Do What You Love, Help the Planet
Need support to advance your Ph.D. research on the environment or sustainability? The Wrigley Institute can help.
We provide summer funding for graduate students working along environment and sustainability themes, or at the intersection of environment and society. Applications from all disciplines are welcome!
For more information about fellowships, contact Wrigley Institute Executive Director Dr. Jessica Dutton.
Applications for our 2025 graduate fellowships are now open. See below for details on eligibility, deadlines, and how to apply for each option.
Choose the Right Fellowship for You
Expand the items below for eligibility, deadlines, and application links for each fellowship.
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Eligibility: All USC Dornsife Ph.D. students whose work intersects with the environment or sustainability. Awardees must be in residence at USC during the spring semester of their award year.
Award: Spring-semester professional development program, plus a $6,000 summer stipend to support research in Los Angeles, on Catalina Island, or elsewhere in the U.S. or the world.
Fellows may also have the opportunity to mentor students from the Wrigley Institute’s REU program.
Application Deadline: 5:00 p.m. PT, Friday, December 6, 2024
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Eligibility: USC and non-USC graduate students seeking to conduct environmental or sustainability research on Catalina Island
Award: Full waterfront privileges, shared lab space, and shared housing with kitchen facilities at the Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island for a 3-month period between June and September
Priority Deadline: Friday, Feb. 14, 2025 (Applications will be reviewed after the priority deadline if space is still available)
One Fellow’s Experience
Rucha Wani’s graduate fellowship funded her research on the ecological impacts of ocean-based carbon sequestration.
“I am grateful for the support provided by the Wrigley Institute Fellows program. This opportunity has been monumental to my research progress. With the uncertainty of future climate change brewing anxiety within us, it is motivating to create work that brings us closer to finding solutions.”
2024 Graduate Fellows
Zak Breckenridge
Wrigley Institute Fellow
English
Advisor: Devin Griffiths
Project: Pedagogies of Wonder: Ecology, Aesthetics, and Modern Conservation
Yan Yin “Jenny” Cheung
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Marine and Environmental Biology
Advisor: Laura Melissa Guzman
Project: Connecting ecological theory to observational biodiversity data: How does ecosystem stability change across space and time?
Blog: Unraveling the Mysteries of Biodiversity: My Journey into Metacommunity Theory
Maggie Davis
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Sociology
Advisor: Andrew Lakoff
Project: Tracing Contours of Risk: Environment and Economy in Appalachia’s Natural Gas Extraction Landscape
Jacob Denova
Bertics Fellow
Marine and Environmental Biology
Advisor: Suzanne Edmands
Project: Does exposure to sublethal heat and salinity stress increase thermal tolerance in a dynamic environment?
Blog: Feelin’ hot hot hot… How zooplankton survive increasing temperatures
Daria Di Blasi
Bertics Fellow
Marine and Environmental Biology
Advisor: Jed Fuhrman
Project: Exploring the Marine RNA Virosphere and its Potential Role in Carbon Flux
Blog: RNA Viruses in the Ocean
Aidan Diamond
Sonosky Fellow
Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture
Advisor: Natania Meeker
Project: “For a Better Future”: Narrative and Hope at the End of the World
Maya Gomez
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Marine and Environmental Biology
Advisor: Carly Kenkel
Project: Disentangling determinants of growth, calcification and branching in a stony coral
Jaden Morales
Wrigley Institute Fellow
American Studies and Ethnicity
Advisor: Juan De Lara
Project: Techno-Ecologies of Debt, Disaster, and Dispossession in Puerto Rico
Blog: Petro-States: Race, Fossil Fuels, and Disaster in Puerto Rico and Diaspora
The Struggle for Energy Sovereignty in Puerto Rico’s Gubernatorial Election (Op-ed)
Clarissa Olivar
Sonosky Fellow
Chemistry
Advisor: Travis J. Williams
Project: Converting Wind Turbine Waste into Pharmaceutically Relevant Molecules
Juliann Panehal
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Earth Sciences
Advisors: Jan Amend, Roman Barco
Project: Oil Spill Impacts on Marine Microbial Ecosystems in Southern California
Blog: Don’t be Crude – Oil Spill Impacts on Marine Microbial Ecosystems in Southern California
Juliana Pinillos
Sonosky Fellow
Economics
Advisor: Paulina Oliva
Project: The Impact of Slum Upgrading on Natural Disasters’ Vulnerability
Blog: The Long-Term Impact of Slum Upgrading on Vulnerability to Natural Disasters in Medellín
Amber Santoro
Sonosky Fellow
History
Advisor: Bill Deverell
Project: Environmental Racism, Displacement and Transportation in L.A.
Blog: Anti-Freeway Fervor in California: Can History Point Us in a More Equitable Direction?
Maxwell Shiller
Sonosky Fellow
Classics
Advisor: Christelle Fischer-Bovet
Project: The Rhodian Epicenter: Tracing Relationships between the Rhodian Earthquake (c. 227 BCE) and Hellenistic History
Blog: Ancient Energy: Earthquakes, Floods, and Food in the Hellenistic World
Rachel So
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Earth Sciences
Advisor: Sarah Feakins
Project: Temperature and hydroclimate change in Utah over glacial cycles of the last 200,000 years
Yeshvi Tomar
Sonosky Fellow
Chemistry
Advisor: Surya Prakash
Project: Improving upon iron electrodes for rechargeable alkaline batteries
Blog: Harnessing the Power of Iron: A Promising Future for Clean Energy Storage with Iron-Air Batteries
Guanyizhuo Yao
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Anthropology
Advisor: Nancy Lutkehaus
Project: Tar Pits and Time: Unveiling Los Angeles from the Depths of the Pleistocene to the Anthropocene
Blog: Oil, Mammoths, and Museums: Cross-Cultural Insights into Petroleum’s Legacy
Previous Graduate Fellows
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Teagan Baiotto
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Marine & Environmental Biology
Advisor: Laura Melissa Guzman
Project: “Modeling the role that rapid, adaptive evolution can play in conservation decision making under climate change”
Nancy Bush
Sonosky Fellow
Chemistry
Advisor: Megan Fieser
Project: “Understanding dechlorination of PVC plastic: applications to polymer upcycling”
Inessa Chandra
Bertics Fellow
Marine & Environmental Biology
Advisors: Andy Gracey, Sergey Nuzhdin
Project: “The extrinsic and intrinsic signals of aging in giant kelp”
Vanshika Fotedar
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Economics
Advisor: Paulina Oliva
Project: “Energy policy of states: A welfare analysis of preference”
Justin Gaffney
Bertics Fellow
Marine & Environmental Biology
Advisor: Jim Moffett
Project: “Sensing stress in seaweeds”
Kyla Kelly
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Marine & Environmental Biology
Advisor: Dave Hutchins
Project: “Identifying signs of light stress as a tool to survey marine ecosystem health in two globally important marine cyanobacteria”
Lauren Kelly
Wrigley Institute Fellow
History
Advisor: Bill Deverell
Project: “Troubled Waters: A Post-1930 Environmental History of the Owens Valley”
Charles Lehnen
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Biological Sciences, Anthropology
Advisor: Craig Stanford
Project: “Tortoise Terraforming: Can Introduced Galapagos Tortoises Restore Santa Fe Island’s Ecosystem?”
Gaea Morales
Sonosky Fellow
International Relations
Advisor: Wayne Sandholtz
Project: “Agents of Mass Construction: Cities Bridging Local and Global Environmental Governance”
Adib Mustofa
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Marine & Environmental Biology
Advisor: Carly Kenkel
Project: “Illuminating Genetic Population Structure and Symbiont Composition of Acropora millepora Coral in Indonesia”
Learn more about Adib’s research
Rice Rander
Sonosky Fellow
Chemistry
Advisor: Travis Williams
Project: “Sustainable Hydrogen and Fertilizer from Ethanol”
Obin Sturm
Sonosky Fellow
Earth Sciences
Advisor: Sam Silva
Project: “Data-driven discovery of symmetries and conserved properties in air quality models”
Leah Tieger
Sonosky Fellow
English
Advisor: David St. John
Project: “Rain, Wind, Wildfire Ash: The Santa Susana Field Lab and Community Risk Perceptions”
Ann Tran
Sonosky Fellow
American Studies
Advisor: George Sanchez
Project: “The Ocean Remembers: A Transpacific History of the Fishing Boat”
Rucha Wani
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Earth Sciences
Advisor: Will Berelson
Project: “The Fate of Marine Particles during Carbon Sequestration”
Aviva Wolf-Jacobs
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Spatial Sciences
Advisor: John Wilson
Project: “Scoring the Cooling Potential of Public Parks in Metropolitan Los Angeles: A Geospatial Analysis”
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Thabassum Ahammad
Sonosky Fellow
Chemistry
Advisor: Stephen Bradforth
Project: “Photocatalytic Systems for Generating Solar Fuels”
Melody Aleman
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Marine and Environmental Biology
Advisor: Jed Fuhrman
Project: “Size Matters: Exploring the potential contribution of marine particles to total virus production”
Inessa Chandra
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Marine and Environmental Biology
Advisor: Andy Gracey
Project: “Time to Dive into Kelp” (Kelp circadian rhythms)
Yema Conteh
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Psychology
Advisor: Wändi Bruine de Bruin
Project: “Los Angeles County Residents’ Experience with Extreme Heat and Climate Change Concern”
Ran Duan
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Marine and Environmental Biology
Advisor: Dave Hutchins
Project: “Long-term physiological and transcriptomic adaption of marine cyanobacterium Crocosphaera watsonii to iron limitation and ocean warming.”
Lanja Karadaghi
Sonosky Fellow
Chemistry
Advisor: Richard Brutchey
Project: “Recycling Ionic Liquids for Sustainable Manufacturing of Nanomaterials”
Lauren Kelly
Wrigley Institute Fellow
History
Advisor: Bill Deverell
Project: “Imperiled Landscapes: The History of Environmental Harm and Advocacy in the Owens Valley”
CJ Koch
Sonosky Fellow
Chemistry
Advisor: GK Surya Prakash
Project: “Integrated Carbon Capture and Conversion to Renewable Fuels and Feedstocks with Heterogeneous Catalysts”
Sophia Kosloski
Sonosky Fellow
Chemistry
Advisor: Megan Fieser
Project: “Designing Rare Earth Metal Catalysts for the Synthesis of Recyclable Rubbers”
Lauren Lutzke
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Psychology
Advisor: Joe Árvai
Project: “Fake news interventions: Can inducing certain emotions reduce one’s likelihood of spreading misinformation about climate change online?”
Daniel Olivares-Zambrano
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Marine and Environmental Biology
Advisor: Carly Kenkel
Project: “Fine scale genetic differentiation in Breviolum muscatenei endosymbionts of Anthopleura spp. along the intertidal”
Danny Osorio
Wrigley Institute Fellow
Marine and Environmental Biology
Advisor: Laura Gomez-Consarnau
Project: “Sun loving bacteria in the ocean-air interphase”
Maria Ruggeri
Bertics Fellow
Marine and Environmental Biology
Advisor: Carly Kenkel
Project: “Thermal variability and symbiosis in the intertidal – How anemones and their algal partners deal with extreme environments”
Adam Samuel
Sonosky Fellow
Chemistry
Advisor: Smaranda Marinescu
Project: “Closing the Carbon Cycle: Renewably Converting CO2 for Energy Storage”
Sara Spears
Sonosky Fellow
Chemistry
Advisor: Sri Narayan
Project: “Iron Electrodeposition from an Aqueous Sulfate Bath”
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.