Helping Communities Impacted by the Climate Crisis
Raiana Sumpter, E’27, environmental engineering, cares deeply about two things: protecting vulnerable communities from climate change and building a more sustainable future for everyone. Through her classes and work experience, she has contributed to projects that address these challenges. She hopes to continue working on sustainable solutions in engineering.
Raiana Sumpter was drawn to environmental engineering after participating in an internship program during her junior year of high school. As part of the program, Sumpter and her group were tasked with planning a demonstration in support of an issue in Boston. Her group selected environmental injustice, and at the demonstration, the Chief of Energy, Environment, and Open Space, Mariama White Hammond, spoke about environmental issues directly impacting Boston communities. Sumpter was inspired by this project and knew she wanted to keep actively supporting environmental justice. By studying environmental engineering, she discovered she could help communities while mitigating environmental injustices.
Growing up in the Boston area, Sumpter was familiar with the region’s plethora of universities. Northeastern University always stood out to her, especially with its renowned co-op program. Attending Northeastern would allow Sumpter to actively engage in serving environment causes through numerous experiential learning opportunities.
Classroom Experiences
Sumpter has enjoyed many of the courses she has completed during her undergraduate studies, and there are a few that Sumpter found incredibly fascinating and helpful for developing her engineering skills. Sumpter says “Environmental Engineering: Principles, Technology, and Sustainability,” taught by Associate Professor Loretta Fernandez, was helpful for learning the basics of environmental engineering and its different sectors. This class expanded her awareness of all of the possible career paths she could follow in this field.
Sumpter’s plants used for her phytoremediation project.
Sumpter appreciated “Environmental Measurements in Natural and Engineered Systems” led by Teaching Professor Annalisa Onnis-Hayden because of a semester-long group project she worked on. Their project centered around phytoremediation, which is the process of using living plants to clean up contaminated air, water and soil. Sumpter liked the hands-on approach of the project and thought the class offered her many useful skills for her career.
Co-op Opportunity
Sumpter completed her first co-op at Palmer Capital, a renewable energy developer in wind, solar and battery-powered energy. She worked as a renewable energy project manager and was able to work in all three sectors of energy the company serves. Sumpter mainly focused on projects involved with batteries; her role required her to get in contact with various landowners to see if they would be interested in completing a battery project on their land as part of an incentive program in Massachusetts called the “Clean Peak Energy Standard.” Palmer gets the direct benefit from the incentive program and then pays the landowners a lease fee for allowing them to use their land for the project. Sumpter drafted the legal documents for the project for clients who wanted to switch to a battery on their land’s circuit.
Sumpter and her team on the site visit in Maine.
One of Sumpter’s favorite projects she worked on while at Palmer was a solar initiative project titled “EquiSol” that aimed to put solar power in low-income, marginalized communities around Boston. This type of outreach was of great interest to Sumpter which involved connecting with other Boston organizations, partners and residents who could benefit in the program. Additionally, Sumpter created the solar design for the houses and conducted site visits with her team.
Sumpter worked on a few wind projects in her role, as well. For these wind projects, Sumpter oversaw prospecting, looking at the wind speeds and terrain of a town to see if a wind turbine would best suit the area. In June, Sumpter went to Maine to conduct a site visit for a new wind project, called “Twin Energy,” that the company developing. During this visit, Sumpter got to see the site being constructed and was able to talk directly with some of the landowners and local government officials in Maine, as well. It was a very memorable experience for her, and she was glad she could be a part of it.
Extracurriculars
Sumpter and her fellow members of BESS at the NSBE conference.
Sumpter is a member of the Black Engineering Student Society (BESS) at Northeastern, which is a local extension of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). Sumpter says BESS has been a big part of her engineering career at Northeastern and has afforded her many career development opportunities. She even served as the communications chair for BESS last year and enjoyed being in that role immensely. There is an annual conference for NSBE, and Sumpter has attended each of the conferences during her first and second years of undergraduate studies. These conferences host a large career fair and advantageous networking opportunities. Last year, Sumpter attended the conference in Chicago and secured a summer internship with Jacobs Engineering for Summer 2026. Attending these conferences has been one of Sumpter’s favorite parts of BESS. She said the experience has been incredibly inspiring to her and feels fortunate to be able to participate in such a worthwhile event.
Future Perspectives
Sumpter is currently studying abroad in London at Queen Mary University and has been enjoying the environmental courses she has been taking there. She is in her third year of undergraduate studies and is very excited for what is yet to come in her academic journey. Sumpter will start her internship at Jacobs Engineering in the summer and is thrilled to be gaining more real-world job experience as an environmental engineer.
After graduating, Sumpter would love to work on creating solutions to the climate crisis and supporting vulnerable communities impacted. She would love to investigate solving air and water quality issues. Sumpter believes this prominent issue is critical and wants to transform the environmental engineering industry for the better.