Center for the Environment - Harvard University

FACULTY & STUDENT RESOURCES

Undergraduate Summer Research Fund

To enhance the undergraduate educational experience at Harvard through the support of environmental research, the Center established an Undergraduate Summer Research Fund in 2002. The Fund is a competitive summer research grant program for Harvard undergraduates created to support student research projects related to the environment.

The grants are intended to support research related to the environment, with a preference given to rising seniors seeking funds for senior honors thesis research. Award amounts are normally between $500-$2,500.

For more information about Undergraduate Summer Research Awards, contact:

Lorraine Maffeo , Environmental Science and Public Policy, Coordinator
Phone: (617) 496-6995
Email: maffeo@fas.harvard.edu
Address: Environmental Science and Public Policy
24 Oxford Street, 3rd Floor
Cambridge, MA 02138

2008 Award Recipients

The Harvard University Center for the Environment made 16 research awards in the late spring of 2008 to undergraduate concentrators in Biology (5), Environmental Science and Public Policy (9), joint concentration EPS/ESPP (1), and joint concentration Romance Languages and Literatures/Biology (1).

The research award recipients were:

Christine Barron '09, "Asian Air Quality and Its Effects on Human Health"
Megan Bartlett '09, "The Effects of Climate on the Evolution of High Biodiversity in the Tropics"
Heather Carmichael '09, "Urban Poverty and Environmental Risk Factors for Health in Accra, Ghana"
Adam Clark '11, "Study of Ants as an Indicator of Human Impact on Local Ecology"
Spring Greeney '09, "Institutional Ecology and Exploring Sustainable Consumption: Possibilities and Cultural Barriers"
Josephine Henderson-Frost '09, "Analysis of Correlation of Enterotoxigenic E. coli from Environmental Samples and Patients in Dhaka, Bangladesh"
Daniel L. Jones '09, "The Charles River Plankton Composition"
William Jones '09, "Charles River Aquatic Community Structure: Biotic Interactions between Fish and Zooplankton"
Robert Kirkham '10, "The Effects of Interspecific Competition on Nestling Survival Rates"
David W. McCahill '09, "Research/Analysis of the Austrian Environmental Sustainability Transformation, 1955-Present"
Francisco Perese '09, "Mobilizing Savings to Mitigate Houshold Vulnerability to Natural Disaster"
Alison Ravenscraft '09, "Evaluation of the Acoustic Niche Hypothesis: A Quantitative Analysis and Comparison of Sound Spectrum Partitioning in Tropical and Temperate Communities"
Katherine Sancken '09, "Pesticide Exposure and Health Hazards in Latin American Workers"
Julie T. Shapiro '10, "Labor Rights in the Brazilian Fuel Industry"
Elizabeth Shope '09, "Implementing Environmental Education in Montessori Schools for Nursery through 3rd Grade"
Nora A. Sluzas '09, "GIS Modeling of China's Wind Energy Potential"

2007 Award Recipients

The Harvard University Center for the Environment made 11 research awards in the late spring of 2007 to undergraduate concentrators in Biology (1), Earth and Planetary Sciences (2), Environmental Engineering (1), Environmental Science and Public Policy (5), Social Studies (1), and Undecided (1).

The research award recipients were:

Rachel Banay '08, a Social Studies concentrator will study “Applications of Environmental Ethics to Environmental Justice”
Simi Bhat '08, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator will study “Environmental Identity in Internally Displaced Peoples of Kashmir Origin”
Cara E. Ferrentino '08, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator will conduct “Research on Bioenergy Policy with Global Bioenergy Partnership, UN Food and Agricultural Organization”
Andrew L. Fleeter '09, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator will conduct “Research on Industry Best Practices Regarding Climate Changes with the Climate Group's Business Leadership Program”
Alicia G. Harley '08, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator will study “Critical Analysis of Egyptian Policy Addressing Environmental Impacts of Urbanization in Cairo”
Amy P. Heinzerling '08, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator will study “Covering the Costs of Hardrock Mining Cleanup: Bonding Policy in the Western U.S.”
Stephanie Madden '08, a Biology concentrator will research “The Carabid Beetles of the Boston Harbor Islands: Effects of Geography on Diversity”
Julie Shapiro '08, will study “Effects of Ecotourism on Macaw Behavior at Clay Licks”
Jeremy Tchou '08, an EPS & Economics concentrator will study “Consequences of Regulatory and Environmental Conditions in Offshore Wind Farm Developments”
Jonathon F. Wofsy '08, an Earth and Planetary Sciences concentrator will study “Using Mid-Latitude Convection to Explain High Latitude Warmth of the Ecocene”
Jessica M. Yeager '08, an Environmental Engineering concentrator will research “Engineering Environmental Metrics for Brazilian Sugar Cane Based Ethanol”

2006 Award Recipients

The Harvard University Center for the Environment made 15 research awards in the late spring of 2006 to undergraduate concentrators in Computer Science (1), Earth and Planetary Sciences (3), Environmental Science and Public Policy (10), and Environmental Engineering and Sciences, S.B.(1).

The research award recipients were:

Patrick Francis Baur '07, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator, will conduct field research on the interaction between indigenous Mapuche communities and Chile's National Forest Corporation.
Clara Blattler '08, an Earth and Planetary Sciences concentrator, will examine magnesium isotopes as an implication of changing chemical composition of seawater in the Laboratory for Geochemical Oceanography at Harvard.
Laura K. Chappell-Campbell '07, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator, will study recent air quality legislation in North Carolina and the social and political forces influencing its passage, with a particular focus on the 2002 Clean Smokestacks Act.
Jennifer Chung '07, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator, will examine environmental contributors to health heterogeneity across geographic regions in Boston, focusing mainly on the incidence of chronic disease such as asthma, obesity and diabetes within the studied regions.
Henry M. Cowles '08, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator, will conduct a comprehensive study of selected writings of Charles Darwin and Andrew Wallace, in search of different patterns of observation that might shed light on the fame disparity between the two today.
Julia K. Forgie '07, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator, will study the DDT/DDE and PCB contamination of the Channel Islands and its effects on eagles, falcons and brown pelicans and analyze current policy of the restoration program for the area.
Rachel E.E. Garwin '07, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator, will conduct a case study in the process and effects of dam removal at the Edwards Dam in Augusta, Maine.
Jaclyn Anne Hatala '07, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator, will model the spread of Canada Thistle in Yellowstone National Park using remote sensing data and ground observations.
Samuel D.G. Jacoby '08, a Computer Science concentrator, will examine better water management through technology, focusing on improving irrigation efficiency through real-time assimilation of remote-sensed data. His research will be conducted on the Calleguas Creek watershed in Ventura County, California.
Anjali Lohani '08, an Environmental Engineering and Sciences, S.B. concentrator, will identify indices of sustainability for the economic and environmental systems of nine cities, including Washington, DC, New Delhi, Beijing, New York, Mumbai, Shanghai, Phoenix, Hyderabad and Chengdu.
Scot M. Miller '07, an Earth and Planetary Sciences concentrator, will model regional and continental scale emissions of carbon monoxide from both anthropogenic and biomass burning sources using tall radio tower and aircraft atmospheric measurements in combination with the Stochastic Time Inverted Lagrangian Transport Model (STILT).
Naabia Ofosu-Amaah '07, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator, will examine the potential of ecotourism as a sustainable development tool by studying ecotourism from Harvard and in Ghana and contributing to the planning of the new ecotourism project in Mozambique.
Frederick A.W.L. Reppun '07, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator, will study environmental education in Chengdu, China.
Kevin Wecht '07, and Earth and Planetary Sciences concentrator, will research the energetics of indirect coal-to-liquid transformation through the Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) process and constrain current estimates of the "carton cost" of burning F-T derived liquid fuels.
Michael T. Wilson '08, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator, will examine the challenges confronting the development of the Athabasca Oil Sands in Northern Alberta, Canada.

2005 Award Recipients

The Harvard University Center for the Environment made 14 research awards in the late spring of 2005 to undergraduate concentrators in Biochemistry (1), Biology (1), Earth and Planetary Sciences (2), Environmental Science and Public Policy (5), History and Science (1), Social Studies (3), and a joint concentrator from Earth and Planetary Sciences and Environmental Science and Public Policy.

The research award recipients were:

John Keith Ames '06, a Social Studies concentrator, will determine the viability of significant incentives for increased environmental regulation of energy markets; with the intent of encouraging the emergence of cleaner, renewable forms of energy.
Brandon Geller '08, a Biochemistry concentrator, will travel to the Dominican Republic to study the Scolytid Bark Beetle, to see if it exhibits an unusual mating habit first documented by B.H. Jordal where a female is able to asexually produce haploid sons and mate with them in the absence of other males.
Macdonald Brooke Halsey '06, a Biology concentrator, will work with the Yellowstone Ecological Research Center to study population dynamics of coyotes in the park by collecting data on den sites and comparing to data since the 1995 reintroduction of the coyote.
Pien Huang '06, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator, will assess the composition of an anthropogenically altered plot of secondary forest in Singapore's Bukit Timah National Reserve, specifically its "hyperdynamism," in which trees exhibit accelerated growth, recruitment, and mortality.
Yi-Chen Stacy Huang '06, an Earth and Planetary Sciences concentrator, will use GIS software to track and model the global emissions of isoprene, a volatile organic compound that because of its relatively short lifetime, has previously been difficult to track in a precise manner.
Savanna Lyons '06, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator, will travel to Brazil to study the ideological dynamics of the grassroots socialist group Movimento Sem Terra, seeking to understand how the group's ideology affects its choices in sustainable agricultural technology.
Amanda Martin '06, a History and Science concentrator, will examine how irrigation technology and water rights legislation for the Rio Grande has affected people's conception of themselves in relation to nature and the river.
Summer Montacute '06, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator, will investigate the failure of protective policy on Chile's endangered alerce tree, and the resulting black market exports from Chile to the United States.
Frances Moore '06, an Earth and Planetary Sciences concentrator, will analyze a sequence of several hundred samples of carbonate rocks from Italy, modeling the changes in the oxygen isotopes, which can show changes in the redox state of the ocean as well as changing sulfate input fluxes to the ocean.
Whitney Satin '06, a Social Studies concentrator, will study how environmental policy and the perceptions of the health consequences of pollution affect the voting behavior of cancer patients in the industrial area of South Louisiana informally known as "Cancer Alley."
Michelle Sonia '06, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator, will investigate the degree to which environmental issues are part of the discourse surrounding the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site.
Elizabeth Sturges '06, a joint concentrator in Earth and Planetary Sciences and Environmental Science and Public Policy, will examine spatial and temporal trends in atmospheric mercury, correlations with other chemicals, and comparison among sites around the world.
Laurence Tai '06, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator, will conduct a critical analysis of the technical, economic, and political obstacles hindering the widespread introduction of sustainable electricity in the United States.
Charles Worthington '06, a Social Studies concentrator, will construct a model for predicting industrial "over-compliance" with environmental regulations in international climate change agreements.

2004 Award Recipients

The HUCE made eight summer research awards to students in the late spring of 2004 to concentrators from Biology (2), Environmental Engineering (1), Environmental Science and Public Policy (4), and a joint concentrator from Environmental Science and Public Policy and Latin American Studies. The research award recipients were:

Leah J. Aylward '05, an Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrator, will research the role of agricultural institutions of higher education (specifically the EARTH University model in Costa Rica) in addressing economic, social, and environmental challenges of sustainable development.
Daniel Curran '05, an Environmental Engineering concentrator, will examine the effects of sunlight on the decay of coarse woody debris in a northern temperate forest, focusing on the implications of this decay towards the global carbon budget.
Arin C. Hotz '05, will examine the process by which biotechnology has been introduced into South Africa and the effects that it has had on society since its acceptance.
Zachary Liscow '05, will study the political mechanisms through which a developing countries' increased willingness to pay for environmental amenities translates into environmental protection.
Matthew Moon '05, will conduct a critical analysis of the political, economic, and environmental factors of regulating and developing the Arctic Ocean as a commercial shipping route through a potential international regime.
Andrew Ng '05, will investigate how bacterial symbionts are transmitted within a population of hydrothermal vent mussels, giving insight into the cooperation and survival of life under harsh and toxic conditions.
Michal Joey Pakes '05, will examine the soft coral, Plexaura flexuosa , determining the fertilization rates, settlement rates, and reproductive cycle of gorgians at the edge of their distributional range.
Senovio Shish '05, will carry out a comparative study of governmental and non-governmental drinking water programs in El Salvador and how they are influenced by international organizations.

2003 Award Recipients

The HUCE made nine summer research awards to students in the late spring of 2003 to concentrators from Biology (2), Chemistry and Physics (1), Environmental Science and Public Policy (4), Environmental Studies (1), and Social Studies (1). The research award recipients were:

Iris Ahronowitz '03, a Social Studies concentrator, will be conducting a comparative study of two Massachusetts nonprofit organizations working on urban agriculture to understand how this form of community development operates.
Adeline Boatin '04, an Environmental Science and Public Policy (ESPP) concentrator, will travel to Africa to investigate the changes to farming practices and environmental management in Rwanda as a consequence of the 1994 genocide.
Herng-Yu Chang '04, an ESPP concentrator, will study a model youth leadership and involvement program in Roxbury with respect to urban asthma issues and its efficacy in reducing indoor air pollution.
Caitlin Frame '04, a Biology concentrator, will be determining the kinetic isotopic effect of Form IA RubisCO from two types of cyanobacteria: IA RubisCO is important as a source of carbon fixation in oceans and this study has implications for greenhouse gas predictions.
Mervyn Han '03, an ESPP concentrator, will study the political dynamics of an American Indian community in Northern Canada with respect to sovereignty, and environmental concerns and alliances.
Zachary Liscow '05, an ESPP concentrator, will evaluate how the impact of a selective harvest on the aboveground carbon storage pools in a northern temperate forest changes with time, with broader implications for U.S. carbon budgets.
Shanshan Mou '04, a Biology concentrator, will study a distinctive form of RubrisCO in a vesicomyid-chemoautotroph (clam and bacteria) symbiosis, to gain greater understanding of this special symbiosis and stable carbon isotope data in general.
Gregory Santoni '04, a Chemistry and Physics concentrator, will study landscape-level forest demography in the Brazilian Amazon Basin.
Katherine Widland '04, an Environmental Studies special concentrator, will examine the incentive programs that the federal government has created to encourage the privatization of endangered species work, as well as those private individuals who become involved without public aid.

2002 Award Recipients

The HUCE made 12 summer research awards to students in the late spring of 2002 to concentrators from Environmental Science and Public Policy (9), Earth and Planetary Sciences (1), Comparative Religion (1), and History and Literature (1).

Sheila Baynes '03, a History and Literature concentrator, examined the current controversy over Lake Powell from a historical context.
Ting Chen '03, an Earth and Planetary Sciences concentrator, characterized East Asian pollution sources.
Sarah Cove '03, an Environmental Science and Public Policy (ESPP) concentrator, investigated how climate change affects high-altitude montane regions.
Elizabeth Hagan '02, a Comparative Religion concentrator, surveyed the relationship of the sacred nature of landscape to native peoples of the Northern Yukon and Northeastern Alaska.
Kristin Hoelting '03, an ESPP concentrator, compared the use of forestland by two groups of native Eskimos.
John Hsu '03, an ESPP concentrator, compared tree ring composition to elucidate past climates.
Wendy Liu '03, an ESPP concentrator, measured the effects of forest management on a New England forest carbon budget.
Meghan Scheding '03, an ESPP concentrator, examined sustainable development practices and eco-tourism projects in a park in Costa Rica.
Sarah Szurpicki '03, an ESPP concentrator, compared public participation strategies in environmental planning processes in New England and Great Britain.
Morgan Tingley '03, an ESPP concentrator, investigated the social and environmental impacts of urban sprawl.
Emma Wendt '03, an ESPP concentrator, conducted an environmental assessment of green initiatives at a ski resort in Vermont.
Ethan Yeh '03, and ESPP concentrator, analyzed the health problems related to indoor air pollution generated by biomass fuels in developing countries.