Peter Schulte '83 Creates Research Opportunity for SOM Students

Five Yale SOM students spent their spring break this year in one of the perfect places to escape a bitter New England winter: the beaches of Brazil. But this was more than a sojourn. With the help of the new Schulte Independent Study Research Award, created by Peter Schulte ’83, Managing Partner, CM Equity, and as part of the school’s Global Social Enterprise Club, the students worked with a Brazilian firm on its quest to improve the environment.

The group, whose members receive class credit, consulted with Top Air, a small company that leads the Brazilian market for recycling refrigeration gases. Top Air recycles and sells recycled gas, as well as manufacturing recycling equipment. Because of new Brazilian regulations, as well as international anti-greenhouse agreements, the industry for recycling gases is booming in the country.

The students are working on two main projects for the company. They are analyzing the industry so Top Air can better understand the nature of the marketplace and identify new customers. They are also looking to help Top Air create a new market for carbon credits in Brazil by studying how such markets operate elsewhere.