Project Sustainability

An alumna from Oklahoma State University has turned her passion for the environment into her profession, but she has done so in an unusual place — Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

Zoe Cooper Bolack, who earned a bachelor’s degree in natural resources ecology and management in 2015, works at DFW, the first carbon-neutral airport in North America.

She works day in and day out as part of the sustainability team to maintain the airport’s carbon neutrality certification, she said.

“DFW, which is the largest carbon neutral airport in the world, was the first in the United States to take on the challenge,” Bolack said. “I am humbled to be on the team.”

Bolack started her collegiate courses at Oklahoma State University in 2012, and as a resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico, she was several hours away from home.

She decided to attend OSU when she was a junior in high school after a visit to Stillwater, she said.

“I instantly fell in love with the campus and the Cowboy family,” Bolack said. “It was like a home away from home, and everybody made me feel so welcomed.”

Bolack began her education as an environmental science student, but she later changed her major to NREM and graduated with honors. While at OSU, she met her husband, Bryce, who earned his degree in accounting, and the pair married in 2016. After OSU, she earned a master’s degree in forest resources from the University of Georgia in 2017.

“While attending OSU, I always had something going on,” Bolack said. “I held several seasonal technician jobs for a few professors in the college of agriculture.”

Tim O’Connell, NREM associate professor and Bolack’s undergraduate adviser, said his first impressions of her only strengthened as she advanced through her academic program.

“Bolack always stood out as an excellent student,” O’Connell said. “She was very determined, independent and just a tad bit of fun.”

Through her extracurricular activities, she conducted bird and arthropod surveys for various projects with NREM graduate students. She also interned for two summers at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque as part of the wildlife ecology team.

During her junior year, Bolack spent a month in the Peruvian Amazon, volunteering for a non-governmental organization to study birds in the lowlands of the Amazon Rainforest.

Bolack credits her education for opening many opportunities in her career field today.

“Having a solid science background benefited me in my profession,” Bolack said. “Learning the concepts of research, using new technology, and analyzing data has given me a huge head start in the business world and is why I inform management decisions today at the airport.”

Bolack came into the NREM program with relevant skills many students did not possess at such an early stage of college, O’Connell said.

“Bird banding and bird identification are skills students rarely develop until they take the ornithology class,” O’Connell said. “I could immediately tell that she had the brains and the work ethic to take her career wherever she wanted to.”

Bolack joined the DFW sustainability team in April 2019. Before coming to the airport, she started by doing consulting work for about 18 months, and then she became an environmental analyst at the DFW Airport, said Sarah Ziomek, sustainability project manager and Bolack’s supervisor.

“Zoe is a tremendous asset to our team,” Ziomek said. “Her commitment helps amplify the airport-wide commitment to sustainability and our efforts to be an engaged and supportive member of the community.

“She brings the technical expertise and research skills that are essential to developing holistic solutions to complex, sustainability and environmental challenges,” Ziomek added.

In her role at DFW, Bolack advances air quality and climate action initiatives, Ziomek said. Bolack also supports and gives insight on sustainability projects and reports for the airport’s carbon neutrality accreditation, Ziomek added.

“My typical day involves meeting with different stakeholders at the airport,” Bolack said. “This includes airlines, tenants and several internal departments, including our energy and design team and construction department to discuss upcoming projects and implementing energy and emission reduction initiatives.”

Having Bolack is a big benefit for the airport because she does so much, Ziomek added.

“She is an innovative thinker and continuously brings new ideas to the table,” Ziomek said. “Zoe’s ability to connect with different stakeholders and incorporate their concerns into our project approach helps to ensure our initiative is successful.”

LD BROWN

Story by LD Brown of Dallas County Texas