Yogita Halkara

Coordinated and supported on-site commercial waste audit for a partner facility (Vicinity Energy) ensuring circularity initiatives, accurate waste stream classification, and reliable data collection across landfill, recycling, and organics using Rego's AI waste audit tool Analyzed and reported waste audit data to identify diversion, contamination, and zero-waste improvement opportunities, contributing to client-facing reports, and actionable solutions such as bin optimization and process improvements Developed data-driven sustainability visuals and summaries for grant proposals and stakeholder reports, translating operational metrics into clear, decision-ready insights for technical and non-technical audiences

Sustainable Development Intern at Circular Philadelphia (2025-08 – 2026-01)

• Coordinated and supported on-site commercial waste audit for a partner facility (Vicinity Energy) ensuring circularity initiatives, accurate waste stream classification, and reliable data collection across landfill, recycling, and organics using Rego's AI waste audit tool
• Analyzed and reported waste audit data to identify diversion, contamination, and zero-waste improvement opportunities, contributing to client-facing reports, and actionable solutions such as bin optimization and process improvements
• Developed data-driven sustainability visuals and summaries for grant proposals and stakeholder reports, translating operational metrics into clear, decision-ready insights for technical and non-technical audiences

Lead Consultant at Penn Sustainability Consulting (2023-08 – 2024-04)

• Led and collaborated with a team of 5 students to develop a strategic sponsorship model for a bottle recycling startup, identifying 18 potential sponsors with contribution capacities of $1K–$5K, to support their mission of glass waste reduction in Philadelphia
• Conducted interviews, collected and co-delivered data-informed solutions strategy report aligned with client sustainability goals

Research Intern at National Environmental Engineering Research Institute of India (2022-09 – 2023-04)

• Collected and analyzed large water usage datasets using advanced MS Excel (pivot tables), coordinating with on-site engineers to gather, verify, and validate operational data for a technical water audit of a petroleum refinery
• Assessed rooftop rainwater harvesting potential of the refinery and applied Innovative Trend Analysis (ITA) on MS Excel to 49 years of rainfall datasets for Mumbai, benchmarking climate-related water risks and identifying a significant increasing trend in annual rainfall due to climate change
• Delivered a technical report and presentation for stakeholders recommending infrastructure changes to improve water resilience

Teaching Assistant at University of Pennsylvania (2024-05 – 2024-12)

• Supported research, review and understanding of data-driven environmental coursework for 25+ undergraduate students in sustainability and earth systems, coordinating seminars and facilitating technical presentations and discussions

Master of Environmental Studies in Sustainability Concentration – University of Pennsylvania (2023-08 – 2025-05)

Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering – Vellore Institute of Technology (2019-07 – 2023-07)