Twenty students have been selected for the inaugural cohort of the Sustainable Futures Fellows program, which engages interdisciplinary student teams in a unique 15-week exploration of the sustainability challenges and opportunities across key sectors of the economy.
The students come from 8 academic colleges and include both undergraduate and graduate students from 15 diverse disciplines. Collaborating in teams, they will study the future of areas such as energy, urban planning, textiles, manufacturing and the blue economy.
Working alongside a faculty mentor, each team will present a final report on its work at the Celebration of Sustainability on April 22.
The 2025 Sustainable Futures Fellows Cohort is:
Solar Energy Team
- Juwan Ha, graduate student in College of Design
- Raja Manikam Bandari, graduate student in College of Design
- Melissa Gold, graduate student in College of Natural Resources
- Sanchana Bandari, graduate student in College of Design
- Faculty Mentor: Dr. Soolyeon Cho, College of Design, and Art Samberg, NC Clean Energy Technology Center
Urban Planning Team
- Elise Boorom, undergraduate student in College of Sciences
- Gracie Wood, undergraduate student in College of Design
- Gabi Ortiz, undergraduate student in College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
- Brooke La Fuente, undergraduate student in College of Sciences
- Faculty Mentor: Dr. Veronica Mbaneme and Dr. Olgha Qaqish, College of Engineering
Circular Economy Team
- Dylan Gretok, undergraduate student in College of Engineering and the Poole College of Management
- Aaron Logan, undergraduate student in College of Engineering, undergraduate student in College of Engineering and the Poole College of Management
- Jazmyn Fuentez, undergraduate student in College of Engineering and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Ethan Maltby, undergraduate student in College of Engineering
- Faculty Mentor: Dr. Chris Osburn, College of Sciences
Sustainable Textiles Team
- Shubham Negi, graduate student in the College of Engineering
- Adwait Joshi, graduate student in the College of Engineering
- Satyajeet Phalke, graduate student in the College of Engineering
- Nicole Fiske, undergraduate student in the Wilson College of Textiles
- Faculty Mentor: Dr. Corey Kiassat, College of Engineering
Manufacturing Team
- Sahil Farmah, undergraduate student in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Kaia Andrews, undergraduate student in the College of Engineering
- Noell Boling, undergraduate student in the College of Sciences
- Tochukwu Aniekwensi, undergraduate student in the College of Engineering
- Faculty Mentor: Dr. Lucian Lucia, College of Natural Resources
The Fellows program is coordinated by NC State’s Sustainable Futures Initiative and is financially supported by NC State Continuing and Lifelong Education through the redesign of the United Parcel Service (UPS) Foundation Endowment agreement.
Christopher Galik, professor and director of the Sustainable Futures Initiative and deputy executive director of the Climate and Sustainability Academy notes the importance of students reimagining a more sustainable future.
“The Sustainable Futures Fellows Program is all about creating space for students to imagine bold, innovative futures,“ Galik said. “This new program will empower students to lead the way, imagining forward-oriented solutions to our most pressing challenges.”
This post was originally published in Sustainability News.
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