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Rajas Raje, a Master of Environmental Management student, worked as a summer associate with Molecule Ventures. Raje is pursuing concentrations in Energy and Environment and in Environmental Economics and Policy.

Each year, Nicholas School of the Environment (NSOE) students complete internships with organizations around the world. These summer experiences provide valuable opportunities to gain career-related experience and build a professional network. 

Duke Environment recently caught up with Raje to learn more about his experience. 

What aspects of the experience did you find most rewarding or memorable and why?

My manager and I were the only two people on the European Markets team, and the entire firm was just seven people. Being in person most of the week, having informal conversations and working with a team that was deeply committed to my learning made it an amazing experience. 

An energy fun fact I learned is that jellyfish blooms can clog nuclear power plant intake systems and severely disrupt power generation during the summer, something we could see reflected in power prices. 

My biggest takeaway was understanding how interconnected industries are, not just technologically but also through policy. It was also fascinating to see how commodity markets can price carbon in a way that creates incentives for a clean energy transition, regardless of how successfully that transition ultimately unfolds. 

We also visited New York City’s largest recycling facility in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, where I learned a lot about how the city processes such a huge amount of trash on a daily basis. 

How did the coursework and resources at the Nicholas School prepare you for success in this role as well as your internship search?

I’m really curious about how environmental policies and technological innovation in energy systems can incentivize industrial decarbonization. The two classes that helped me most in synthesizing this broad question into a workable analytical framework were Modeling for Energy Systems and Applied Statistical Modeling. Modeling for Energy Systems provided me with a framework for translating physical problems into numerical ones, while Applied Statistical Modeling helped me distinguish meaningful price signals from noise in the carbon market. 

I also want to give a huge shoutout to the Nicholas School Career and Professional Development Center (CPDC) team — Allison, Bailee, Courtney and Dean — who answered my incessant questions and provided me with amazing feedback on my CV, cover letter and interview preparation. 

Did you collaborate with any Nicholas School alumni? If so, how did those connections add to your summer experience?

I participated in the NSOE Alumni Mentorship Program during the spring 2026 semester, where I received great career advice from an alum.

I was also fortunate to interact with several alumni through the CPDC class in fall 2025 and through coffee chats. Their guidance made me comfortable with being the dumbest person in the room in the corporate world

How has this internship influenced your career aspirations? Did it confirm or change your professional goals in any way?

This summer made me a firm believer in the potential of environmental markets to finance the energy transition. I came to NSOE curious about how energy systems interact with our day-to-day lives, but I think the question I am now most interested in has evolved from “How are energy systems evolving?” to “How can environmental policies, particularly market mechanisms, finance the energy transition?” 

This aligns closely with my concentrations in EE and EEP. More broadly, the internship brought together my intellectual curiosity about the intersection of energy systems, environmental policy and industrial decarbonization with an interest in how markets value and price commodities affected by those systems. It showed me that I am particularly interested in the space where energy, policy and markets intersect.