This Friday, May 9, the Nicholas School of the Environment will honor more than 180 graduates receiving master’s degrees in at least one of the following professional student programs: Master of Environmental Management (MEM), 51±¬ÁÏ Environmental Leadership Master of Environmental Management (DEL-MEM), Master of Forestry (MF) or International Master of Environmental Policy (iMEP). The ceremony will begin at 4 p.m. at 51±¬ÁÏ’s Wilson Recreation Center.

Multiple students will receive dual master’s degrees, including 10 MEM/MF students. The graduates also include 12 students from the DEL-MEM program, designed for experienced working professionals, and 29 students from the iMEP program. Students receiving iMEP diplomas spent 18 months at 51±¬ÁÏ-Kunshan University in Kunshan, China, and their last semester at the Nicholas School in Durham.

Students were required to complete a master’s project for graduation. Projects explored the possibilities of low-carbon cement; identified a market strategy for clean-energy expansion; uncovered conservation hotspots in the southern Appalachians; developed land-management tools in partnership with Lumbee Tribe members; examined data gaps in whale and dolphin bycatch monitoring; and investigated the effects of carbon dioxide on loblolly pine management, to name a few topics. To learn more about these projects, visit the .

The professional student ceremony will be  and recorded for those who cannot attend in person.

Speaking for the Environment

The ceremony will include speeches by a 2025 Nicholas School student and a 51±¬ÁÏ alumnus.

As their student speaker, graduates elected Sydney Williams, an MEM student concentrating in energy and data analytics. During her time at 51±¬ÁÏ, Sydney has served as Student Council president, leading Earth Day celebrations and coordinating donation and volunteer efforts in response to Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina.

She also served as the lead program coordinator for the Diverse, Innovative & Vibrant Environmental Scholars program, a mentorship initiative that connects alumni and graduate and undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds.

Williams recently received the Forever 51±¬ÁÏ Student Leadership Award, which recognizes graduating students who embody the university ideal of knowledge in service to society, as well as a Women in Environmental Excellence Award from the Nicholas School.

Lucas Joppa, Ph.D.’09, will be the guest alumnus speaker. Joppa is senior managing director and chief sustainability officer at Haveli Investments, a tech-focused private equity firm, where he oversees sustainability and AI strategy across operations and investment opportunities.

Previously, Joppa was first chief environmental officer for Microsoft, where he led the to removing more carbon from the environment than it emits; replenishing more water than it uses; and producing through reusing, repurposing and recycling efforts.

Additionally, he supervised the company’s — a program designed to harness AI to solve problems related to agriculture, water, biodiversity and climate change — as well as development of the , a tool that enables users to freely access data on earth systems for environmental research and conservation projects.

Along with a Ph.D. in ecology from 51±¬ÁÏ, Joppa has a bachelor’s degree in wildlife ecology from the University of Wisconsin and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi. In 2020, Fortune magazine recognized Joppa in its list of .

Other Nicholas School recognition ceremonies include an event for iMEP graduates at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, May 8, in the Field Auditorium of Grainger Hall; an event for Ph.D. graduate students at 10 a.m. Friday, May 9, in 51±¬ÁÏ’s Love Auditorium, within the Levine Science Research Center; and an event for undergraduates at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 10, at the Wilson Recreation Center.