2026 Climate Case Competition Finalist; CERAWeek 2026 Attendee
Yukta is a first-year Master of Public Policy (MPP) student at the Harris School of Public Policy, specializing in Energy and Finance. Growing up in the Indian state of Rajasthan, a leader in the country’s green energy transition, sparked an early curiosity about clean energy that deepened during her tenure at the Australian Consulate in India, where she supported trade, investment, and policy initiatives in the green energy space. At UChicago, Yukta serves as a Research Assistant at the Booth School of Business where she is examining corporate and end-user willingness to pay for greener AI models and the frameworks needed for sustainable AI growth. She is also Co-Director of Networking for the Harris Energy & Environment Association (HEEA). Yukta is focused on building a career in the clean energy industry, with a particular interest in developing expertise at the intersection of energy and AI, where rapid growth in compute demand meets the imperatives of grid reliability and decarbonization.
Yukta was a finalist in the 2026 Climate Case Competition with team Community-Focused Non-Carbon Transition. She also attended CERAWeek with the Institute in 2026.
“It was an incredible experience attending CERA Week. It was one week packed of discussions on current trends in the industry which provided an excellent macro view of everything happening in the industry. It was like a crash course. “Speed to Power” was referred to recurrently and industry leaders talked about the need for collaboration, now more than ever, to face rising demand, keep prices low, and ensure supply chain security. Leaders also emphasised on long term planning, way more than 5-10 years forward. Besides this, attending panels with UChicago professors on them was special. I also got the opportunity to present on the Innovator’s Row. I was so enriching to present the research and answer very incisive questions from the audience. I also met representatives from a couple organisations I am interested in and it was great to have been able to make that personal connect. CERA Week is a truly amazing conference and I thank the institute for this opportunity!”