Eight Boston University graduate students from the College of Engineering, Questrom School of Business, College of Arts & Sciences, and College of Communication comprise the new cohort. 

By Alison Gold

How do microplastics travel within key coastal ecosystems? Can we use satellites in new ways to help us better track pollution from fossil fuel development? Which materials will enable us to better store clean energy?

These are just a few of the fundamental research questions guiding the eight 2025 Graduate Student Summer Fellows at Boston University’s Institute for Global Sustainability (IGS). Unlocking knowledge in these areas is crucial for a more sustainable, just, and healthy future.

The Summer Fellows program offers BU graduate students a unique opportunity to advance their research in IGS’s key focus areas: planetary health and human well-being, the governance and politics of sustainability transitions, and energy systems of the future. Each fellow receives a financial stipend, the benefit of an interdisciplinary peer network, and weekly opportunities for faculty engagement, mentoring, and professional development. At the end of the 10-week program, all fellows present their research results to the greater IGS community. Numerous fellows have later published their findings in academic journals. 

“Every summer, IGS supports exceptional emerging scholars from across Boston University who are advancing high-impact sustainability research projects,” said Arunima Krishna, Faculty Lead, Graduate Student Summer Fellows Program; Associate Director, IGS; and Associate Professor, College of Communication. “We are excited to welcome this impressive cohort and foster a collaborative research environment where students can pursue bold inquiries and forge interdisciplinary research partnerships.”

“We are excited to welcome this impressive cohort and foster a collaborative research environment where students can pursue bold inquiries and forge interdisciplinary research partnerships.” – Program Faculty Lead Arunima Krishna

This year’s eight graduate students represent seven departments and four schools and colleges across the University, making it the most academically varied cohort in the program’s four-year history. 

Group photo of eight scolars
Back row (left to right): Sophia Tigges, Melissa Martin, Mohammadamin Hajikhodaverdian, Bamidele Aroboto, and Yikai Zhang. Front (left to right): Breanna van Loenen, Naa Korkoi Tackie, Tati Fontana. Photo by: Alison Gold.

“The effects of climate change touch every corner of our society,” said Rebecca Pearl-Martinez, Executive Director, IGS. “Our selection of fellows from so many disciplines across BU reflects IGS’s commitment to confronting the vast range of sustainability challenges facing us today. This program is a key part of our efforts to support the next generation of sustainability leaders.”

Two people in conversation
Bamidele Aroboto and Breanna van Loenen discuss their backgrounds and journeys to the fellowship program on its first day. Photo by: Alison Gold.

This year’s fellows are pursuing projects across disciplines: 

Planetary and Environmental Health

Melissa Martin (PhD student, Earth & Environment, College of Arts & Sciences)

  • Headshot of Melissa MartinProject Title: Assessing Urban Heat Island Intensity on Building Energy Demand, Grid Congestion, and Negative Health Outcomes
  • Research Goal: Rethinking building energy demand modeling to study the impact of heat islands on public health and investigate how cooling interventions could increase energy demand and cause power system congestion.
  • Faculty Advisor: Benjamin Sovacool (Professor, Earth & Environment, College of Arts & Sciences, and Director, IGS)

Sophia Tigges (PhD candidate, Earth & Environment, College of Arts & Sciences)

  • Headshot of Sophie TiggesProject Title: Saltmarsh Microplastics: Quantifying Accumulation and Inferring Depositional Pathways in the Great Marsh and Boston Harbor, MA 
  • Research Goal: Examining the resilience of coastal ecosystems to sequester harmful microplastics trapped in salt marsh soils as rising sea levels threaten these habitats. 
  • Faculty Advisor: Duncan FitzGerald (Professor, Earth & Environment, College of Arts & Sciences)

Breanna van Loenen (MS student, Remote Sensing and Geospatial Science, College of Arts & Sciences) 

  • Headshot of Breanna Van LoenenProject Title: Quantification and Spatiotemporal Modeling of VOCs from Satellite Measurements
  • Research Goal: Investigating the public health impacts of the oil and gas industry using remote sensing data to monitor hazardous, hard-to-detect volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from fossil fuel infrastructure.
  • Faculty Advisor: Jonathan Buonocore (Assistant Professor, Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Core Faculty, IGS)

Energy Systems of the Future

Bamidele Aroboto (PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering)

  • Headshot of Bamidele ArobotoProject Title: Advancing Energy-Efficient High Entropy Alloy Synthesis Through Machine Learning and Multi-Scale Simulations 
  • Research Goal: Integrating data science, machine learning, and materials science to design next-generation energy materials with an emphasis on high-entropy alloys, leading to more sustainable manufacturing practices.
  • Faculty Advisor: James Chapman (Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering)

Mohammadamin Hajikhodaverdian (PhD student, Electrical & Computer Engineering, College of Engineering)

  • Headshot of Mohammadamin HajikhodaverdianProject Title: Energy Efficient Monolithic 3D Transformer Accelerator
  • Research Goal: Using a novel hardware architecture to enhance the computational efficiency of energy-intensive, large-language AI models, making them more sustainable. 
  • Faculty Advisor: Ayse Coskun (Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, College of Engineering and Core Faculty, IGS)

Climate Governance & Sustainability Transitions

Tati Fontana (PhD candidate, Accounting, Questrom School of Business)

  • Headshot of Tati FontanaProject Title: U.S. Capital Market Consequences of the Brussels Effect: Evidence from Sustainability Reporting 
  • Research Goal: Examining U.S. investor reaction to the extraterritorial European regulatory risk in the context of the sustainability transition.  
  • Faculty Advisor: Edward Riedl (John F. Smith Professor, Accounting, Questrom School of Business, and Associate Director, IGS)
  • Fellowship supported by the Impact Measurement & Allocation Program at the Questrom School of Business. 

Naa Korkoi Tackie (PhD student, Emerging Media Studies, College of Communication)

  • Headshot of Naa Korkoi TackieProject Title: Analyzing the Role of Climate Emotions in Shaping Engagement Patterns on Reddit
  • Research Goal: Understanding the key emotions that characterize climate discussions and how these emotions reflect on the volume of engagement with Reddit posts and comments, in support of improved climate communication.  
  • Faculty Advisor: Chris Wells (Professor, Emerging Media Studies, College of Communication and Affiliated Faculty, IGS)

Yikai Zhang (PhD student, Business Administration, Questrom School of Business)

  • Headshot of Yikai ZhangProject Title: Optimizing Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure on University Campuses: A Queueing-Theoretic Analysis of Capacity and Congestion 
  • Research Goal: Analyzing electric vehicle charging infrastructure data such as arrival rates, service times, and station capacity to quantify congestion patterns and utilization levels, helping to optimize network expansion. 
  • Faculty Advisors: Z. Justin Ren (Associate Professor, Operations & Technology Management and Core Faculty, IGS), and Jinglong Zhao (Assistant Professor, Operations & Technology Management)
  • Fellowship supported by the Impact Measurement & Allocation Program at the Questrom School of Business. 

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