STEP student Carson Becicka: Polishing his policy skills to shape a clean energy future
On Minnesota’s Iron Range, the community and the landscape surrounding it are deeply intertwined.
The region in Northeastern Minnesota that spans roughly from Ely to the Grand Rapids area includes forests, lakes, and mining towns that shape daily life and the values of the people who call it home.
For Carson Becicka, growing up in this community made him want to protect it. Spending time outdoors fishing, skiing, and exploring helped shape his connection to the natural world.
“I think building a relationship with this place as a kid has made me want to look out for it, and the natural world more broadly,” he says.
Today, he brings his passion for protecting the environment to the Humphrey School of Public Affairs’ Master of Science in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (STEP) program.
From environmental curiosity to policy focus
After graduating from Northland College in 2022 with degrees in history and math, Becicka initially considered environmental law but soon gravitated toward hands-on environmental work.
He soon joined the Minnesota GreenCorps program, where he worked with the environmental program of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. There, he helped on a number of projects, including a mercury dry deposition study, writing air quality articles for the community newspaper, helping organize a compost work group, and installing energy conservation devices, among others.
“While at Fond du Lac, I realized that energy is, globally, one of the most important venues for mitigating climate change,” he says. “And locally, it affects us all. An affordable, reliable, and clean energy system is needed for human safety, comfort, and happiness.”
To continue this type of work, Becicka says he knew he needed to further his education.
“I realized that I knew very little about energy and energy policy,” he says. “So, as someone who wanted to do work that supported an energy transition, I started looking for graduate degree programs where I could gain that knowledge and sharpen my toolkit.”
As he explored graduate programs, the Humphrey School quickly stood out. He was drawn to its applied research and focus on real-world policy challenges, especially in the Iron Range area that he called home. Research on rural energy and electric cooperatives particularly resonated with him.
As someone from a small town in Northeastern Minnesota, whose parents were member-owners of a Great River Energy distribution co-op, it was really cool to hear that a team of University of Minnesota researchers was thinking about ways to accelerate a cleaner, locally controlled energy system in communities like my own.
Learning through place-based work
Throughout his time at the Humphrey School, Becicka has found his coursework in the STEP program closely tied to the places and issues he cares about. Experiential learning and project-based classes have allowed him to explore environmental and energy challenges throughout Minnesota.
In the program, he has dug into forestry practices and biomass energy plants, explored organic waste policy in St. Louis County, and studied the tradeoffs of floating solar panels on a reservoir in Carlton County, among many other projects.
In one course, Assistant Professor Elise Harrington’s Addressing Climate and Energy Challenges at the Local Scale, he conducted a semester-long project on policies shaping composting systems on the Iron Range.
“I got a lot out of that experience,” he says. “I talked to people who described the very-real economic challenges of composting in a remote market and also came up with a few recommendations to address the challenge.”
Exploring the energy transition
Beyond the classroom, Becicka dove deeper into these topics through research. As a graduate research assistant for the University of Minnesota’s Chan Lab, he has studied how technologies such as solar panels, electric heating systems, and electric vehicles are adopted in rural communities.
The Chan Lab, headed by Associate Professor Gabe Chan, works on a variety of research projects with communities engaged in the energy transition. Becicka is investigating how different industries are contributing to the energy transition going on in greater Minnesota.
“For my part, I’ve been doing qualitative research,” he says. “I’ve interviewed around 45 different people in the solar and HVAC industries. I’ve gotten the chance to hear all sorts of perspectives on these technologies, from the people actually doing the solar and heat pump installs, to those who are affected by policy changes.”
The experience reinforced his interest in distributed energy networks and their potential to support resilient, locally controlled power supplies.
After graduation, Becicka says he hopes to continue to support the energy transition in northern Minnesota, whether that involves working with local governments, rural electric cooperatives, or organizations helping communities navigate changes in energy systems.
For Becicka, the Humphrey School has provided both the tools to understand energy and a way to stay connected to the place that inspired his path.
“It’s helped me take what I care about,” he says, “and turn it into something I can actually work on.”