© Matthew Garrett
From left: Sharon Smith, Shereen D'Souza, Sarah Uhl and Laura Bozzi.
Four F&ES students have been named Switzer Fellows.
They are doctoral candidate Laura Bozzi and master’s students Shereen D’Souza, Sharon Smith and Sarah Uhl. They are among 20 Switzer Environmental Fellows who will each receive $15,000 from the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation, which recognizes emerging environmental leaders.
Jen Sokolove, chair of the board of the Switzer Foundation, said, “The heart of the Switzer Foundation is about supporting environmental leaders who are able to think across traditional disciplinary boundaries and shape the future of environmental science, policy and study.”
Laura Bozzi’s research addresses mountaintop removal mining for coal in Appalachia. She has investigated the legal, regulatory, economic and technological factors that have combined to make mountaintop removal one of the most contentious environmental issues in the United States. She’s interested in how policies on surface mining have shaped how and where mining takes place, as well as how local citizens, environmental groups and industry have responded to those policies over time. She graduated from Yale College with a degree in ecology and evolutionary biology and holds a master of environmental management degree from F&ES. Before returning to Yale for her Ph.D., Laura was a groundfish fishery policy analyst at the Pacific Fishery Management Council. She also was a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Science Advisory Board.
Shereen D’Souza works to support justice and equity in global and local food and farming systems. Her research focuses on how best to support poor farming communities participating in carbon-finance initiatives in the Global South. This summer she conducted research in Kitale, Kenya. Before graduate school, she spent 10 years as a food-justice activist and advocate and spent three years as an agriculture volunteer with the Peace Corps in Honduras. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, a certificate in permaculture design from Merritt College and a certificate in ecological horticulture from the U.C. Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.
Sharon Smith is an organizer and trainer in movements for global justice, human rights and environmental sustainability. As a program advisor for the Brower Youth Awards at Earth Island Institute, she co-produced an Emmy Award-winning series of short films, called Natural Heroes, which featured the inspiring stories of people committed to the environment. The series has been shown on PBS and the Sundance Channel, reaching an estimated 90 million viewers. She is the author of the book, The Young Activist’s Guide to Building a Green Movement and Changing the World, published by Ten Speed Press. She holds a bachelor’s degree from U.C. Berkeley in anthropology and in conservation and resource studies.
Sarah Uhl is studying the health effects of toxic chemicals, particularly endocrine disruptors. Her research explores the degree to which factors, such as an individual’s age, race and socioeconomic status, are associated with a susceptibility to the metabolic and reproductive health effects of phthalates and bisphenol-A. She spent four years working for the nonprofit Clean Water Action, where she spearheaded the Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Connecticut, an alliance of citizens, health professionals, workers, environmental justice leaders, educators, scientists and faith communities committed to replacing toxic chemicals with safer alternatives in everyday products and in industry. She holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental and evolutionary biology and in environmental studies from Dartmouth College.
