Muhlenberg athletes are spending the summer of 2026 enjoying fantastic experiences on campus, in their hometowns, across the country, and even around the world.

Senior baseball pitcher Charlie Siper has been flying high this summer as an environmental sustainability intern at Newark Liberty Airport, putting the various components of his self-designed major into practice.

This summer, I have been working as an environmental sustainability intern with Munich Airport New Jersey at Newark Liberty International Airport's Terminal A. I chose this experience because I wanted to better understand how sustainability, technology, data, and business decisions come together in a real working environment.

An airport terminal operates almost like a small city, with concessionaires, transportation systems, mechanical equipment, construction projects, waste operations, and thousands of passengers moving through it each day. My internship has allowed me to work with members of the Operations Management and Facility Maintenance teams while learning about energy use, waste management, government funding, purchasing, and other areas of airport sustainability.

This experience connects closely with the self-designed major I am developing at Muhlenberg. My goal is to combine business and management with data analytics, sustainability, energy, and emerging technology. I did not want to study these areas separately because I believe they are becoming increasingly connected.

Sustainability projects are more likely to succeed when an organization can clearly explain their financial value, use reliable data, and create a realistic plan for implementation. Designing my own major gives me the opportunity to study environmental challenges while also developing the analytical and management skills needed to address them.

The main focus of my internship has involved working with Peaxy, an AI-supported energy-monitoring platform. The system collects detailed information from electrical meters and circuits throughout the terminal, making it possible to better understand where and when electricity is being used. I worked with this information to analyze concessionaire energy consumption, identify high-use locations and peak periods, compare operating patterns, and create reports that make the data easier for others to understand.

The overall goal is to help concessionaires and the terminal become more aware of their energy use and identify possible opportunities to reduce electricity consumption, operating costs, and demand on the electrical grid. Working with Peaxy has shown me how technology and data can turn a broad sustainability goal into specific and measurable actions.

Another major part of my internship has been supporting Terminal A's work toward LEED v4.1 certification for Operations and Maintenance. Before this summer, I mainly associated LEED with the way a building was designed and constructed. I have since learned that an operating building must continue to demonstrate its performance in areas such as energy, water, waste, purchasing, refrigerants, transportation, indoor air quality, and facility maintenance. My assignments have included researching LEED requirements, studying sustainability practices at other airports, and helping develop recommendations for maintenance, renovation, waste, purchasing, and demand-response policies.

I have also supported waste-sortation analysis to help the terminal understand what is being discarded and what materials may be recycled or diverted from landfills. My other work has included research involving FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) grants, electric-vehicle charging, emissions reduction, sustainable purchasing, and different airport sustainability practices.

Muhlenberg has prepared me for this experience by teaching me how to analyze information, communicate ideas clearly, and consider both the financial and ethical effects of business decisions. My coursework has helped me become more comfortable working with data, comparing possible solutions, and presenting recommendations to others.

This internship has also helped me better understand the direction I want to take with my self-designed major and future career. I am interested in continuing to study sustainability and energy in graduate school and eventually working in a role that combines sustainability, energy management, technology, and business strategy. Most importantly, this experience has shown me that environmental work can create real financial and operational value when it is supported by strong data, cooperation, and a clear plan.