Ph.D. Student | Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry

Moreen is a first year PhD student in the Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry Graduate Group at UC Davis and is co-advised with Dr. Eliot A. Atekwana. She graduated with a BA in Chemistry and a minor in Creative Writing at Augustana College, IL. Her research interest is in understanding whether there are perceived risks, particularly heavy metals, associated with emerging newer technologies: floating solar panels (FPVs). Eventually, she would want to extend the knowledge obtained from the FPV system to other systems impacted by heavy metals.

Contact Moreen: makomeaampeh@ucdavis.edu

Ph.D. Student | Visiting Scholar

Titash is a visiting scholar in Heather Bischel’s lab at UC Davis. She conducts interdisciplinary research intersecting microbiology, global ecology and sustainability. Some potential topics include climate change adaptation of species, micro-plastics, restoration and diagnosing ecosystem health using biotechnologies. Titash received her bachelors in Molecular Biology from UC Santa Cruz, where she studied bio geochemical cycling via interactions between physical environmental factors and cyanobacterial communities in the Monterey Bay region of the Pacific Ocean. She also has over 5 years of industry experience in developing molecular diagnostic assays and portable devices for field use.

Contact Titash: tchatterj@ucdavis.edu

Ph.D. Student | Energy Graduate Group

Daphne is a Ph.D student in the Energy Graduate Group studying the impacts of renewable energy development on species biodiversity, human attitudes, issues of environmental justice, and energy production targets. Daphne holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Policy from Western Washington University with a minor in Leadership Studies. She also received her Master of Science degree in Cultural and Environmental Resource Management from Central Washington University. As a graduate researcher, Daphne analyzed the complex political debate of local solar power production facility development within a decarbonizing state.

Contact Daphne: dcondon@ucdavis.edu

Ph.D. Student | Geography Graduate Group

Emma is a Ph.D. student in the Geography Graduate Group at UC Davis. Her current research focuses on the siting considerations and technical potential of floating solar photovoltaics. Emma earned her bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies and Planning with a minor in applied statistics from Sonoma State University. Her ultimate goal is to combine her love of Geographic Information Systems and the environment to inform planners and decision makers.

Contact Emma: ekforester@ucdavis.edu

Ph.D. Student | Energy Graduate Group

Noah is a Ph.D. student in the Energy Graduate Group at UC Davis, studying interactions between solar energy and soils – namely, the effect of restorative solar practices on soil carbon sequestration and storage. Noah obtained his Bachelor’s of Science from UC Davis in Civil and Environmental Engineering, with a minor in Sustainability in the Built Environment. Noah studies relationships between soils and solar energy, but to inform management practices that maximize soil carbon sequestration, improve efficiency of solar energy generation, and provide communities with actionable steps to reclaim degraded land.

Contact Noah: nzkrasner@ucdavis.edu

Ph.D. Student | Visiting Scholar

Xiao is a visiting doctoral student in Sarah M. Jordaan’s Lab at McGill University. He is from the department of Hydropower & Water resources in Wuhan University (2020-2023). His research interests include renewable energy economics and policy, renewable energy sustainability, and techno-ecology synergy. In his PhD, he addressed the renewable operations considering its techno-economic-ecology synergy. He has designed a whole framework for long-term renewable investments, forward contract, boundary and self-scheduling in electricity markets. He explores the deployment of renewables worldwide, to effectively limit carbon emissions, from a multi-disciplinary view.

Contact Xiao: xli283@jhu.edu

ResearchGate Profile

Ph.D. Candidate | Energy Graduate Group

Yudi’s research involves the restoration of two utility-scale PV solar farms in the Central Valley, investigating the co-benefits to plant and pollinator communities as well as PV performance. Yudi received his bachelor’s degree in ecology, evolution, and environmental science with minors in wildlife science from Purdue University, and master’s degree in conservation sciences from the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. He was also an intern of Argonne National Laboratory, exploring the ecosystem services of solar-pollinator habitats in the Midwest for two years.

Contact Yudi: evoli@ucdavis.edu

Ph.D. Candidate | Visiting Scholar

Michael is a visiting scholar in Ruth DeFries’ Lab at Columbia University. He translates his interest in the regions where humans and wildlife actively share the landscape into research on the movement ecology of meso-carnivores in North America. As a PhD student based in the DeFries Lab at Columbia University and a Nature Conservancy NatureNet Fellow, his PhD research focuses on the intersection of renewable energy development and biodiversity conservation, specifically on how solar energy infrastructure may influence the movement and habitat selection of bobcats in solar-dense regions of North Carolina. He received an M.A. in Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology from Columbia University, and a B.S. in Natural Resources from Cornell University.

Contact Michael: mol2112@columbia.edu