Alumni Spotlight - Pablo Busch
Pablo Busch graduated from the EPM program in June 2022, continuing his studies at UC Davis by joining the PhD program in Energy Systems. Prior to that, he obtained an industrial and environmental engineering degree in 2016 from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. After obtaining his PhD degree in June 2025, he joined the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability as a postdoctoral scholar, working on research to support a clean energy transition and a sustainable future.
What initially drew you to the EPM program, and how did your time in the program shape your career path?
After getting my engineering degree in Chile, and working for 3 years in technical environmental consultancy, I felt my vision and knowledge of sustainability was heavily biased towards the technical side. I wanted to broaden my knowledge towards other disciplines to understand how they diagnosed and solved environmental problems. The EPM interdisciplinary curriculum and practical learning with real-world environmental policy drew me to apply.
During the program, I fulfilled my goal to learn from other disciplines, but I also realized the importance of rigorous analysis for proposing solutions to sustainability problems while engaging in interdisciplinary collaboration. Having a broader understanding of other disciplines made me realize I could make contributions with my strong analytic skills, which led me to apply for a PhD position in energy systems.
What was your experience finishing the EPM program, where we are focused on experiential learning, to a PhD program, where your focus transitions to research and writing a thesis?
EPM is focused on practical knowledge and real-world aspects of environmental policy. It was amazing to have classes ranging from environmental law, political science, and economic analysis. I had fun learning from all these fields, but at the same time wanted to deepen my understanding on a specific topic and engage with all the technical details to advance towards sustainability solutions. The transition from EPM towards research was hard, but what helped a lot was always being curious. Having the practical perspective given by the EPM program has helped me to highlight the importance of all my scientific work.
What are you working on now that excites you?
Right now, I am working on a major global sustainability challenge: our ever-growing consumption of materials, which is exacerbated by the current energy transition from fossil fuels (e.g. oil) to material-intensive capital stock (e.g. solar panels). What excites me is the opportunity to proactively plan ahead towards a more equitable and sustainable future.
What skills or experiences from your time in EPM do you draw on today?
What I really value from my time in EPM was the exposure to many disciplines and their approach towards sustainability. As a researcher, it is an advantage being able to cross disciplines to borrow concepts, frameworks, techniques and tools to apply them to my own research field. Novelty and innovation in science is usually found when one connects multiple unconnected dots, so having broad knowledge helps me draw these bridges and make my research more meaningful.
What advice would you give to current students in the EPM program who are considering pursuing their PhD?
My advice is to write down a clear reason and goal to pursue a PhD, so you can re-read it when it gets hard. A PhD is a long professional journey towards advancing human knowledge, with many ups and downs. Having a clear motivation to pursue it helps when you are stuck with research progress or scientific publication delays (it can take a looooong time from submission to final press release). My last piece of advice is to have fun and leave space for family, friends, and hobbies. It is a marathon, not a sprint.