Meet this year's Sustainability Fellows!
UCSB and the Carbon Neutrality Initiative, or CNI, are devoted to the goal of UC-wide carbon neutrality by the year 2025. Every year, the Bonnie Reiss Carbon Neutrality Student Fellowship Program funds student-led projects that support this goal. CNI Fellows are chosen by UCSB Sustainability. This year’s fellows are working on collaboration, electrification, social and cultural change, sea level rise adaptation, and J.E.D.I. (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion). Meet this year’s fellows, Timothy King, Maria Castillejo, Jay Miranda, and Lukas Olesinski.
Timothy King
Our UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative Ambassador/Student Engagement Fellow, Timothy King, is a fourth year undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Economics and Environmental Studies. Originally from Downey, CA, he chose to pursue work towards a sustainable future having grown up seeing the environmental degradation of the community around him. As the UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative Ambassador/Student Engagement Fellow he works to increase communication and collaboration between student networks, campus administration, and other notable organizations on pushing the campus towards carbon neutrality and sustainability. Additionally, he works to raise awareness throughout the student body of the programs, policies, and resources involving sustainability on campus, and more specifically, the current push towards carbon neutrality, via electrification and offsets.
Maria Castillejo Huanosta
My name is Maria Castillejo Huanosta, and I am a third-year double majoring in Political Science and English. I was interested in the Climate Neutrality Initiative Internship because it allows students to engage with sustainable practices on campus and how exactly decisions are formed. I am interested in engaging students, and other community members about a JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) focused approach to how we create solutions to climate change. As a fellow, I want to focus on social changes and changing the culture of how we view carbon neutrality. When it comes to large-scale, comprehensive policies, it can be difficult for us to imagine what that would be like for the campus and community. Also, since many of us may only be here for two or four years, I want students to be able to be climate change savvy, look at policies, and understand what exactly it means to understand policy change. As a fellow, I want to bridge that gap between our sustainable policies and how students can get involved with our policies after graduation.
Jay Miranda
Hi my name is Jay Miranda, I’m a 4th year Biology major here at UCSB. If I’m not studying then you’ll usually find me drawing, painting, or spending time with my friends. I grew up in the Imperial Valley, a small desert valley in Southern California. Inspired by my love for nature and science, I came to UCSB with the hopes of learning about climate change so that I can help find solutions to the problems it brings. I’m currently involved in research on plant genetics and do conservation/restoration work for the Coal Oil Point Reserve but I wanted to focus on both the social and environmental impacts of climate change so I applied for the CNI Climate Resilience internship. As a Climate Resilience Fellow, I’ll first be focusing on public outreach and engagement regarding UCSB’s Sea Level Rise Adaptation Plan in order to inform the public about the plan and encourage them to give feedback. We split the plan between us three interns and I’m focusing on the areas in the plan near the Devereux Slough and West Campus Bluffs. After that, I’ll be focusing on J.E.D.I. (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) based climate resilience planning to ensure that the UCSB area adapts to climate change in a way that is fair for everyone. In order to do this I’ll be identifying and engaging stakeholders to determine their needs and bolster community participation in the planning process. I believe that we’ll need to work together and support everyone’s needs if we’re to successfully adapt to climate change and I hope that my work can serve as a step towards that goal.
Lukas Olesinski
Lukas Olesinski is an environmental studies and earth science double major. He was interested in taking this position to better develop and establish UCSB’s sea level response. Throughout his
years at UCSB he has gained a lot of insight and knowledge regarding climate change’s greatest threats. Long-term sea-level rise was an issue that he found particularly alarming and urgent. As a result, he found that this position allows him to further his knowledge and implement the knowledge that he has gained into practice. As a CNI fellow working on sea level rise, specifically, as it relates to the campus, he will be helping to develop the long-term sea-level response as well as work on outreach. This will be done by engaging the community and further cooperation between experts. Through his work, Lukas hopes to help the university generate the best possible plan to ensure that the environment and university are best prepared for future climate and sea level change.
This year’s CNI fellows are passionate about collaboration, outreach, and equity. They are excited to work on projects to reduce UCSB’s carbon footprint. Together, we can make a change!
The UC Global Food Initiative (GFI) is a system-wide effort across all University of California campuses to identify innovative best practices targeting all aspects of local and global food systems. The initiative is in place to develop, demonstrate, and export solutions tackling food security, health, and sustainability. Each year, student fellows take on projects to improve food systems. Their work has given our campus the opportunity to improve food security, health, and sustainability for our community. Meet the 2022-23 GFI Fellows, Andrew Hopkins, Nayeli Campos, and Christine Afework.
Andrew Hopkins
Andrew Hopkins is a fourth-year undergraduate student majoring in Political Science while also pursuing a minor in History. As a transfer student, he has made it an objective to immerse himself in the UCSB campus experience while also contributing to meaningful positive changes in the local community. Before becoming a Global Food Initiative Ambassador, he always maintained a passion for helping others and protecting the environment as much as possible. As someone who has been fortunate enough to benefit from resources such as CalFresh, it has inspired him to ensure that other people in need of help receive that assistance. Andrew gravitated towards the Global Food Initiative due to the opportunity it provides to help create sustainable resources for future generations of UCSB students. In the role of the Global Food Initiative Ambassador, Andrew will be responsible for encouraging two-way communication and collaboration between student leaders working on sustainable food systems, food security, and basic needs, campus staff and faculty, and the community. He will also work in conjunction with the basic needs communications team to help raise awareness about programs and services related to these areas, especially among our student community.
Nayeli Campos
Hi my name is Nayeli Campos and I am a fourth-year Sociology major with a minor in Language and Speech Technologies. My GFI project focuses on assisting UCSB Sustainability with the launch of our new Healthy Vending Program. This program is a result of the UC Systemwide Sustainability Steering Committee voting to advance a policy to increase healthy options in campus vending machines. When I first learned about this program, I was thrilled to get the opportunity to work on making healthier food options more accessible throughout campus. I also love the fact that I am able to combine meaningful outreach work with the collection of data and the development of marketing materials within this internship. I learned that this program had been in the works for a very long time, so I am so thankful I got to join the team to help this vision come to life. Some things that I will be focusing on this year will be collecting baseline data and research, and meeting with stakeholders to build a systemwide best practice toolkit for issues related to marketing, language use, and imagery. Being a GFI fellow has already been so rewarding, I am so excited to be part of a system-wide effort that is tackling food security, health and sustainability, all while making meaningful connections along the way!
Christine Afework
Hi my name is Christine Afework and I am a 4th year undergraduate studying Psychological and Brain Sciences. I was interested in this role because I knew it would be an amazing opportunity to grow as a leader and create large-scale change in accessibility to healthy food for University of California students. My work as a Global Food Initiative fellow focuses on the implementation of healthier vending practices across UC campuses through the new Healthy Vending Program at UCSB. My current project involves the development of a best practices toolkit outlining various methods of improving vending machines. I am happy to be working in such a meaningful initiative that combines my interest in data analysis, outreach, and research.