Five young scholars advancing breakthrough research that addresses climate solutions will join Harvard University as Environmental Fellows this July.

Environmental Fellows are recent doctorate recipients with a proven interest in interdisciplinary collaboration. They work for two years with Harvard faculty in any school or department, while strengthening connections across the University and around the globe.

“The climate challenge demands solutions that will stem from a wide range of disciplines. You see this reflected in the cohort of talented young scholars we are welcoming to campus,” said Jim Stock, Vice Provost for Climate and Sustainability and the director of the Salata Institute. “They are the next generation of climate leaders.”

Introducing the 2025-2027 class of fellows:

Karl M. Aspelund (PhD, Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) will work with Joseph Aldy at the Harvard Kennedy School. In addition to continuing his research on demand for additionality in conservation markets, he will begin new projects on the energy transition and sustainable development, including the design of tradeable energy tax credits, competitive innovation subsidy schemes, and clean energy subsidies in low-income countries with substantial captive generation.​

Jiameng Lai (PhD, Soil and Crop Science, Cornell University) will collaborate with Professor Paul Moorcroft to investigate the spatiotemporal patterns of Amazon rainforest productivity and their environmental controls, bringing her unique interdisciplinary expertise to one of Earth’s most critical ecosystems.​

Cameron MacDonald (PhD, Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, Princeton University) will collaborate with Professor Zhiming Kuang in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. He intends to apply a mixture of idealized cloud-resolving simulations and theory to understand the basic structure of Earth’s Hadley Cell and intertropical convergence zone. MacDonald plans to leverage this newfound understanding to study the emerging responses of these features to climate change, such as the expansion of the Hadley Cell and the narrowing of the intertropical convergence zone. ​

Nkosi Muse (PhD, Environmental Science and Policy, University of Miami) will work with Caroline Buckee of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Satchit Balsari of Harvard Medical School within their Salata research cluster on intensifying heat in South Asia. His research will advance understanding of intensifying humid heat hazards and work toward improving place-specific adaptation and communication solutions.

Guglielmo Zappalà (PhD, Economics, Paris School of Economics) will work with Professor Charles Taylor at the Harvard Kennedy School. His research will focus on two core areas of climate adaptation: examining adaptive margins that connect locations across space, such as human migration and trade, and investigating the frictions and constraints that can hinder adaptation, thereby exacerbating vulnerability to climate change.​

For a list of current fellows, click here.