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Meet students who spent their summer pursuing sustainability research

Through programs offered by the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, undergraduate students from Stanford and institutions across the U.S. worked on projects that tackled pressing environmental challenges and advanced fundamental knowledge about our planet. Here’s an inside look at their experiences.

A large group of students smiling outside a Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability building
A large cohort of undergraduate students participated in sustainability research programs over the summer, engaging with topics like energy, civil engineering, oceans, social sciences and more. (Image credit: Xing Tan)

This year, more than 70 undergraduate students engaged in summer research to develop new skills and deepen their understanding of Earth, climate, and society. Through five programs part of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, undergraduates explored sustainability-related issues in disciplines ranging from energy and civil engineering to oceans and social sciences.

The five programs include Mentoring Undergraduates in Interdisciplinary Research (MUIR), organized by the Woods Institute for the Environment; Summer Undergraduate Program on Energy Research (SUPER), organized by the Precourt Institute for Energy; Sustainability, Engineering and Science - Undergraduate Research (SESUR); Hopkins Internships - Summer Undergraduate Research Funds (HI-SURF); and Sustainability Undergraduate Research in Geoscience and Engineering Program (SURGE).

The SURGE program is funded by the National Science Foundation and welcomes students from other U.S. institutions, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds doing research for the first time. The other programs receive funding from the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE).

Across all the programs, undergraduates contributed directly to research projects under the guidance of Stanford scholars. They also participated in shared group activities such as research seminars and graduate school workshops.

The large cohort allowed participants to learn from each other in addition to a variety of mentors. Building this community of support, in contrast with the sometimes isolating nature of individual research, was one of the main goals of bringing the five programs together last year.

Whether pursuing a scientific interest, trying out new tools, or discerning a potential career path, students used this summer to grow both academically and personally. Many hope to expand on the work they started, while others are moving forward with newfound clarity on their discipline. As they wrapped up their projects, three undergraduates shared insights about their research, personal growth, and how they made the most of the experience.

Evelyn Pung, ’27, SESUR participant

Intent on having a widespread impact, Evelyn Pung focuses on work that simultaneously improves the health of people and the environment. (Image credit: Drew Bird)

For Evelyn Pung, the motivation to research the link between environmental quality and human health was a personal one.

She grew up 10 minutes away from the ocean in Long Beach, California, but she rarely took trips to the beach. “The pollution at our beaches had gotten so bad, my parents didn’t want me to go, out of health concerns,” she said.

This summer through the SESUR program, Pung got involved in a project in the lab of civil and environmental engineering Professor Nick Ouellette. With her mentor, PhD student Sophie Bodek, she studied the movement of tiny plastic particles in bodies of water. Understanding how these pollutants travel through water in different environments can inform efforts to limit their spread.

Pung said that the freedom to actively control the experiment, combined with supportive mentorship from Bodek, made the research especially fulfilling.

“This whole experience has been a gratifying learning opportunity,” she said.

Trent La Sage, ’25, SURGE participant

With a natural curiosity and no-nonsense approach, Trent La Sage is pursuing research that brings together physics, Earth science, and materials science. (Image credit: Drew Bird)

Trent La Sage, an undergraduate student at the University of Florida, conducted research that brings together physics, Earth science, and materials science.

His project tackled a common problem in materials science: Insights about certain materials are not easily accessible to researchers. While findings about materials at ambient conditions can be uploaded to a public database for other scientists to reference, no such platform exists for materials at extreme conditions.

To address this, La Sage and other scholars worked on a program that uses computer vision and large language models like Chat GPT to pull data from published research papers, which can then be applied to work on future computational models.

The opportunity to collaborate on a large team was a highlight for La Sage, who appreciated the variety of viewpoints. He brought his own distinct perspectives to the group – both in discipline, as the only physics and astrophysics major, and in experience, having started his undergraduate education after several years in the workforce.

“It was very helpful to have people from other backgrounds. And we’ve been able to get a lot of things done that I wouldn’t have been able to get done myself,” he said.

Juan Martín Cevallos López, ’26, HI-SURF participant

For Juan Martín Cevallos López, what started as a sense of wonder for the ocean has flourished into a passion for oceanography and research that bridges disciplines. (Image credit: Erica Wirth)

After recurring moments of awe and discovery in his oceans-related classes at Stanford, Juan Martín Cevallos López, who prefers to be referenced by his first and middle name, discovered a passion for ocean science. He knew he wanted to get involved in research at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability’s Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove and applied to the HI-SURF program.

Juan Martín contributed to three different projects – studying the impacts of ocean acidification on a particular species of seaweed, the development of bat star larvae in various temperatures, and the role of crustose coralline, a key component of coral reefs, in temperate environments such as Monterey Bay.

Throughout his research, Juan Martín was thrilled to be able to combine his knowledge of oceanography with other scholars’ expertise in marine biology and ecology, and he is eager to continue studying the ocean.

“I’m excited to see where it takes me, because it can literally take you anywhere,” he said.

Learn more about Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability summer undergraduate research programs and how to apply.

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