For Alice Lesch, a 2023 graduate of the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering's Sustainable Systems Management (SSM) program, the foundation for her career was laid during childhood camping trips: "I was always taught to leave a place better than how you found it."
Lesch, who focused on the Corporate Track within the SSM major, is now a program coordinator at Frontier Energy, a private consulting firm specializing in energy and sustainability.
Lesch initially came to the University of Minnesota undecided on a major but found her direction after taking a course for the sustainability minor. The combination of resource preservation and improving the global quality of life resonated with her.
She credits a conversation with Professor Tim Smith, a core faculty member in the department, for helping her see how she could turn her passion into a profession. "I was hooked on SSM!" she said.
Lesch believes the interdisciplinary nature of the SSM curriculum was critical in preparing her for consulting. Her coursework provided a necessary blend of skills including a STEM background for heat transfer and energy calculations; economics for cost efficacy and calculating project payback; and management courses for communicating program process and reporting.
At Frontier Energy, Lesch is deeply involved in supporting the Minnesota Energy Conservation & Optimization (ECO) Program, a state statute requiring utilities to provide energy efficiency programs.
Her role centers on working with electric and gas utilities, including private, cooperative, and municipal, to help their industrial, commercial, multifamily, and residential customers find energy savings.
"About 80% of my time is spent on backend energy savings calculations," Lesch said, detailing work on projects like heat pump rooftop units, LED lighting, and industrial process efficiency.
She also serves as a program manager for four municipal electric utilities, overseeing the implementation of their energy efficiency initiatives. This includes things like customer outreach and site visits, managing program budgets and internal labor , generating energy savings calculations, and reporting year-end compliance numbers to the state.
The remaining 20% of her time involves travel across rural Minnesota to meet with customers and utility representatives, as well as attending networking events focused on renewable energy.
Lesch's favorite part of the job is the people. Consulting allows her to "interact with all of the stakeholders relevant to the energy industry."
"I get to collaborate with businesses and end-users, the utilities, contractors, policymakers, and other consultants," she said. This broad exposure helps her identify "barriers or miscommunications" and better facilitate buy-in for energy efficiency programs.
Lesch noted that a key post-graduation professional accomplishment was her work on the Grant Services Team, helping utilities secure federal and state funding for crucial infrastructure upgrades. This included projects for distribution line undergrounding, utility-scale solar, and new subtraction transformers.
"This was so valuable in learning about how utilities have to first reinforce their current infrastructure in order to add capacity via renewables," Lesch said.
Lesch's main advice for current or future students interested in the field is simple, “go to as many events as possible.”
"I got the most value out of meeting with peers and professionals interested in the same things I was–and it opened so many doors to experiences I didn't know were out there!" she advised.