2022 Napier Awardees
ANNA BURNS - Scripps College
Anna plans to conduct research on peatland rewetting restoration processes at the University of Greifswald, Germany, in conjunction with the Greifswald Mire Centre. When healthy, peatlands offer significant carbon sinks, but when disturbed are major carbon sources; therefore, healthy peatlands are crucial to curbing global warming and restoring the planet’s ecosystems. In partnership with the University’s Institute of Microbiology, she will use her environmental analysis skills in this project which hopefully will inform essential climate policy recommendations in both Germany and the United States.
KENNETH BUTLER - Pitzer College
In partnership with and support of the Reintegration Academy, the Prison Education Project, and The Institute for Global/Local Action and Study, Kenneth plans to establish a peace and reconciliation program that brings together formerly incarcerated people whose lives were impacted by gang culture, especially in Los Angeles County. He intends to develop workshops incorporating environmental and social justice education, that eventually will build towards a larger goal of achieving conflict resolution and racial justice.
BENJAMIN SIEVERS - Pitzer College
Recognizing a particular unmet need, Benjamin will work with remote, mobile, boat-dwelling people in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to discern their attitudes towards measles outbreaks and the possibility of self-vaccination using an inhaled dry-powder measles vaccine. In partnership with the Pasteur Institute of Cambodia and with the World Health Organization’s mobile immunization team, Benjamin will integrate his research findings as he launches a self-vaccination educational campaign towards the goal of achieving Cambodian and eventually global, measles eradication.