Hanna Breunig, Environmental Engineering PhD candidate, was one of 16 students selected to be a 2014 Schmidt-MacArthur Fellow. The Fellowship program, a joint initiative between the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in the UK and the Schmidt Family Foundation in the US, offers an innovation platform for postgraduate students and academics from leading international design, engineering and business schools to redesign the economy. Breunig's advisor is Professor Ashok Gadgil.
The Schmidt-MacArthur Fellowship supports the idea that human ingenuity can solve many of the environmental challenges that define modern day. This fellowship is for individuals who are already thinking about sustainable design and engineering and who could broaden their impact if they were able to interface with a power network of businesses and academics. Although the fellowship is only in its second year, it has already become prestigious.
Breunig applied when she saw how her research on location-based waste management and location-based energy system integration met the fellowship's criteria.
"Students in sustainable design, life cycle assessment, and environmental economics should start brainstorming with their research mentors for next year's application!" says Breunig.