Every year, the COE awards fellowships to fund summer research opportunities for Wesleyan students across all majors and class years. Joel Rader ’23 is a film and environmental studies major who spent summer 2022 investigating how resilience has been “seeded” within the social-ecological system of the island of Culebra, Puerto, Rico, in the wake of the devastation wrought by hurricanes Irma and Maria. To view Joel’s amazing fellowship project website, click here!
Tell us about your summer research project!
My project explored the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico, as a Social-Ecological System (SES), including the integral contributions to SES resilience made by small business owners, activists, scientists, and environmentalists. The project focuses in particular on the significant work that the nonprofit organization Sociedad Ambiente Marino (SAM) does toward resilience efforts in Culebra. SAM’s efforts are not just important for the Culebra SES itself, but could be a replicable model for other island communities throughout the Caribbean that are among the most exposed to climate change impacts today. Among SAM’s important current projects is the restoration of endangered coral species that are important to this region of the Caribbean.
Every year, the COE awards fellowships to fund summer research opportunities for Wesleyan students across all majors and class years. English major Ava Danieu ’23 spent the summer as a
Congratulations to our 25 ENVS majors graduating with Wesleyan’s Class of 2022! Always amazing to recognize the breadth of our ENVS students, from majors across the university, and the depth of their academic research and interests! Find out more, below!
Katie Toner ’20 is a conservation easement steward at Heritage Conservancy, a nonprofit land trust based in southeastern Pennsylvania. Katie received her BA from Wesleyan in environmental studies and earth and environmental sciences.
Kelly Lam ’19 is the communications program coordinator at The Environmental Grantmakers Association, an
Ron Meehan ’21 is the policy and advocacy manager for the Food Bank of Alaska. He graduated from Wesleyan with a BA in environmental studies and government.