Student Helps Power Massachusetts’ Clean Energy Transition.
Paige Kelley attends a Summer Farmers Market in Arlington to increase community awareness and gather input from community members on their priorities for the Town’s Net Zero Action Plan. PHOTO COURTESY OF BU INSTITUTE OF GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY
Student Helps Power Massachusetts’ Clean Energy Transition
As a municipal fellow with the Clean Energy and Environment Legacy Transition initiative, a partnership among BU’s Institute for Global Sustainability, the Healey-Driscoll Administration, and UMass Lowell, MPH student Paige Kelley is assisting the Town of Arlington in inventorying greenhouse gas emissions, planning electrification projects, and coordinating community outreach.
Over the past year, Boston University’s Institute for Global Sustainability (IGS) has partnered with the Healey-Driscoll Administration and the University of Massachusetts Lowell to launch the Clean Energy and Environment Legacy Transition (CELT) Initiative to advance an equitable clean energy transition in the Commonwealth.
Using funding from the Department of Energy Resources, the initiative aims to align academic and industry expertise in service of communities across the state as they transition away from dependence on fossil fuels and adopt clean energy solutions. Patricia Fabian, an associate professor of environmental health at the School of Public Health, is one of three associate directors at IGS helping to lead the initiative.
In addition to lending data analysis training and support to state agencies and municipalities, the initiative also funds paid fellowships for Massachusetts college and graduate students to train the next generation of clean energy leadership. Two BU graduate students and a BU alum are currently serving as fellows, including SPH student Paige Kelley.
Kelley, an MPH student studying program management and climate change and health, is part of CELT’s Municipal Fellows program, which matches students with cities and towns seeking additional support for a period of six months. Kelley is currently in her fourth month of collaborating with the Town of Arlington to inventory greenhouse gas emissions, plan electrification projects, and coordinate community outreach—key steps towards the town’s goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
Kelley’s completion of the CELT fellowship fulfills the MPH degree’s practicum requirement. For students interested in exploring a CELT practicum, applications to the municipal fellowship are open through October 14.
Click the link below to read more about CELT and the BU fellows in the full-length version of this story authored by Sofia Sanchez and published to the IGS website on September 17, 2025.