Every year, the Bailey COE awards fellowships to fund summer (and spring and fall) research opportunities for Wesleyan students across all majors and class years. Most recently, the Bailey COE awarded almost 40 fellowships to Wes students. Learn a little bit more about each, below! Applications for summer 2024, fall 2024 and spring 2025 Bailey COE fellowships will open in January 2024.
Ava Guralnick ‘25 plans to use personal storytelling narratives to combine the perspectives of Asian American Studies and Environmental Studies. She will examine the ways in which various spatial and temporal geographies of land can provide new ways to understand and locate the interwoven histories of imperial conflict, connection, and new kinship/family making processes.
Zoe Todd ‘27 will travel to Maryland to collect and sample leaves from the forest floor at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Her research involves studying the sizes and shapes of leaves and inputting data to calibrate digital leaf physiognomy (DiLP) to help reconstruct past climates and ecological conditions. This research is a continuation of her work for Marcus Brown, through Dana Royer’s Lab.
Ting Tsai ‘27 will work on Forklift Dance Studio’s upcoming project The Way of Water, which explores the global climate issues regarding water and the people who steward it. This summer, Tsai and other members of Forklift Dance will be organizing interviews, documentation, support staff and administrative duties, and materials for future programs in order to take action towards the global project on water.
Katie Sykes ’27 will spend the summer tending to WILD Wes.
Tamira Le ‘26 is developing a research project which explores how environmental organizations in Jordan navigate the country’s political system to address environmental issues. The research aims to understand the unique challenges and strategies of environmental activists in a politically complex region like Jordan, thus offering insights into how grassroots movements can contribute to sustainable environmental governance in different political contexts.
Ronan Costello ’25 will explore placed-based community resistance and revitalization strategies to help address and expose historically racist housing practices and environmental injustices in Sheridan Hollow, a neighborhood in downtown Albany, New York.
Emma Hotchkiss ‘25 is working on comparative morphometrics of the Eastern and Western Balcknose Dace complexes in the Midwest and south. Emma will be researching in Ann Arbor, MI, at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Ichthyology Collection. She will be scanning specimens of fishes and then digitizing coordinates to compare body shapes among populations and between species.
Joseph DeLuca ‘25 will be working on extracting DNA and doing qpcr for RNA seq experiments on eastern blacknose dace fish. He will be prepping samples for genomic analyses to test hypotheses about post-glacial colonization and genomic effects.
Sun Boonbhati ‘26 will be engaging in comparative environmental policy research. Boonbhati will focus on Central Asia where nations heavily depend on exports of oil and natural gas but are also affected considerably by climate change, and will also consider the influence of external influences from China and Russia on these nations.
Sadie Woodruff ‘26 will work with Coastal Mountains Land Trust and Megunticook Watershed Association to research an invasive aphid, Hemlock Wolly Adelgid, and engage the local community in connecting and protecting the lake they love.
Tamira Le ‘26 will engage in a project exploring place-based community resistance and revitalization strategies to help address and expose historically racist housing practices and environmental injustices in Sheridan Hollow, an impoverished and polluted predominantly black neighborhood in downtown Albany, NY.
Oana Chevre ‘26 will deliver and provide instruction for using scientific educational materials for primary school students in Madagascar. These materials are meant for enrichment to their current curricula. In addition, these new and innovative materials can act as a springboard in launching the childrens’ curiosity into related topics, enhancing the overall story of the interrelatedness and vulnerability of ecosystems. By increasing science education and knowledge, this program is a positive move as the Malagasy continue to make decisions in dealing with climate change.
Natalie Angstadt ‘25 plans to participate in an archaeological dig at the El Campanario Archaeology Project, lead by Jose Pena, in Huarmey, Peru. In addition to excavation work on-site learning up-to-date theories and methods, the program has a focus on bioarchaeology laboratory work doing osteology analysis and paleopathology to reveal ancient access to resources and health conditions.
Muhammad “Eja” Hamid ‘25 is working on a project which investigates the mechanism of cis-chlordane toxicity in motor neurons, neurons affected in ALS, to model the potential pathway disruption that may be involved in ALS progression. Cis-chlordane is a compound found in common US pesticides between the 40s and the 80s. Although no longer employed in current pesticides, its persistence in the environment poses a threat as people with ALS are more likely to contain this compound in their blood.
Milo Chamberlin ‘26 will examine Los Angeles Urban Policy and Ecological history through the case study of the Verdugos mountains. Chamberlain will develop a formal policy report with a comprehensive social and ecological history of the Verdugos region expressed through maps, showing how legal conventions and demographic trends have affected the region’s ecology over time. He will show how different trends have led to the development social movements and community-based organizations in the region.
Miles Danielski ‘27 will look at a species of seagrass that is invasive to the United States Virgin Islands, and will compare the amount of carbon it stores, as well as its rate of decomposition, to species native to the region. Danielski will travel to Saint Thomas, and work in collaboration with Dr. Kristin Grimes from the Center of Marine and Environmental Studies (CMES) at the University of the Virgin Islands (USVI) and Dr. Anna Martini from the Department of Geology, Amherst College.
Michael Fadugbagbe ‘25 is creating an exhibition that expresses personal and environmental issues related to oil in the Niger Delta. This research project will culminate in an installation for gallery or digital spaces, presenting a visceral experience of water contamination and showcasing objects integral to the residents’ lives. By bringing attention to Africa’s environmental issues, particularly Nigeria, the project aims to engage a global audience, fostering awareness and inciting change through art.
Marshall Schulman ‘25 will embark on a research project, studying different aspects of bullfighting and talking to experts like Professor Kari Weil. The goal of this project is to shed light on the deeper cultural and ethical questions surrounding this practice, including its impact on animals, the reflection of entertainment on the viewer, and how it shapes national identity.
Lacy George ‘27 is conducting a narrative-based analysis of the ways in which food injustice contributes to cycles of poverty and how these issues are approached differently in different countries. She will examine how food production, waste, and distribution is conceptualized in the United States.
Raimi Bagwell ‘26 will be working with Cultivating Justice, a community-led organization meeting community-identified needs around food security, land access, environmental justice, civic engagement, power building, and pathways towards agriculture for people underrepresented in Connecticut’s farming community.
Emily Appelbaum ‘25, Kellyn Guzman ‘27 and Serenity Haseltine ‘26 will be tilling the soil at Long Lane Farm
Kriti Lodha ‘26 will evaluate the solutions that have been developed by the Indian government to analyze the extent of their effectiveness in improving the air quality index of the country. Lodha plans to conduct primary and secondary research, along with advanced statistical analyses to discuss the solutions that have been implemented vs. the effect they have had on the air quality parameters.
Kellen Horst ‘26 will be doing lab work identifying fossils in sediment from off the coast of Greenland. Horst’s goal is to see if there are any correlations to be made between the climate millions of years ago and the climate of today, with a specific focus on the Greenland ice sheet.
Anisah Colon ‘25 and Catherine Sherman ‘25 will be working with FRESH New London, a tiny but mighty food justice organization that works through three buckets: Empowering Youth, Connecting Community, and Growing Food to dismantle systemic oppression and build food sovereignty.
Kallan Tripician ‘26 will travel to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands to collect data to analyze to determine exactly how much carbon mangroves are storing and where this carbon is coming from, which will provide insight for conservation and rehabilitation efforts.
Jorge Cabrera ‘26 will research if the presence of sap-feeding bugs provides caterpillars with a safe haven from birds on white oak trees. This project will build upon previous research which suggests that sap-feeding bugs can provide caterpillars with a safe haven from parasitism by inhibiting the tree from releasing odors which can attract parasitizing wasps, and research also suggesting that birds also utilize odors released from trees to find prey.
Jeet Patel ‘25 will be engaged in an ongoing research project to monitor the Juneau Icefield. Patel will navigate alpine terrain and examine its ecosystems to better understand how this icefield is being affected by today’s climate and what implications that could have on our sea levels and ocean.
Jasmin Fridman ‘25 will be using a microscope to look at thinly-sliced pieces of sediment which contain green iron-rich grains known as glauconite. By looking at the shapes of the grains, and the way the green grains interact with other minerals in the surrounding sediment, Fidman will explore potential factors for glauconite formation, which can help me interpret the climate dynamics of the environment at points in the geologic timescale.
Isadora Leviton ‘25 will be conducting research in the Greater Hartford area regarding how educators define a sustainable future both for themselves and for their students. Leviton will take specific note of the school’s surrounding communities demographics in order to understand the intersectional nature of educational and environmental justice work.
Hartmut Doerwaldt ‘25 will research how removing certain insect species might change the survival chances of others, and determine how this could affect the overall health of an ecosystem. Doerwaldt will specifically examine Oak trees, which play host to entire micro-ecosystems by providing food and habitats for a myriad of insects including aphids and caterpillars, many of which affect one another.
Lily Robbins ‘26 will be working with New Britain ROOTS, an organization that cultivates community connections and equitable access to quality food through empowerment and learning with the people who grow, prepare, and eat food in New Britain.
B Frankenstein ‘25 will analyze microscopic fossils in sediment samples from the Greenland ice sheet. The fossils found in each sample will reveal what type of life was present during the time the sample originated from. This will be paired with chemical analyses to paint a complete picture of what the environment looked like throughout the ice sheet’s history.
Elsa Cutler ‘27 will research blue Carbon (coastal marine) ecosystems. Blue carbon provides a habitat for organisms that go through chemical processes that either make calcium carbonate minerals, a process that releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, or breaks them down, a process that stores the carbon dioxide, reducing its atmospheric concentration. Through studying how these ecosystems function in the US Virgin Islands, researchers will be able to better understand the carbon budget of these ecosystems and how they are impacting the climate.
Constance Hirwa ‘25 will investigate the role of exposure to Phthalates, chemicals added to many plastic and consumer products, in breast tissue structure and cell signaling at puberty and later in life. This will provide new evidence on whether small amounts of phthalates over time influence breast cancer risk. The goal of this research is to inform chemical regulations and public health to reduce environmental exposures that may impact women’s health.
Cadence Cole ‘26 will be participating in an archaeological field school in Labor, Croatia in order to study human remains in an attempt to learn about the significance of Labor during Early Antiquity (5th century BCE) and the Early Middle Ages (early 9th century BCE).
Billi Newmyer ‘25 will be engaging in a project, led by Architecture students in collaboration with WILD Wes management, to establish an inviting community space at Wesleyan’s permaculture site. Through this hands-on initiative, they will use their passion for sustainable design into a tangible, ecologically-conscious space that seeks to redefine the surrounding community’s relationship to the site.