Two Geography professors were selected for the 麻豆影院鈥檚 Sustainability Research Initiative Fellowship
Katherine Siegel, and Keith Musselman along with 18 other researchers will participate in a year-long incubator designed to bring CU 麻豆影院 researchers together to collaborate and conduct research that addresses complex, multidimensional, boundary-spanning sustainability issues.听听
The SRI Research Fellowship is built on a simple premise: when talented people are given the space, time and community to dream big together, transformative ideas emerge. Sustainability challenges are complex and multidimensional, and addressing them requires intellectual approaches that cross boundaries, challenge assumptions and leverage diverse perspectives.听
This fellowship is designed to cultivate exactly that environment. This first cohort of fellows includes 20 researchers from departments and research institutes across campus. Through a series of intensive trainings and retreats, the fellows will spend the year building community, practicing future-oriented thinking, and forming transdisciplinary teams capable of shaping the next generation of sustainability scholarship and solutions.听
鈥淭his new fellowship is emblematic of CU 麻豆影院鈥檚 strong campuswide commitment to sustainability, and it demonstrates how SRI is elevating and connecting CU鈥檚 sustainability researchers in creative and unexpected ways for greater impact,鈥 said CU 麻豆影院 Vice Chancellor for Sustainability Andrew Mayock.听
SRI conducted a series of focus groups in the fall of 2025 and a resounding theme emerged: researchers are eager to collaborate across disciplines, but institutional structures make that collaboration challenging.听
鈥淐omments like 鈥榃here can we think together?鈥 and 鈥楥an we buy faculty time for creative thinking?鈥 underscored the urgency,鈥 said SRI Director Jane Zelikova. 鈥淭he SRI research fellowship directly responds to these needs by carving out time and space for intentional community building across intellectual and departmental silos and for creative, non-proposal driven conversations. We aim to foster a space where serendipity can seed new ideas and collaborations and where researchers feel supported to explore bold, unconventional approaches.鈥