TIM Z BURTON - Junior, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems
“Domes Welcome Area”
In collaboration with the Solar Community Housing Association and as a resident of The Domes, Tim Z Burton will be working to develop a new welcome and rest area at the Domes. The project will revamp the entrance to the Domes, at the northeast corner of the Domes, in order to serve as a nexus between the Domes and the surrounding community. The new welcome area will include a bulletin board, a shaded bench, a drinking fountain, a welcome sign and will feature edible landscaping, with the goal of creating an inviting space for people to appreciate the natural beauty and welcoming architecture of the Domes.
Before coming to Davis as a transfer student Tim lived in Oakland where he developed his appreciation for the power of community and food by volunteering with food justice and neighborhood organizations to revitalize city parks and provide services and food for the homeless. At Davis Tim helped organize an olive oil harvest and pressing at the student farm, and hopes to organize many more harvest parties in the future.Tim is going to Cuba to study Agroecology and Organopónicos in order to bring new ideas to Davis and the Bay area.
EMMANUEL MOMOH - 2nd year, Geography Graduate Group PhD
“African Food Basket Project”
Emmanuel Momoh will be working with the Student Farm in development of an African Food Basket Project. The overarching objective of the African Food Basket project is to facilitate access to culturally relevant food for diverse communities of African international students and scholars. This objective will be achieved through a pilot study conducted in the UC Davis Ecological Garden, which aims to assess the feasibility of incorporating African crops within the garden. Ultimately, the project seeks to replicate this initiative in other SLLC gardens and on campuses across the United States. The project aims to promote food sovereignty and food justice within the African international and African Diaspora communities, while also fostering collaboration and engagement between these communities and the SLLC. The project will produce educational materials and guidelines that can be utilized to implement similar initiatives in traditional food gardens, potentially expanding to other campuses in the future.
Emmanuel is currently a second-year PhD student within the Geography Graduate Group. Emmanuel arrived in the United States from Nigeria in 2021 to pursue his graduate studies. He is actively involved in the Environment, Land and Food Systems (ELFS) lab and is a key member of a team of researchers at the UC Davis Center for Regional Change. Emmanuel’s research centers around evaluating the food security of Diasporic Africans residing in the United States, with a particular emphasis on their access to culturally preferred food. Additionally, Emmanuel is interested in studying the experiences of African international students in relation to dietary acculturation and the associated health outcomes. In the summer of 2022, he collaborated with the UC Davis Ecological Garden, where he cultivated a diverse range of African vegetables. These vegetables were not only consumed by Emmanuel but were also shared with his close friends. It was during this time that Emmanuel conceived the idea for the African Food Basket project, inspired by his experiences.
Read about Emmanuel's project update here.
MARIA KANWAL - 3rd year, Energy Systems PhD
“Informing Domes 2.0: Sustainability Assessment of UC Davis Student Housing via life-cycle assessment approach”
Maria Kanwal has been awarded a Green Fellowship to fund a study into the sustainability of various UC Davis residence halls and the Domes. The project will use a life cycle assessment to develop a comprehensive model to compare the environmental and social impacts of different housing models. The Life cycle assessment will include home energy use, transportation energy usage, food consumption, and waste disposal, along with the embodied energy of building materials. The results will be used to inform future sustainable affordable housing projects in the SLLC and on campus.
Maria is a Fulbright scholar from Pakistan in her 3rd year of PhD in Energy Systems. She has previous experience in solar energy materials and has also worked as a solar design engineer for a renewable energy company in Pakistan. Efforts by several University of California campuses to push sustainability on campus along with her exposure of the student housing crisis piqued her curiosity about the current and future state of sustainable housing on UC Davis campus. With this project and past experiences, she hopes to pursue a career in energy efficiency, decarbonization via electrification and sustainable communities in the context of developing countries.