UTC students Gracie Crooks, Mychael Allen-Fennessee and Ainsley Henderson are participating in the EPB Strategic Research Fellowship. Photo by Angela Foster.
Three University of Tennessee at Chattanooga students are helping Chattanooga’s public utility tackle big questions at the intersection of energy, housing and technology—and the city’s future. Through a research fellowship with EPB, they’re gaining firsthand experience connecting academic research to real community challenges.
Revived in 2022 after a pandemic pause, the EPB Strategic Research Fellowship pairs UTC undergraduates with the utility’s Strategic Research team for sustained, project-based work. The current fellows—Mychael Allen-Fennessee, Gracie Crooks and Ainsley Henderson—are contributing to research that’s connecting data to decision-making inside one of Chattanooga’s most forward-looking organizations.
“The program relates directly to our mission of enhancing quality of life in our community. Students work on projects that help EPB prepare to meet the needs of our customers by staying ahead of trends and by understanding the many dynamics that shape our region,” said Daniel Crawley, manager of strategic research at EPB. “It also gives students real-world experience that’s similar to the jobs they may hold one day.”
From history to housing
Allen-Fennessee, a senior double majoring in history and Africana studies, approached data the way a historian might—by looking for the stories hidden in patterns. His research mapped tree canopy coverage against household energy burden across Hamilton County, revealing how environmental and economic patterns overlap in ways that data alone can’t always show.
“I started looking at how the data lined up with what we already know about Chattanooga. You can see how heat and cost patterns almost trace the same neighborhoods. It’s not about making assumptions—it’s just visualizing something that’s already there but hidden in spreadsheets,” Allen-Fennessee said.
Translating quantum
Through a partnership among UTC, EPB and the quantum computing company IonQ, Chattanooga is being positioned as a national testbed for quantum innovation through infrastructure, advanced research and education.
Within that collaboration, Crooks, a junior studying applied mathematics, translated a dense Oak Ridge National Laboratory paper on quantum networking into a clear executive briefing for EPB leadership.
“They sent me this Oak Ridge paper and said, ‘Okay, make it make sense.’ It was wild at first, but once I broke it down, it actually clicked. The coolest part was seeing how something happening at a national lab could connect to what’s starting here in Chattanooga,” Crooks said.
Her work bridged complex theory and local application, linking national research to the innovation already unfolding in Chattanooga.
Redefining affordability
Henderson, an accounting major and Brock Scholar in the Honors College, approached housing affordability as both an economic and human problem. The junior’s research compared mortgage costs to income by calculating how many workdays it takes to pay a monthly mortgage, a metric that helps EPB frame cost-of-living trends in clearer, more relatable terms.
“I wanted to find a way to show housing costs that people could actually relate to. When you put it in workdays instead of percentages, it feels human. You can picture what it takes out of someone’s month,” Henderson said.
Reviving a partnership
EPB launched the fellowship in 2013, paused it during COVID and brought it back in 2022 with a renewed focus on applied research. A business internship that began as a short-term opportunity has evolved into a long-term collaboration, with students now working as paid, part-time researchers who regularly brief EPB’s senior leadership on their findings.
The renewed fellowship reflects a lasting partnership between EPB and UTC that bridges classroom learning with civic application. From energy analysis to housing trends to emerging technology, the work gives students a window into how research can inform public decisions and helps EPB continue investing in local talent that already understands the community it serves.
And for the students, it’s a chance to see how their research—and their city—fit into a much larger picture.
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Ainsley Henderson, left, Mychael Allen-Fennessee and Gracie Crooks discuss their respective projects
