Bowdoin College
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research

Bowdoin is one of the most active research institutions among liberal arts colleges today, with 234 students engaging in credit-bearing research in the 2022–2023 academic year and 129 students engaged in faculty-mentored research with 66 total faculty mentors in the summer of 2023. Students pursue research in academic departments across the curriculum that may relate to sustainability. For example, economics majors Terry Zhang ’24 and Justin Huang ’24, in two different research projects, are researching the market forces and policy effects that help shape the electric vehicle market. Ben Israel ’25 and Ashley Morash ’26 are assisting Assistant Professor of Digital and Computational Studies Fernando Nascimento in figuring out how to deploy intelligent technology to help small-scale farmers in developing countries. They're building prototypes on campus this summer, using cheap and widely available technology to create systems that are inexpensive and easy to replicate.

Each summer, Bowdoin faculty are invited to apply for funding from the Gibbons Summer Research Program to collaborate with students on projects that use technology to explore interdisciplinary areas. This summer, Ephraim Boamah '25 is engaged in a research study titled “Assessing the Effects of the Environmental Pollutant Dibutyl Phthalate on Motor Activity in the Mammalian Spinal Cord and the Neuroprotective Effects of Rosmarinic Acid” with Manuel Diaz-Rios, professor in the Departments of Neuroscience and Biology. Justin Huang '24 is engaged in a research study titled “The Effect of Competition, Inflation, and Economic Policy on the Pricing of Electric Vehicles” with Erik Nelson, associate professor in the Department of Economics.

Additionally, the Environmental Studies (ES) Program offers fellowships that place ES coordinate majors and prospective majors in stipend summer internships or research experiences. ES coordinate majors are encouraged to think across and beyond disciplines and must coordinate their study of the environment with another department/program embracing interdisciplinary inquiry in the humanities, arts, social sciences, and natural sciences. These ES fellowships provide funding for students to explore careers in the environmental field by pursuing a placement with a Maine-based organization (Maine-Based Fellowship) or by conducting community-based research under the mentorship of an ES faculty member (Cooke Environmental Research Fellowship). In 2022, a Cooke fellow worked with the Umbra Institute in Perugia, Italy, restoring community gardens in the historic city center, designing environmental education curriculum, updating an online StoryMap of the space, and writing an extensive report about community partners and future educational programs. The Kappa Psi Upsilon Environmental and Poppy Fellowship (Maine-based fellowships) pair students who have an interest in pursuing an environmental career with local nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies while strengthening campus-community partnerships. Placements could be with a community organization that is actively implementing a climate action plan, a nonprofit organization that is implementing weatherization or community energy systems, or a state agency that is developing alternative transportation systems. The 2022 organizations included the Town of Brunswick Department of Planning and Development, Kennebec Estuary Land Trust, Town of Topsham Planning Office, Maine Coastal Fishermen’s Association, Costal Enterprises Inc., Brunswick Topsham Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy of Maine, FarmLink, Growing to Give, Unadilla Community Farm, and the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

Students also receive grants to do research at the Bowdoin College Scientific Station at Kent Island. Each summer, students are awarded fellowships from Bowdoin to engage in scientific field research on the island. Additionally, a few students receive fellowships to work at the station as artists-in-residence, who focus on creating works of art or literature to connect science, climate change, and conservation to the other ways that humans experience the world—through the visual arts, creative writing, music, and dance. All the fellows live alongside Kent Island directors Patty Jones and Ian Kyle, as well as international researchers and graduate students who come to the scientific station to do their own research.

Bowdoin librarians have designed a number of research guides specific to sustainability focused and related courses (see https://bowdoin.libguides.com/environmental-studies or https://bowdoin.libguides.com/spring2022-envs3938).  Librarians also visit classes to lead hands-on sessions designed to teach students how to find, evaluate, and access the research literature. The library also provides access to books, software (e.g. computers with ArcGIS), and other materials necessary for sustainability-focused research.