Environmental Systems Student Named UCAR Next Generation Policy Fellow

The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) has named environmental systems Ph.D. student Kate DeMarsh a recipient of the 2023 Next Generation Fellowship.

The UCAR fellowship is awarded annually to three graduate students from North American universities who are looking to gain experience in scientific research, policy, or diversity, equity and inclusion.

DeMarsh’s research focuses on community-based air monitoring in Professor Xuan Zhang’s lab. She is working on a project with the San Joaquin Valley Center for Community Air Assessment and Injustice Reduction (SJV CC-AIR) at UC Merced to establish a network of citizen science monitors across the Valley to better characterize air pollution trends and spatial variability. The expansion of monitors allows for comparison of air quality to health outcomes within the region and provides accurate fine particle pollution (PM2.5) exposure information to residents.

DeMarsh holds a bachelor’s degree in biophysics from Scripps College in Claremont and studied environmental science of the Arctic at the Denmark International School, Copenhagen.

As a Policy Fellow, DeMarsh will receive a $10,000 award per semester for two years to help with graduate school costs. The fellowship gives DeMarsh and other fellows the opportunity to learn beside leaders in their fields through collaboration and summer research trips to the National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., DeMarsh’s hometown, or to Washington, D.C.

“This fellowship will allow me the opportunity to explore the space between policy and science and find ways to use science to propel actionable change,” she said. “I am passionate about bridging the gap between scientific research and its application in policymaking.”