual degrees: an M.S. in Natural Resources and Environment, and an MBA. Jenny is interested in urban climate policy and planning, and in working collaboratively with people across disciplines to find pragmatic strategies to drive greenhouse gas emissions reductions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. For her capstone project, she worked with a five-student team to conduct Detroit’s first-ever greenhouse gas emissions inventory—an accounting of all GHG emissions resulting from activities within the City of Detroit. The resulting report was published through the University of Michigan Center for Sustainable Systems. Jenny is currently the manager of a peer coaching program for 30 students, and spent the past two summers working in environmental consulting, and urban climate and energy policy. She has been the recipient of numerous awards at University of Michigan, including the Dean’s Scholarship and the Dow Sustainability Fellowship. Prior to graduate school, Jenny worked at the Washington, DC office of the Environmental Defense Fund, a large U.S.-based environmental advocacy organization. During her three-year tenure at EDF, Jenny represented the organization at the United Nations climate negotiations, and worked closely with NGOs in the U.S. and abroad to develop policy to address greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation and maritime shipping. Jenny graduated in 2008 with a B.A. (High Distinction) in Geography and a minor in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, where she was the co-founder of the Berkeley Project, the University’s largest community service event, and an active member of Cal Habitat for Humanity. In her free time Jenny enjoys rock climbing, cooking, and traveling by bicycle.