Maria Petrova ('95) Talks Renewable Energy, a Life Full of Students, and AUBG in the '90
Maria Petrova is a graduate of the first class of AUBG where she studied Business Administration. Today, she is an assistant director of a Master’s degree program for environment and sustainability in Georgetown University. In November, she will give a one-credit business course on managing energy transitions at our university.
Maria is also the very first AUBGer that we feature in our newly launched podcast Skapto Stories. Listen to her talk about her AUBG experience and her exciting and meaningful career on Spotify.
Upon graduating AUBG, Maria pursued a Master's degree in Marketing, Advertising and PR at the University of Sheffield in Greece and then defended a PhD on the topic of “Determinants of public opinion on renewable energy: The case of energy development in Oregon” at Oregon State University. Maria has also been a Harvard research associate on renewable energy in Eastern Europe, where she researched energy integration and development in Bulgaria.
Building upon her academic knowledge, Maria became the program manager of a transdisciplinary program that trained a new generation of policy makers, scientists, and managers with the skills to better understand and interpret the interactions between natural and human systems.
"In anything that you do, you can think about how you are making a difference," she said as a piece of advice to AUBGers. "What is your contribution for what you are doing and how would you change the world? What mark would you leave? How are you making the world a better place? Don't stop dreaming. Challenge the system and work hard towards your goals!"