The Earth Futures Institute is proud to announce the fourth year of its Frontier Fellowship awards. Oversubscription was strongest, nearly 3 to 1, and seven fellowships were awarded, the largest group yet.
Frontier Fellowships enable sustained, in-depth original research by UCSC undergraduates in partnership
with two mentoring faculty. Fellows begin research in spring quarter. A $6000 stipend allows full-time focus during the summer, and the work is completed during the following academic year. Altogether, Fellows spend a full year working on their projects. The research is highly interdisciplinary, and the
two faculty mentors should come from different divisions.
Projects in this year’s cohort are varied and wide-ranging. Two students will do research overseas. One of these will study how marine microbial biomes in the Galapagos Islands are evolving in response to
climate change. The second will analyze whether broadcasting sounds of human activity can ward off wild animals in Kenya from human habitations. Yet a third biology-related project will explore the use of soil microbes to power soil moisture sensors.
Two other, innovative projects focus on the interface between science and public opinion. The goal of one is to identify which social movements successfully resulted in the creation of nuclear free zones, successful arms control & testing treaties, and why they succeeded. A second will explore the conditions under which public projects that rely on the collection and analysis of massive amounts of surveillance data have been able to first gain political legitimacy and public trust.
Finally two projects will focus closer to home. A lab study at UCSC will produce an app that permits users to design their own computer interface so as to maximize focus and autonomy over their cognitive resources. The last project will create and implement climate justice curriculum materials in South Santa Cruz County through a climate justice leadership training course for adults and an ocean justice learning module for K-12 students.
Former Fellows have described the experience as “life-changing”. Please consider partnering with colleagues and students to submit a proposal next year. Applications open in January. More information is at www.earthfutures.sites.ucsc.edu/frontierfellows/.
Fellowship Recipients
Defne Clarke
Defne Clarke, a junior Biology major at UC Santa Cruz’s John R Lewis College. Title of the EFI collaborative project: “Microbial forecasting: microbiome adaptation to climate change in the Galápagos.”
Leo Colletta
Leo Colletta is a third year student majoring in History and Politics.
Title of the EFI collaborative project: “Public Power in the Age of the Atomic Bomb: The Impact of Global Anti-Nuclear Activism on the Proliferation of Nuclear Arms.”
Ava Darbonne
Ava Darbonne is a 3rd year undergraduate student in Electrical Engineering and minoring in Linguistics. Title of the EFI collaborative project: “Utilizing Microbial Fuel Cells to Power Backscatter Tags for Sustainable Agriculture.”
Psi Padhya
Psi Padhya is a third-year undergraduate student at UC Santa Cruz, pursuing a B.S. in Computer Engineering with a concentration in Digital Hardware and a minor in Politics. Title of the EFI collaborative project: “Democracy, Data, and Decarbonization: Urban Climate Interventions and the Internet of Things.”
Elise Weir
Elise Weir is majoring in Environmental Science at UCSC.
Title of the EFI collaborative project: “Supporting Meaningful Community Participation for Climate Justice in Southern Santa Cruz County.”
Johnny Zhu
Johnny Zhu is a student of Robotics Engineering at UCSC.
Title of the EFI collaborative project: “Designed for Distraction: How Digital Environments Shape Attention and Focus.”
Skylar Sidensol-Denero
Skylar Sidensol-Denero is majoring in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz. Title of the EFI collaborative project: “Building Coexistence: Using Playback Speakers to Mitigate Human-Wildlife Conflict in Multi-use Landscapes.”