ECo Fellows

Earth Commons Fellowships enable interdisciplinary research, education and action on various aspects of environment and sustainability challenges and scholarship.

Post-doctoral fellows

The Earth Commons Academic Postdoctoral Fellowship (ECo Fellows) enables interdisciplinary research on various aspects of environment and sustainability challenges and scholarship (e.g., climate and climate change, biodiversity conservation, food and water security, environmental justice). ECo Fellows are also expected to co-teach with a faculty mentor for one semester. Applications are now closed.

Applicants must propose to conduct research and teach with one or more Earth Commons Faculty Affiliate Mentors. Postdoctoral Fellowships are awarded for two years, although year two is contingent upon successful progress in year one. In accepting the appointment, the fellow is expected to be in residence at Georgetown University except for absences agreed upon with mentor(s). 

Silvia Danielak

This postdoctoral research project traces the rise of environmental peacebuilding and sustainability practices in the context of United Nations peace operations. Building on Danielak’s dissertation research—which looked at the ideas and practice of realizing peace through ‘public works’ infrastructure projects—she will examine communities’ response to specific infrastructure projects pursued by the UN. Specifically, Danielak will conduct additional research with municipal authorities and communities in Bamako (Mali), Nicosia (Cyprus), and Baidoa (Somalia) to understand how local communities engage with, and eventually operationalize, environmental peacebuilding. This fellowship will contribute a planning perspective to current debates on environmental challenges while also centering peace and conflict studies in her teaching and research at Georgetown.

Oswaldo Villena

Availability of food is one of the key components of food security. Published results indicate that the impact of climate change on food security could be significant with a projected range of between 5 million to 170 million additional people at risk of hunger by 2080. Predicting where crop pests and diseases may occur, both now and in the future under different climate scenarios, is a major challenge for crop production, food availability, and indirectly for food security. Estimating the fundamental thermal niche (optimal, minimum, and maximum temperature) is a potential approach to understanding when and where crop pests and diseases could damage food supplies. This information can generate global thermal suitability maps to show how many months each location is suitable for a particular crop pest/disease under current and projected climate scenarios, which is important for crop pest/disease surveillance and agricultural planning.


Faculty Fellows

The ECo Faculty Fellowship supports Georgetown faculty actively pursuing inter- or cross-disciplinary work around the environment and sustainability. Faculty Fellows are engaged in shared, long-term projects for multiple years.

Derek Goldman

Derek Goldman, co-Founding Director of the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics (the Lab) and Professor of Theater and Performance Studies, is developing a ground-breaking initiative with vibrant curricular and public programming elements at the intersection of performance/ multi-disciplinary arts and the environment. Together with the Earth Commons, he will curate an innovative high-profile program of public events, festivals, performances, residencies and concerts at the intersection of environment, climate, intergenerational justice, sustainability, global health and development. He will serve as a core resource to integrate the arts into ECo curricular development initiatives.

Learn more about the Lab

Olúfẹmi O. Táíwò

Olúfẹmi O. Táíwò is an associate Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University who combines Black radical tradition, philosophy of language, social science, materialist thought, and histories of activism and activist thinkers in his explorations of environmental and climate justice

Read more on his website

Post-baccalaureate Fellows

ECo Post-baccalaureate Fellows are Georgetown alumni designing and implementing environmental and sustainability projects on campus and in our local and global communities. Fellows work in collaboration with faculty and other centers at the University and further our university’s mission to care for our common home. Fellowships have been awarded for the 2022-2023 academic year.

“I graduated from the SFS this spring with my BS in Science Technology and International Affairs with a concentration in Energy and the Environment and a minor in Spanish. During my time at Georgetown I was very active in the environmental community and developed a particular interest in sustainable food solutions, co-founding the GU Slow Food chapter and interning at Blue Dasher Farm and lab in South Dakota. My post-bac work will support multiple projects in the development of the Earth Commons and focus on on-campus issues of environment and sustainability. – Shelby Gresch”

“This fellowship is allowing me to reimagine environmental stewardship by critically thinking about how we research, communicate, and act on socio-ecological concerns. It is allowing me to identify allies across various industries, collaboratively innovate, and reconnect with my own heritage in order to look towards a more sustainable future. – Ashanee Kottage”

“My post-bac will focus on undergraduate curriculum development. I plan to to use my experience as a peer education advocate to incorporate peer education as a pedagogical tool in climate justice. With a passion for youth empowerment and the “wicked” problems of environmental justice and higher education, I plan to use my BA in Justice & Peace Studies to guide my work in this field. – Keaton Nara”

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