This year, EPM students were supervised by EPM faculty Dr. Eric Post, Dr. Fran Moore and Dr. David Bunn.
"California Fire Insurance Affordability and Accessibility" presented by Bryn Copson, Xiaoyun "Iris" Niu, Nick Taylor and Sophie Nazeri in collaboration with the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment
Summary of project: Wildfires in California have increased in frequency and severity over the past two decades which has affected home insurance accessibility and affordability, especially in the wildland-urban interface (WUI). The brief provides recent developments in fire insurance coverage, describes how elements may be influencing these developments, and proposes several policy solutions to providing Californians with greater home insurance accessibility and affordability.
View the policy brief generated by the students here.
"Community-Scale Bioenergy Generation and Use in Microgrids" presented by Jessica Grant, Colin Lang, Monica LeFlore and Emilie Winfield in collaboration with the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment
Summary of the project: The Sierra Institute for Community and Environment is interested in incentivizing the removal of woody biomass from forests to reduce wildfire fuels by constructing community-scale bioenergy power plants in rural Sierra Nevada communities. These facilities could be used as part of micrograms, that would power local economies during planned safety power shut-offs (PSPS).
View the policy brief generated by the students here.
"Sustainability Plan" presented by Sarah Farnsworth, Chi-Hai Kalita, Harrison Ashby and Yingqing (Bill) Zhang in collaboration with Vista Del Lago High School
Summary of the project: Sustainability plans generally seek to bring institutions into compliance with, or exceed, state and local regulations, and to set sustainability goals. The VHS sustainability plan focuses on recommendations to improve campus waste and energy systems, and provides suggestions for alterations to water, food and transportation systems.
View the brief generated by the students here.
"Science Investment Opportunities for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management" presented by Ruyu Bai, Keiko Mertz, Edlyn Nunez and Lisa Wu in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management.
There is no summary available for this project.