Deadline is Friday, October 17
Duke University students are invited to apply by Friday, October 17 for a new Spring 2026 practicum course focused on the role of utilities in addressing climate and sustainability challenges. The course—which will meet on Tuesdays at 1:25-3:55 p.m.—is open to students at all levels and in all degree programs and schools.
Jeff Hughes—a Duke University Climate Leader in Residence—will co-teach the course with Luana Lima (Nicholas School of the Environment) and Sara Oliver (Pratt School of Engineering). Topics will range from storm recovery to the energy transition to utility ownership and economic frameworks. The class will explore how utilities impact mitigation and adaptation strategies, and how they can be further leveraged to do so.
Working in interdisciplinary teams, students in the course will help clients find solutions for specific climate and sustainability challenges. While the deliverable will be unique to each client, all teams will present their work at a Climate & Sustainability Spring Research Symposium in spring 2026.
Throughout the course, students will have direct access to the time, talent, and expertise of Hughes, a Duke alumnus and expert on energy finance, regulation and governance who recently completed a six-year term on the North Carolina Utilities Commission.
“It is my hope that students that take this course will never look at their utility bill in the same way again,” said Hughes, who explained that the course will expose students to a variety of utility governance structures (e.g. investor-owned, local government-owned, cooperatives) and service responsibilities (e.g., electricity, water, stormwater).
“Students will see firsthand the impact that regulation, environmental governance, finance, rate setting, planning and customer communication have on addressing critical environmental and climate challenges in a fair and effective manner.”
The Pratt School of Engineering and Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability are hosting Hughes for eighteen months through the Duke University Climate Leaders In Residence program, which supports the aims of the Duke Climate Commitment.
Questions about the practicum course? Contact Colleen Nieto at the Nicholas Institute.