Spotlight on Liz Voss
Learn about Liz Voss, a student in the Master of the Environment program at CU Boulder and a key team member at the Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center.
In Boulder County, innovative solutions are being developed to merge clean energy and agriculture, paving the way for a sustainable future. Involved with this effort is Liz Voss, a dedicated student in the Master of the Environment program at CU Boulder and a key team member at the Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center. In our conversation, Liz shared her journey, her passions, and the impactful work she's doing to create positive change in our world.
Interview conducted by Hannah Davis and has been edited for length and clarity.
Can you tell me about the Masters of the Environment program you are enrolled in? What are you studying?
Liz Voss: The Master of the Environment program is an interdisciplinary professional master's program designed to give students the skills and experience to tackle some of our most significant intersecting environmental and social issues. It's split across five broad disciplines: renewable energy, urban resilience, policy, outdoor recreation, and sustainable food systems. I’m part of the sustainable food systems specialization, learning how food systems work - from farm to fork. I’m inspired to see how I can apply that knowledge more broadly.
Why did you decide to do the master's program?
Liz Voss: I worked full-time in the UK right out of high school, and it wasn’t until I moved to the US in 2019, after several years of global travel, that I got my undergraduate degree. The program I completed was fully online, and it was during COVID, so it was isolating. After graduation, it was tough to get a job with a nontraditional background and no network. I was looking for a space to meet people, find my community, and address some significant social and environmental issues weighing on me. When I saw this program, I knew it was perfect for me! They have a big focus on building a shared community, and with so much time away from a traditional work environment, it would give me a chance to brush up on my professional skills.
You also work part-time with the Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center. Can you tell me what they do and what you do with that?
Liz Voss: The Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center is an education-focused non-profit organization based at Jack’s Solar Garden. Our focus is on doing outreach and education programming to youth, community members, and policymakers to showcase that clean energy generation can be coupled with agrivoltaic activities in a way that doesn't degrade our land. We're promoting better land stewardship within solar arrays through the demonstration at Jack’s Solar Garden through tours and events we have on-site. I'm the Operations Coordinator, so I mainly handle the tours and events. It's a great and inspiring place to work. I appreciate the systems thinking approach to agrivoltaics. It is very intersectional, encompassing other areas I’m interested in, like food, energy, water, land use, and equity. It's exciting to see all the potential applications for it.
Can you share examples of the work produced by the Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center?
Liz Voss: Agrivoltaics is taking off. We recently had the World Agrivoltaic Conference in Denver, where attendees from all over the world shared all the research being done in this space. Jack’s Solar Garden was the first research facility of this kind and is a model for much of the work in this space. So much research is being done with different types of solar panel arrangements and other types of agriculture globally - its exciting to see. The University of Arizona, the National Renewable Energy Lab, and Colorado State University are still doing active research under our Jack’s Solar Garden panels. Sprout City Farms is running a CSA from the site as well. I believe it's the first of its kind, grown underneath solar panels. They're finding that leafy greens grow much larger, and some plants like having shade during the day. Some of our researchers are looking at the soil carbon content and the impacts of the shade and the moisture within the soil. A lot is happening!
What climate solutions are you most excited about now and why?
Liz Voss: This might differ slightly from how people usually talk about climate solutions, but I'm most excited about bringing people together to work towards our common goals. We're all working towards common points, and that's where we need to foster that collaboration. For example, I'm working on an initiative to bring CU Boulder and CSU together to host a joint seminar series on agrivoltaics, starting in the fall. The goal is to foster deeper collaboration between our shared communities across academics, industry, and practice so that we can expand research opportunities, support workforce development, and hopefully open up future deployment of agrivoltaic systems. We too often focus on the technical solutions in isolation, but we need to remember that we need people to work together to make lasting change.Â
What are some of the biggest challenges in your climate action efforts, and is there any way the community of Colorado can help?
Liz Voss: The Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center is a small nonprofit, and we rely on foundation support, sponsors, and donations to achieve our goals. How can the community help? Continue supporting us and spreading the word about what we're doing. We host tours, a free webinar series, and many other events throughout the season. We want to get people excited about agrivoltaics and the possibilities it provides, so I encourage everyone to come to Jack’s Solar Garden to see for themselves.
What is something sustainability-related that you do outside of your work that you're passionate about?
Liz Voss: I share my knowledge and experience with my friends, family, and the community. Specifically, I want to open up difficult conversations about social equity and justice and apply that lens to most situations. It's essential that we fully recognize where we are in the world and find ways to step out of our comfort zones to see how we fit together, critically think about our role in society, and start making changes at our level.
How has being located in Colorado impacted your career work, and is there anything about the Colorado climate community that's been supportive or impactful to your career?
Liz Voss: Colorado has a harsh climate for growing food, and as you know, we have a big water issue here. Being around more people in the farming community and hearing them talk about water issues has spurred me on in my efforts at school. The Colorado climate community has been welcoming and supportive so far. As I mentioned before, finding community was a huge part of joining the master's program, and the synergies between the master's program and my work have been unexpected but have allowed me to bridge those spaces simultaneously, which is fun. I'm excited to get more integrated with the climate community. I think Colorado can be such an inspiring and innovative place to be. It's a pleasure to be a part of it.
Learn more about the Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center here, the Masters of the Environment here, and you can follow Liz here.