The student researchers reflect on how the fellowship helped them refine project scopes, expand perspectives, and engage in interdisciplinary discourse.
By Robin Sheng
Every year, Boston University’s Institute for Global Sustainability (IGS) invites a small number of BU graduate student researchers to its Graduate Student Summer Fellows Program. These fellows, who come from diverse backgrounds and fields, are united in their focus on fostering environmental sustainability and social welfare.
IGS provides funding, faculty mentorship, and professional development for its fellows to further expand their research. The program culminates in a presentation at the end of the program, where each student shares the progress they’ve made during their fellowship with each other and the broader BU community.
With a total of eleven researchers across five colleges, the cohort of fellows for this summer is the largest to date. Through the course of ten weeks, the fellows engaged with each other’s research through various seminars and workshops.
Here are just a few of their stories.
Alexander Rocca (MS Student, Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering)
Carbon capture, a process in which carbon dioxide produced by industrial facilities is separated and stored away, is an important mechanism for reducing emissions. This summer, Rocca researched better materials that could improve the efficiency of carbon capture systems under the guidance of Sean Lubner, College of Engineering assistant professor of mechanical engineering and IGS core faculty. Rocca advanced his research through three stages: building a physical film to be studied, measuring how heat moves through the film, and constructing a predictive model for material heat flow.
“The research communication workshop was definitely a big help. Working with IGS for the last few weeks has provided a nice reminder of what the big picture is with addressing sustainability,” Rocca reflected.
Jiguang Yu (PhD Student, Systems Engineering, College of Engineering)
With the support of College of Engineering professor of electrical and computer engineering David Starobinski, Yu focused on optimizing the cost of his research solution, which centers around using shared 5G/6G technology to improve the accuracy of weather forecasting systems. Over the course of the summer, Yu honed his research translation skills and shared his learnings at three academic conferences across the country.
“When I meet different researchers from different departments, I have an opportunity to improve my storytelling methods to help them better understand. The faculty and the students here are very kind and very helpful, so I can get a lot of training chances with them. In every weekly training session, there is about half an hour to teach us how to communicate with others,” Yu explained.
Lizzy Yue (PhD Student, Computer Engineering, College of Engineering)
Current AI models are often criticized for their inefficient use of energy. Working with College of Engineering professor of electrical and computer engineering and IGS core faculty Ayse Coskun, Yue is investigating how power limits could be used to reduce energy waste for large-scale AI workloads. Over the summer, she discovered that unbalanced workloads should be avoided to conserve energy and began the transformation of her theoretical conclusions onto more complex workloads in real-life settings.
“Before joining this program, I felt that my research was limited to the technical aspects, like how to propose a good algorithm and a good system design. But the program helped me to understand that it’s important to know how you can apply your research results in the real world and how you connect the research ideas with other scholars to build better work,” Yue said.