At the Santa Clara City Council meeting on Tuesday, June 7, Silicon Valley Power awarded $5,000 scholarships to two outstanding students to further their studies toward a career in the energy industry. The scholarships were presented by Manual Pineda, Silicon Valley Power’s Chief Electric Utility Officer. For the past 17 years, Silicon Valley Power has offered scholarships for students attending college or technical school in pursuit of a career in the energy industry. To date, the utility has granted $257,000 in scholarships, benefiting 55 deserving students in the Santa Clara community.
Osiriz del Rosario Durana is currently an undergraduate student at Mission College and is pursuing an Associates of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering. He will be attending the University of California, Los Angeles in the fall to continue his pursuit of a Mechanical Engineering degree. His hope is to work on developing efficient and sustainable power plants which will limit increasing climate change impacts. When asked about his goals, Osiriz says, “I want to contribute to make this planet as habitable and healthy as possible for people to live in.”
Surya Christopher Tallavarjula is graduating from Wilcox High School and will be pursuing a degree in Physics at the University of California, Berkeley. An avid supporter of the scientific process, Surya says “I think about everything in life, not just my science projects, through a scientific lens. Any time I see a claim is being made, I think ‘Could this claim be disproven? What evidence is there that could challenge this?’” With his passion for learning, Surya would like to use his degree to explore reducing energy losses in transmission of power, improving battery storage technologies and advancing solar energy technology.
Silicon Valley Power is committed to investing in the future workforce of the electric industry. On July 7, the City Council approved a new scholarship program called the Sustainable Futures program, which will launch this fall. This program will support students attending Santa Clara University and Mission College who are interested in pursuing a career in the sustainability and clean energy fields.