Our 2025 Fellows (left to right): Emma Korein, Austin Morgan, Raghed Kurbaj, Idowu Kunlere, Nusrat Mohana
Since 2014, the Delaware Environmental Institute’s (DENIN) Environmental Fellowship program has supported dozens of doctoral students, assisting projects that provide environmental and societal benefits. DENIN is proud to introduce the 2025 Environmental Fellow cohort, five students whose research addresses some of our most relevant environmental challenges through the lenses of policy, science, and social studies.
Emma Korein, a Willis Graduate Fellow, studies community engagement in offshore wind energy development as part of her Marine Policy PhD program. With adviser Jeremy Firestone, professor of Marine Science & Policy, Emma has used a variety of methods to better understand community perceptions of the fairness, benefits, and burdens of offshore wind. Korein’s fellowship will advance her research, funding travel to research sites for field work and interviews and the presentation of her findings in open-access journals and conferences.
Austin Morgan, our Carski/Ruhl Graduate Fellow, is pursuing a doctorate in microbiology under adviser Mark Blenner, associate professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering. Inspired by the use of genetically engineered microbes to monitor and remediate environmental problems, Morgan aims to build a biological timer that controls when modified genes“turn on” in an organism. This timer would prevent organisms from becoming invasive or destructive to their surrounding environment, broadening the technology’s potential implementations. With his fellowship, Morgan also seeks to learn more about the intersection of biotech research and public policy.
Raghed Kurbaj, a Willis Graduate Fellow, is drawn to questions at the intersection of health and environmental changes, and his interest has been piqued by the issue of microplastic contamination. As the first student in adviser Ariel Alperstein’s lab in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Kurbaj’s research centers on spectroscopy. In his fellowship, he plans to explore the relationship between plastic size and composition and its intake into the human body, and hopes his findings demonstrate connections between environmental pollution and its impact on humans. He is pursuing a PhD in physical chemistry.
Idowu Kunlere, a Willis Graduate Fellow, is working towards a PhD in Energy and Environmental Policy, researching the processes and impacts of corporate decarbonization and proactive and equitable sustainability policymaking. Advised by Kalim Shah, assistant professor in the Biden School of Public Policy, Kunlere is crafting institutional reform suggestions to restore public confidence in the Voluntary Carbon Market, a decentralized market funding emission-reduction projects worldwide. With his fellowship, Kunlere strives to make climate finance knowledge more accessible and engage with stakeholders and policymakers in America and Nigeria.
Nusrat Mohana, a Willis Graduate Fellow, is a Geography PhD candidate who’s no stranger to the sociopolitical impacts of environmental change. Her childhood in Bangladesh was affected by the country’s frequent flooding and stagnant water, which led her to research how environmental disruption shapes the experiences of those who are displaced. With her adviser Lindsay Naylor, associate professor in the Department of Geography & Spatial Sciences, Mohana examines the lives of Myanmar nationals living in Bengali refugee camps, helping inform better environmental and humanitarian intervention. Her fellowship will fund field work in Bangladesh.
The 2025 Fellows will work with DENIN over the next year, helping lead the Institute’s events and activities.
DENIN would like to thank the donors whose generous support makes the DENIN Environmental Fellows program possible. If you are interested in supporting a DENIN Fellow and providing professional and academic opportunities for future environmental decision-makers, please contact us.