News

Allison Carruth is part of a faculty group that was awarded a five-year $3 million grant awarded to UCLA by the National Science Foundation’s Research Traineeship, or NRT program, to fund innovation in the training of graduate students researching the nexus of food, water and energy challenges that confront the world’s growing urban centers and exploring how urban communities might thrive in the context of global climate change.

Led by Laurent Pilon, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, the program will draw expertise from numerous units across campus. With Los Angeles as a living laboratory, graduate students will receive curricular and hands-on training in urban systems; waste reduction and upscaling; urban sustainability; and integrated solutions for food, energy and water systems management.

Allison will spearhead the development of a LENS-led seminar for participating graduate students on core concepts and methods in environmental narrative and communications. The involvement of LENS—an incubator for environmental storytelling and media making—aims to foster cross-campus collaboration as well as to mentor NRT students in developing narratives about their research and in communicating imaginatively and effectively with journalists, policymakers, researchers in other fields, and diverse public audiences.  Congratulations, Allison!