Ph.D. student Emily Floess wins Global One Health Academy’s Fall 2023 Graduate Travel Award

CCEE Ph.D. student Emily Floess was selected as one of three recipients of NC State’s Global One Health Academy’s Fall 2023 Graduate Travel Awards. The academy represents a universitywide, interdisciplinary effort to engage faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate students in improving the health of animals, plants, biodiversity, humans and society in North Carolina and beyond. 

The award funds will go toward supporting travel that advances global One Health-related research. Travel could be for field work, data collection and analysis, workshops and training on new methods and approaches, other opportunities that will advance research theory or practice, or conferences and other venues where research findings will be disseminated to the scientific community or the public.

Floess, advised by Associate Professor Andy Grieshop, focuses on research related to energy access and transitions in developing countries, climate impacts of energy transitions, energy insecurity, and the intersection of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and indoor air pollution interventions, specifically comparing the health impacts of boiling drinking water and the health impacts of different stoves used to boil the water.

She said she was very surprised to receive the reward, and that she’s looking forward to conducting field work on the connection between water, food and energy insecurity as part of her dissertation, which includes examining households near Morogoro, Tanzania.

“In our study, we want to explore the connection between energy, water, and food insecurity, as well as the connection between energy poverty and pathogen levels in food and water,” she said. “The funds will provide me the opportunity to travel to collect this data. This project is a collaboration with professors in air quality, WASH, and anthropology. I’m excited for this project because I enjoy interdisciplinary work. I enjoy the collaborating, troubleshooting and creativity required for working in the field in different communities.  I hope this opportunity will help prepare me for a career of doing field work, whether it is domestic, or international.”