Two CCEE Ph.D. students selected as Global One Health Fellows

CCEE Ph.D. students Emily Floess and Savanna Smith were named to NC State’s Global One Health Academy’s first cohort of Global One Health Fellows. Six fellows were chosen out of more than 80 applicants across eight colleges.

Each fellow will receive one year of support beginning in August 2023, including a $30,000 stipend, insurance coverage, and tuition/fee remission. In addition to many opportunities involving public engagement and interdisciplinary co-mentorship, each fellow will participate in a Global One Health seminar course, monthly professional development meetings, and the global One Health Academy Research Symposium in Spring 2024. The academy represents a university-wide, 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. 

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 is also a recipient of a Fall 2023 Global One Health Travel Award, which will be used to support travel to collect field data in Morogoro, Tanzania.

Smith, advised by Glenn E. and Phyllis J. Futrell Distinguished Professor #2 Francis de los Reyes, researches applications of environmental biotechnology to improve global water and sanitation solutions. Savanna has completed work on pit latrine microbial communities and is currently working to use computation ecological tools to identify microbial community assembly processes governing the microbial communities responsible for biological wastewater treatment.

A version of this story was originally published by Global One Health Academy.