When Matthew Aumeier (MS ’21) thinks about his early academic and professional career, he remembers one of his first jobs in high school with the Youth Conservation Corps. While overlooking the South Fork of the Snake River in Southeastern Idaho, his supervisor turned to him and said, “there are lots of jobs that you can have, and not everything is great about this job, but I don’t know any other job where you can have an office like this.”

That moment, combined with his love for fishing and hunting and early undergrad policy classes at the University of Montana, set Aumeier on a path toward the “human aspects of natural resources” and policy. His academic journey took him from the University of Montana to the University of Idaho to the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS). Now, Aumeier works for the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) as an environmental compliance and systems innovation expert. In his role at the INL, he works to ensure that the lab is compliant with environmental laws, specifically the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), ”an environmental law which requires federal agencies to examine the environmental impacts of any proposed major federal projects.” 

Aumeier began at INL as a NEPA intern while at SEAS and is now in his fifth year with the laboratory. He works in the environmental support and services division, where he helps lead the NEPA process and supports land-use planning at one of the nation’s largest research campuses. Additionally, he leads efforts to design and implement modern digital systems aimed at making environmental reviews and permitting more efficient and effective. His work ensures that research in nuclear and other energy technologies comply with federal environmental requirements while balancing innovation, safety and stewardship of public lands. His skills include environmental policy analysis, regulatory compliance, and the development and implementation of modern processes and systems. 

His path to INL has not been linear. As an undergraduate student at the University of Montana, he began as a forestry major before he realized his interest in policy. He then transferred to the University of Idaho for the remainder of his undergrad years and earned a BS in natural resources management and policy. After graduation he started considering graduate school and PhD and law programs. However, “as I was investigating the schools at Michigan, I found this really great, really well-rounded program called SEAS that I hadn’t heard about before,” he says. When he and his wife visited Ann Arbor, they “fell in love with it.”

At SEAS, where he graduated with an MS in Environmental Policy and Planning, Aumeier found a network of professors who were invested in his future, lifelong friends and a community. Classes like Energy Economics sharpened his skills in Excel, while other core courses pushed him to think critically about how policies impact different communities. “Even if it wasn’t directly tied to my job, it taught me to think through how decisions impact every stakeholder group—and that’s invaluable,” he says.

Now, Aumeier is excited to build a connection between SEAS and the INL. He remembers thinking that the INL wanted “nuclear scientists or other types of energy professionals” but describes how “behind the scenes, there are these enormous support organizations that function at these laboratories that are critically important and in a really unique way, guide the future of policy, particularly environmental policy.” 

He adds: “We need the leaders and the best. We’re impacting the future of environmental policy, and these jobs offer both impact and a livable wage. But students don’t know these opportunities exist.”

Reflecting on his own path, Aumeier offers two pieces of advice for SEAS students: Savor the time you have, and develop “adaptive capacity.” “There aren’t many careers where you start at 24 and retire at 65 in the same job,” he says. “You will do things you never thought you’d do. The most important skill you can build is the ability to say ‘yes, I can do that,’ and then figure it out.”

Above all, he encourages students to believe in themselves. “You’re at one of the best schools in the world. Don’t let imposter syndrome hold you back. Have confidence that there is nothing you can’t do.”