Meet the 2025 Wrigley Institute Graduate Fellows
The USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability announces the selection of its 2025 cohort of Wrigley Institute Graduate Fellows. This year’s Fellows are Ph.D. students from disciplines across the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts & Sciences, from biological and Earth sciences to sociology, English, and more. All are tackling environmental and sustainability questions through the lens of their particular field.
Throughout the spring semester, Fellows will participate in professional development activities arranged by the Wrigley Institute. These will cover topics such as inclusive mentoring, diverse career paths, and communicating research to the public. Each Fellow will then receive a summer stipend to help support the continuation of their Ph.D. research. Fellows will complete their field experiences on USC’s main Los Angeles campus, at the Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island, and around the world.
Learn more about the Wrigley Institute Graduate Fellowship >>
Meet the 2025 Fellows
Josh Beckelhimer
English
Advisor: Devin Griffiths
Project: “Ecological Cosmologies: Literature for Building Unlikely Collaborations in the Climate Crisis”
Jenna Blyler
Psychology
Advisor: Joe Árvai
Project: “How language, power, and trust influence risky environmental decision-making”
Victoria Cassady
Earth Sciences
Advisor: Frank Corsetti
Project: “Not so boring: The potential of endolithic microboring by cyanobacteria and algae to transform carbonate mineral fabric in microbial sediments entering the fossil record”
Raquel Delerme
Sociology
Advisor: Brittany Friedman
Project: “Set Ablaze: Incarcerated Women as Firefighters on the Frontlines of California’s Climate Crisis”
Jenna Dilworth
Biological Sciences
Advisor: Carly Kenkel
Project: “Identifying research and management priorities for coral reef restoration in the Caribbean”
Madison Fette
Chemistry
Advisor: Travis Williams
Project: “Chemical Recycling of Thermoset Composite Materials”
Mia Franks
Biological Sciences
Advisor: Noelle Held
Project: “Quantifying Nutrient Limitation of Microbes at the San Pedro Ocean Time Series”
Andy Kampfschulte
Spatial Sciences Institute
Advisor: Jonathan Tan
Project: “Spatial and Statistical Considerations in Environmental Health”
Bradley Mackett
Biological Sciences
Advisor: David Hutchins
Project: “Seasonal Variability in Toxic Algal Blooms: A Comparative Analysis of Fall and Spring Events and their Susceptibility to Climate Change”
Catherine Odendahl
Earth Sciences
Advisors: Seth John
Project: “Modeling the Impact of Iron Regeneration Dynamics on Carbon Sequestration During Ocean Fertilization”
Tyeshia Sapp
Chemistry
Advisor: Megan Fieser
Project: “Gaining Value from Waste Poly(Vinyl Chloride) with Silylium Ions”
Kimberly Schoenberger
Biological Sciences
Advisor: Suzanne Edmands
Project: “Gene expression and disease susceptibility of the Channel Island fox”
Priyanka Soni
Earth Sciences
Advisor: David Bottjer
Project: “Forecasting Future Mollusk Invasions: Insights from late Pleistocene Community Dynamics in Southern California”
Zohaib Suhail
Chemistry
Advisor: G. K. Surya Prakash
Project: “An Integrated Methanol Fuel Cell Process for Green Hydrogen Production with a Commercial Heterogenous Catalyst”
Bernadeth Tolentino
Biological Sciences
Advisor: Sergey Nuzhdin
Project: “Enhancing Thermal Tolerance of Giant Kelp with Bacterial Inoculation”
Jason Vu
American Studies and Ethnicity
Advisor: Adrian De Leon
Project: “Afterliving: Development in the Ruins of Vietnam”
Wrigley Institute Graduate Fellows are generously funded through the USC Dornsife Wrigley Institute Graduate Fellowship, the Victoria J. Bertics Graduate Fellowship Fund, and the Diane Sonosky Montgomery and Jerol Sonosky Graduate Fellowship for Environmental Sustainability Research.