Meet the 2024 Switzer Fellows
In 2024, twenty new fellows joined the Switzer Fellowship Network of over 750 Switzer Fellows located across the country and around the world. Read about them and their work below or in this video. To find information on fellowship alumni, please visit the Fellow Directory where you can search by name, region, and area of expertise.
Natalie Baillargeon
UMass Amherst, MPPA, Climate Policy & Just Energy Transition
Natalie explores policies related to natural climate solutions, adaptation, the Arctic, the politics of renewable energy siting, and the role that nonprofits play in the just energy transition.
Alejandra Cano
UC Davis, PhD, Native American and Indigenous Studies
Alejandra is a transnational emerging scholar cross-pollinating Indigenous ways of knowing, agroecology, and ecological economics to conserve stingless honeybees.
Ataya Cesspooch
UC Berkeley, PhD, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
Ataya (Ute, Assiniboine, Lakota) examines the complex and contradictory relationships between oil and gas development, tribal sovereignty, and environmental justice on the northern Ute reservation.
Sydney Clements
University of Connecticut, PhD, Geography, Sustainability, Community and Urban Studies
Sydney is a researcher and community organizer based in Eastern Connecticut. Her work focuses on the intersection of farmer viability, food access and environmental sustainability.
Hasmik Djoulakian
UC Berkeley, MA, Energy and Resources Group
As an organizer and researcher, Hasmik is passionate about supporting food sovereignty movements in California and Armenia. She approaches this work with lenses from both the natural sciences and feminist studies.
Natasha Frazier
Tufts University, MA, Law and Diplomacy
Natasha (Cheyenne River Sioux) is exploring water policy, tribal water rights, co-management of public lands, and nation-to-nation relations through Masters studies and a Udall internship at the US Senate.
Soliver Fusi
UC Berkeley, PhD, Environmental Engineering
Sol is driven by global environmentalism, particularly by understanding how knowledge about the environment is produced, shared, and influences our relationship with it. Her focus is on the intersection of sanitation and agriculture.
Temesgen Gebreyesus
UC Santa Barbara, Masters of Environmental Science and Management
Temesgen is an environmental justice advocate working toward a future where technology is balanced with nature, society is ecologically and economically productive, and the needs of both people and the environment are met.
Landry Guillen
Yale University, Masters of Forestry
Landry strives to integrate environmental justice principles with ecological stewardship and foster connection through food and forestry.
Nia Harmon
Yale University, PhD, Chemistry
Nia aims to create efficient, solar-powered catalysts to transform groundwater nitrate contaminants into useful products, spanning the gap between research and application.
Jazz Henry
UCLA, Masters of Urban Planning, Sustainability and Urban Design
Jazz's studies are concentrated in sustainability and design/development. He has worked on issues such as extreme heat, air quality, community engagement and schoolyard greening.
Chelsea Kirk
UCLA, Masters of Urban and Regional Planning
Chelsea is driven by the belief that we cannot solve our climate crisis by exacerbating our housing crisis. Her work empowers tenants in building decarbonization efforts, ensuring they benefit from climate initiatives.
Fen Levy
Tufts University, PhD, Biology
Fen is an avian ecologist unraveling how forested landscapes can jointly support ecosystems and human need, specifically in the North Woods of Maine.
Emily Li
Tufts University, MA, Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning
Emily studies community wealth building in immigrant & BIPOC communities through economic and climate justice, and is working with the City of Boston on community-based participatory action research and worker cooperative ecosystems.
Sanjana Paul
MIT, Master of City Planning, Environmental Policy and Planning
Sanjana is an engineer and environmental educator whose research focuses on process innovation and technical/policy boundaries of renewable energy systems and the electric grid.
Kathryn Rodgers
Boston University, PhD, Environmental Health
Kathryn is a scientist and communicator committed to science translation for decision-makers in governments, businesses, unions, and community groups to support environmental health.
Selena Rowan
Cal Poly Humboldt, Masters of Science, Environmental Systems
Selena combines data modeling and policy analysis with a commitment to community health, ecological restoration, and environmental stewardship to develop innovative solutions for healthy forests in California.
Alexii Sigona
UC Berkeley, PhD, Environmental Science, Policy, & Management
Alexii (Amah Mutsun Tribal Band) uses ethnographic research to examine opportunities for tribal land access and co-management through collaborative stewardship in central coastal California.
Summer Sullivan
UC Santa Cruz, PhD, Environmental Studies
Summer examines how increasingly digital landscapes affect workers and ecologies, broadening discussions about the future of work, race, and the limits of data in the face of the climate crisis.
Nicole Wong
MIT, Masters of City Planning, Housing Community and Economic Development
Nicole explores the intersection of affordable housing and climate equity, including building energy retrofit strategies that can reduce energy burden, prevent displacement, and target climate investments to low-income communities of color.