{"id":252619,"date":"2026-09-17T07:01:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T11:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=252619"},"modified":"2026-09-16T14:01:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T18:01:03","slug":"uconn-student-to-continue-legacy-of-environmental-stewardship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/09\/uconn-student-to-continue-legacy-of-environmental-stewardship\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Student to Continue Legacy of Environmental Stewardship"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1962 biologist and author Rachel Carson sounded the alarm about the ecological devastation resulting from the overuse of pesticides. In her book “Silent Spring,” she detailed the impacts of these chemicals with clear and passionate storytelling on behalf of the environment which awakened a public consciousness that sparked a new era in the environmental movement.<\/p>\n

\"A
The 2026-27 cohort of the Rachel Carson Council Fellows met in July for the annual American Environmental Leadership Institute in Washington, D.C.. The fellows, including UConn student Sreya Mothukuri ’28 (CLAS) started learning skills that will help them continue to be environmental leaders and change makers on their campuses and within their communities. The fellows are shown here in front of the U.S. Capitol. (Contributed photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Rachel Carson Council<\/a> (RCC) seeks to ensure this legacy of influential environmental advocacy continues, and each year they select a group of aspiring environmental leaders from around the country for National Environmental Leadership Fellowships (NELF). This year UConn student Sreya Mothukuri \u201828 (CLAS) was among those selected as an RCC Fellow.<\/p>\n

The 2026 cohort began their fellowship this past summer and over the course of the year, each will develop and complete projects at their universities or in their communities with the help of mentorship and guidance from RCC.<\/p>\n

Mothukuri met with UConn Today to talk about her experience so far and her plans for the year ahead.<\/p>\n

What has the process been like to apply, be selected, and participate in the RCC Fellowship program?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I found out about the Rachel Carson Council and the National Environmental Leadership Fellowship from Andy Zhang, previously an Office of Sustainability intern and NELF Fellow this past year. After hearing about his experience and learning about RCC\u2019s mission, I became interested in the program and decided to apply.<\/p>\n

Being selected for the fellowship has been an exciting opportunity, where I was able to attend the American Environmental Leadership Institute (AELI) in Washington, DC, in July<\/a>. During AELI, I learned more about environmental storytelling and advocacy, and connected with students from universities across the country. My experience thus far has made me think more about my interest in environmental health and medicine through workshops and conversations with federal and state politicians on Capitol Hill. I am looking forward to the mentorship from the RCC community and continuing to develop my project throughout the year.<\/p>\n

Can you tell us a little about the project you will be completing with this fellowship?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The project I am pursuing focuses on extreme heat on college campuses and how it can affect students’ health and well-being. For my project, I will be identifying which students and student communities are most vulnerable, and exploring how college campuses can better respond to extreme heat. Ultimately, I hope to develop a framework that can help UConn and potentially other universities to better prepare for extreme heat while addressing environmental health impacts.<\/p>\n

How is the fellowship fitting in with what you hope to pursue in the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NELF connects my interest in how the environment around us can affect our health and how we can address these issues through advocacy. My interest in environmental health is the reason why I chose to study environmental science while pursuing a path toward medicine. Through the fellowship, I have been able to further develop my environmental advocacy skills and learn more about the power of storytelling to bring attention to environmental issues. I hope to carry these experiences into a career in medicine to take a holistic approach to better understand the factors that impact patients’ health.<\/p>\n

Any advice for other students who are interested in environmental leadership?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

An important part of environmental leadership is about expanding your network and stepping out of your comfort zone. I was able to do this through reaching out to my weak ties which are essentially distant connections or casual acquaintances. This has shown me how important it is to put yourself out there and not be afraid to reach out to people because you never know what opportunities or connections can come from a conversation. I would also encourage students to explore new opportunities even if they are outside of what they normally do, because some of my most valuable experiences have come from simply trying new things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘An important part of environmental leadership is about expanding your network and stepping out of your comfort zone’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":252633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1805,2226,2387,2235,2225,2458],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2093],"class_list":["post-252619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-change","category-clas","category-sustainability","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-storrs","category-undergraduates"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-24 12:14:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252619"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253120,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252619\/revisions\/253120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/252633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252619"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=252619"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=252619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}