Creating a sustainable future

During middle school, Lucy Cheadle Levin read a book that changed her life.

“The book was about climate change, and I immediately felt ignited and overwhelmed by the challenge of that issue,” says Levin, who earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the McKelvey School of Engineering in 2015. “Over time, it evolved from feeling like an immense challenge to feeling like a great opportunity for us to transition to a clean economy and improve people’s lives by creating a sustainable future.”

Now as a climate policy and intergovernmental relations supervisor for the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), Levin focuses on advancing California’s climate action and partnering with other countries to foster a more resilient future.

“One of the things I really value about working for California is that there’s still a lot of progress that we can make despite what might be happening at the federal level,” she says.

Examples of the state’s progress include recent partnerships signed at one of the world’s largest global climate gatherings — the annual Climate Week in New York. During the 2025 event, California signed memoranda of understanding with the Brazilian Ministry of Environment and Climate Change and the Republic of Kenya to collaborate on climate action, clean energy and pollution reduction.

“Seeing California forge new international partnerships and keep moving forward on climate action definitely gives me a lot of hope,” Levin says.

Before her policy work with CalEPA, Levin focused on air quality research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where she studied the impacts of oil and gas development on air quality. Excited about the policy implications of her research, Levin headed to the California Air Resources Board to work as an engineer on oil and gas methane regulations.

“It was very rewarding to be involved in the technical work of implementing the regulations while navigating the broader policy context of oil and gas,” she says. “Through my work as an engineer and as an organizer with the Sunrise Movement, I became passionate about mentoring rising climate leaders and building capacity to operate equitably and sustainably.”

She then moved into a management role at the California Air Resources Board for a few years before she accepted her current position at CalEPA.

“I’m really grateful that the engineering education at WashU was holistic,” Levin says. “I was not only prepared for the technical side of my career, but I also learned so many communication and leadership skills that are helping me with the other aspects of my work today.”

Levin says she had a great experience with the engineering faculty, particularly Jay Turner, head of the Division of Engineering Education, vice dean for education and the James McKelvey Professor of Engineering Education. “I appreciated his mentorship, and I recently had the opportunity to mentor one of the students in his lab,” she says. “It was a full circle moment and a meaningful way to stay connected to the WashU engineering community.”

Engineering wasn’t her only passion at WashU — Levin was also a highly decorated student-athlete, who ran for the Bears on the cross country and track and field teams.

“My teammates felt like family to me, and we still get together regularly,” she says. “I’m so grateful for the lessons I learned from being a student-athlete and for the skills I learned in the classroom.”

Levin is relying on these skills during her work in an increasingly challenging field.

“It’s a difficult time in the climate world, but you have to feel hopeful for the future and imagine that it’s possible to have a better world for future generations,” she says. “That’s what keeps me going.”