Renewable Nerd!

Class of 1977 Alum Michael Brower describes himself as a bit of an "oddball." But judging by the glint in his eye and the slight smile as he says it, it's clear he's quite proud of the moniker. In fact, this very "oddball" quality has driven him to achieve amazing feats in both his personal life and career. By the time you finish reading his remarkable story — from his enriching introduction to multiculturalism at JIS then experiencing “culture shock” at college, to his lifelong dedication to sustainable energy and joining the Friends of JIS Foundation  — you, too, will want to tap into your inner oddball.

In his own words, here’s how Michael’s unique journey unfolded.

Discovering the Magic of JIS

I was at JIS for four years because my dad was a diplomat. I arrived from New Zealand and then stayed through graduation. I arrived part-way through the seventh grade, but because the New Zealand school system worked differently, I was able to skip Grade 8 and go into Grade 9. This put me on the young side among my peers, which didn’t exactly help me fit in.

The school itself was a magical place. I remember the area was quite rural when I was there. There was a dirt road leading to the school, and the campus was surrounded by rice fields — It felt quite far out from Jakarta. JIS was not nearly as big as it is now, and [the students] consequently knew one another pretty well. There was that sense of having a community of diverse kids from very different backgrounds, getting to know Indonesians, and getting to know the Indonesian culture and language — all of that was just a wonderful experience.

I didn’t fit into a neat group though. I was not a jock, although I played tennis. I wasn’t artistic, certainly. I did a little bit of music and I was part of the Joint Sound singing group and the choir. But mainly I was a nerd. In fact, in my Senior year, I won both the science and math prizes, and my main memory of that was just the sheer embarrassment of being called up in front of the class, who I knew saw me that way. That was my identity: I was a nerd, and I had a small group of nerd friends, and we would do nerdy things together like write skits on spring break and perform them at the annual variety show. Fun!

I think most of us from that time really loved the atmosphere of the school and how it felt to be a part of Indonesia.

Culture Shock: College Life as an Oddball

After graduation, I went almost straight to college at MIT. I was only 16, which was way too young, and it was a much bigger culture shock than anything else I’d experienced. I wasn’t attuned to American culture at all. I found myself living in a fraternity house with a bunch of older kids, most from middle-American backgrounds, and for them, I was a rather strange person. For instance, I wore sarongs around the house, and after a while, I kind of did it just to be a character. But it was a natural part of how I dressed — after a shower, I'd put on a sarong and hang out.

They thought that was the strangest thing. They listened to bands like the Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead, and I listened to Peter, Paul, and Mary and the Kingston Trio. But I survived. There were a lot of foreign students and a lot of oddballs at MIT, so it wasn’t too hard. And my experiences in Indonesia made me feel different — in a good way.

Intriguing New Field

I went through college studying physics and then moved on to grad school — also in physics. By the time I got my Ph.D, I was a bit tired of the science path, and that’s when I went into nonprofit science policy work. Eventually, by the early 1990s, I had moved into renewable energy. Back then, renewable energy was unusual — it was a new field, and I was intrigued. 

I was working for the Union of Concerned Scientists at the time. I worked at UCS from 1986 to 1994, spanning the period when the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union broke apart. In the first part of that period, I was working on nuclear arms control issues as an arms control analyst and advocate.

In the second half of that period, everything changed — the Cold War ended, the Soviet Union was gone, nuclear weapons were thought to be going away, and the West and East were going to be friends. At the same time, global warming was becoming a big issue, and that’s when I switched to renewable energy as part of my job at UCS.

After leaving UCS, I went into renewable energy full-time as my career. It took a few steps to get there, but I’ve been in renewable energy since. I started a company with a couple of partners — we didn’t call ourselves a start-up back then, but that’s what we were. We grew it into a fairly successful renewable energy consulting firm, and I did that for about 25 years. It was very satisfying. 

I’ve never been a very ardent person in terms of demonstrating for causes, but I definitely felt good about being in renewable energy. I’ve stuck with that and still do clean-energy work, climate work, and various related things. I don’t think I could have been happy doing anything else.

A Friend of JIS

As for the Friends of JIS Foundation, I got involved kind of by accident. When I was thinking about going to Jakarta, I wanted to see the old school. But I wasn’t really plugged in — I didn’t know anything about Maya [Nelson], one of my old classmates, being Head of School, for instance. So, I just sent a note out of the blue saying I was an alum and wanted to visit.

I got back in contact with Maya, and she was very kind to show me around [the Cilandak campus] and some of our old haunts such as Blok M. She even helped me find my old house, which wasn’t far from the “Pizza Man” statue. Our neighbors used to be Indonesian Army generals. Now there’s an enormous police complex across the street.

Then I saw Maya again at an alumni event in New York. She asked me if I would join the Friends of JIS Foundation Board. The goal of the Friends of JIS Foundation is to engage (and reengage) the alumni community to support JIS's mission. It's primarily a fundraising group that aims to raise money for scholarship programs, facilities, and other initiatives to help the school achieve its goals.

For JIS, alumni come from so many different geographic locations, cultures, and languages, that it can be hard to establish a sense of alumni community. Still, there are a lot of positive feelings about JIS — it gave us all an experience that’s completely unique. The idea is to try to marshal some of that spirit to support JIS. 

A Message to New JIS Alumni

We were all very fortunate to have had the experience of being at JIS. It's something that will stay with you for your entire life. We hope that you continue to stay engaged with your friends and remain connected with the school.