Natasha Allen ’16 Wins a Watson Fellowship

Congratulations to senior Natasha Allen who has won a Watson Fellowship to explore issues of access to energy in a range of Third-World countries. Her proposed project is titled Switching On: The Pursuit of Universal Access to Energy, and her investigation will take her to Cambodia, Uganda, and Ethiopia, among other places.

Today, roughly two billion people lack access to electricity and clean cooking technology. Providing reliable energy access is a powerful way to spur economic and social development and eradicate poverty. During my Watson year, I will explore the web of innovation, funding practices, research, and policy making that seeks to tackle the challenge of universal energy access. I will travel to four countries that each uniquely engage with energy issues. I hope to gain a more complete picture of the global energy access landscape and to understand which areas are hindering development. Immersing myself in local communities, I will explore how people engage with energy and how it can transform their relationship with the world around them.