The cohort of 11 graduate student researchers reflect on how the fellowship helped them refine project scopes, expand perspectives, and engage in interdisciplinary discourse.
By Robin Sheng (Social Science Summer Writing Intern 2026)
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. Additionally, they also formed meaningful connections with other student researchers through a joint session with the Pardee Center Summer Fellows and a field trip to The Trustees of Reservations to collaborate with their Outdoor Ambassadors. In the process, the fellows discovered that although their research is rooted in different disciplines, they often complement each other in some way, whether it is for their common subject focus on energy efficiency, joint goals in working on a specific and understudied aspect, or shared concerns for urgent solutions. As such, every researcher supported by the fellowship was able to grow and develop a more comprehensive perspective for their work.
IGS Summer Fellows with The Trustees of Reservations Outdoor Ambassadors. Photo by Alexa Kwon.
IGS Summer Fellows with The Pardee Center Summer Fellows. Photo by Alexa Kwon.
Many fellows felt that their broadened perspectives and skill sets allowed them to process their research in a more practical and implementation-minded way, ideal for further advancement of their project goals. “The second meeting we had, which was with Rebecca [Pearl-Martinez, IGS Executive Director] and Katie [Atherton, IGS Policy Associate] talking about elevator pitches – who’s your audience, how will you pitch it differently to different audiences, and what do they care about – that helped me think about my research differently and think about how to pitch it differently,” Grace Betts, whose work focuses on environmental health, reflected. “Thinking about it from a more financial perspective helped me frame it in a different way.”
“my research can go beyond the paper, touch lives, and play a crucial role in policy decision-making rooms.”
– Feven Lencha
For Feven Lencha, an epidemiology student, the impact of participating in the IGS Summer Fellowship Program was even more significant in this regard. “Before coming to IGS, I was just assuming my research would be just for a journal, not for a lived impact,” Lencha recalled. “Coming to IGS and learning everything I’ve learned, I think it has laid a broad foundation. It demonstrated to me that my research can go beyond the paper, touch lives, and play a crucial role in policy decision-making rooms.”
IGS Summer Fellows working with Katie Atherton, Policy Associate, in a research translation workshop. Photo by Alison Gold.
Several fellows also found the professional support offered by the program to be instrumental for modifying the scope of their projects. “My biggest challenge is to refine and identify an important research question that I can address. The experience in IGS helped me to understand how other scholars approach their research questions. I got a lot of inspiration from that to propose a good hypothesis on my own,” Lizzy Yue, a Computer Engineering student, said.
Most importantly, the program affirmed the fellows of their projects’ crucial role in the ever-more-urgent goal of sustainability. Mechanical Engineering student Alexander Rocca remarked that “Despite how seemingly technically small each of our projects is, overall solving global sustainability is going to require a holistic approach, and it’s going to take everyone, and all of our projects are all equally important. You’ve got to keep that in mind when thinking about solutions.”
2026 IGS Summer Fellows. Photo by Alexa Kwon.
Explore each fellow’s progressing research and how the program helped them further develop their work.
Grace Betts (PhD Student, Environmental Health, School of Public Health)
Many Boston homes have outdated and fossil fuel-based heating and cooling systems. Over the summer, Betts analyzed several different plans for houses in Boston to adopt cleaner and more efficient heating and cooling systems, with the help of her advisor Patricia Fabian, School of Public Health professor of environmental health and IGS associate director. To further illustrate her work, Betts matched her energy research models to a geospatial data set of all buildings in Boston and created maps to visualize where energy use increased or decreased the most.
“The biggest challenge was taking a massive dataset with lots of variables, as well as other variables like utility bills and air pollution that I had ambitions to include, and having to tell myself ‘Okay, I only have 10 weeks, pare it down,’” Betts said. “The fellowship helped me stay on track with that and forced me to make those decisions.”
Sharon Casey (PhD Student, Epidemiology, School of Public Health)
Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy affect about 15% of pregnancies. Under the guidance of her advisors, Samantha Parker Kelleher and Amelia Wesselink, School of Public Health associate professors of epidemiology, Casey investigated how intense heat and extreme climate events could increase the risk of hypertension for pregnant people. Her work, based on data from Boston Medical Center, is highly relevant for a world where unprecedented climates are emerging due to global warming.
“IGS gave us a dedicated space and timeline to work on our projects. It allowed us to discuss our project with peers, who see our projects through different lenses since everyone is from different backgrounds,” Casey said.
Sheida Hooshmandi (PhD Student, Earth & Environment, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences)
This summer, Hooshmandi advanced her doctoral research on climate adaptation and extreme heat in Karachi, Pakistan, examining how three vulnerable populations – internally displaced communities, outdoor workers, and female-headed households – experience and adapt to extreme heat. With assistance from College of Arts & Sciences professor of earth & environment and IGS core faculty member Benjamin Sovacool, she refined her research design, developed interview protocols, and established local partnerships to prepare for fieldwork.
“Networking and getting to know different projects that are affiliated with IGS really helped a lot because it meant that I could access different resources and consider different types of methodology that I wasn’t aware of before,” Hooshmandi remarked.
Betts, Casey, and Hooshmandi. Photos by Alexa Kwon.
Xinyi Hu (PhD Student, Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences)
During her fellowship, Hu developed a unique algorithm to improve the efficiency of data processing for air conditioning systems. Mentored by Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences assistant professor Aldo Pacchiano, Hu centered her research on finding a mechanism of universal control and optimization for multi-building communities.
“The most important takeaway from this program is learning how to view research from the perspective of policymakers and ask meaningful questions. I will carry this perspective with me throughout my future research journey,” Hu said.
Feven Lencha (MPH Student, Epidemiology and Biostatistics with a focus on Global Health, School of Public Health)
Over the summer, Lencha researched the impact of household biomass fuel usage in Ethiopia on respiratory health. With the assistance of Jennifer Beard, School of Public Health clinical professor of global health, Lencha analyzed the demographic factors affecting the relationship between biomass fuel and respiratory illnesses. She anticipates that her work will be translated into practical policy recommendations for rural Ethiopia.
“The transition into thinking for a population-based solution rather than the individual patient basis was challenging. The interdisciplinary nature of the program broadened my perspective to think of my research in a systemic, policy-oriented, and sustainability-minded way,” Lencha said.
Dorsa Mohammadi (PhD Student, Earth & Environment, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences)
Not only is flood damage disruptive to water networks, but it can also be detrimental to crucial food systems that people depend on. Mohammadi investigated the case of floods in Sindh, Pakistan, and their damage to its agricultural lands. Working under the guidance of College of Arts & Sciences adjunct professor of earth & environment Andrew Bell and research associate professor and IGS core faculty Magaly Koch, Mohammadi segmented her research based on the three stages of floods: exposure, damage, and recovery; she also further transformed her work into specific policy recommendations.
“Participating in the IGS Summer Fellows Program significantly strengthened and expanded the direction of my research. It helped me move from a primarily technical Earth-observation study toward a more integrated framework linking satellite-derived flood impacts, crop-specific sensitivity, food-system recovery, and public-health vulnerability,” Mohammadi reflected. “As a result, my research now places greater emphasis on identifying priority areas where climate-resilience investments and post-disaster interventions may be most urgently needed.”
Hu, Lencha, and Mohammadi. Photos by Alexa Kwon.
Seongje Park (PhD Student, Chemistry, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences)
Inspired by the photosynthetic processes of our beloved natural world, Park studied how mixing light with photosynthetic dyes can be used as a platform for improving solar energy harvesting technology under the guidance of Minjung Son, College of Arts & Sciences assistant professor of chemistry. He mixed light with a common orange dye found in many plants on thin film samples to test how the modified properties can be used towards sustainable solar energy systems.
“Unlike some of the other projects, this project has a little bit more of a direct connection with solar energy, which is typically pretty hard to talk about. Just because it has a direct connection, it doesn’t mean that it’s close enough to common knowledge to connect with the public. The general program in IGS has really taught me how I should be communicating some of the scientific discoveries that I’m making and how I can translate hard concepts to the general public for easier understanding,” Park said.
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.
Jena Santi (PhD Student, Accounting, Questrom School of Business)
Over the summer, Santi examined how political pressure affects mutual funds’ ESG-related behavior, focusing on whether it changes both their public ESG signals through proxy voting and the ESG characteristics of their investment portfolios. With the guidance of John F. Smith Jr. Professor of Accounting and IGS associate director Edward Riedl, Santi combined multiple datasets to investigate these effects.
“Research doesn’t always progress at the pace you expect. In my case, getting access to the data I need – or obtaining it in a format that’s actually usable for my analysis – can take weeks,” Jena noted. “That has taught me to be flexible and adapt my timeline. The IGS Fellowship reinforced the importance of staying adaptable throughout the research process and gave me the opportunity to discuss these challenges with researchers from different disciplines.”
Park, Rocca, and Santi. Photos by Alexa Kwon.
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.
Yu and Yue. Photos by Alexa Kwon.