University of Utah electrical and computer engineering graduate research assistant Alex Farley is one of only 10 students selected worldwide to participate in the Future Nobel Laureate Scholarship Program for 2022. This program is a semester-long course in which participants work with other students from around the world collaborating on global issues.

Farley’s research lies within the area of power systems, working specifically with renewable energies. He works in ECE associate professor Masood Parvania’s Utah Smart Energy Laboratory.

“I’m really interested in power systems engineering and all the nitty-gritty technical details,” he said, “but I’m even more interested in how they’re applied to the big-picture climate crisis, and further how they can be leveraged to make meaningful climate action.”

Farley said he is excited for the opportunity to build intercultural communication skills with his peers in the program.

“You collaborate with the other students in a course focused on global leadership and intercultural communication” he said. “Obviously as an engineer, that’s something that is not necessarily stressed in my normal curriculum, so I’m very excited for that.” From that course, students will create smaller working groups to work on a large-scale, interdisciplinary global problem and create a case study together.

Another aspect of the course involves participating in “Nobel Week”, which will take place this December in Sweden. This week-long series of events hosts the official Nobel Laureate ceremonies. Students will have the opportunity to meet their cohort they worked with throughout the semester and network with future and current leaders from around the world.