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UC BERKELEY

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UC Berkeley

The Philomathia Foundation’s philanthropic relationship with UC Berkeley began in 2001 with a gift to support the building of the university’s East Asian Library. The Foundation established the Chang-Lin Tien Graduate Fellowship in Environmental Sciences in 2004 in commemoration of Chang-Lin Tien, a dear friend and the campus’ late chancellor. Shortly thereafter, an endowment was provided for alternative energy research at Berkeley. This was followed by the establishment of the Philomathia Distinguished Chair in Alternative Energy. The Foundation provided further funding to support the establishment of the Berkeley Environment and Climate Institute (BECI) and all the programs were consolidated into the Philomathia Center in 2012.

Scholarships and Fellowships

The Philomathia Center

Since 2012, the Philomathia Center has played a vital role in advancing UC Berkeley’s innovative research programs in energy and climate research, and supported a common vision of improving humankind through the creative application of technology, the unraveling of scientific challenges, and a commitment to education.

Philomathia Graduate Student Fellowships in the Environmental Sciences provide fellowships for graduate students from a wide range of disciplines who are dedicated to studying issues related to the environment. This fellowship has been awarded annually since 2005.

Philomathia Postdoctoral Fellowships in Alternative Energy at UC Berkeley offers fellowships to talented postdoctoral candidates in pursuit of energy harvesting, conversion, and production in nanoscale, natural, and synthetic systems.

Current Philomathia Chair in Alternative Energy:
Professor Jay Keasling
Emeriti: Professor Chris Sommerville & Professor Steven Chu

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Scholarships and Fellowships

Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute (ENSI)

Philomathia Graduate Student Fellowships at the Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute (ENSI) are one-year graduate fellowship positions designed to offer promising young researchers the opportunity to pursue nanoscience applications in catalysis, energy conversion, and energy conservation technologies. Up to four graduate fellowships are awarded per year, and to support the work by the Philomathia Graduate Student Fellowships, the Kavli ENSI provides a research fund of $50,000.

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Scholarships and Fellowships

Advanced Bioimaging Center (ABC)

Since their initial stake in establishing the center, Philomathia continues to offer supportive funding for graduate and postdoctoral students of the Advanced Bioimaging Center (ABC) – a global collaboration center dedicated to creating cutting-edge microscopy, and finding solutions to data challenges posed by large-scale imaging projects.

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The Philomathia Foundation

Scholarship and Fellowship Recipients

Philomathia Center

Philomathia Graduate Fellowship in Environment Sciences (2024/2025)

Philomathia Graduate Fellowship in Environment Sciences

Past Recipients

Kathryn Fiorella
Environmental Sciences, Policy, and Management, Ph.D candidate
Lauren Hallett
Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, Ph.D candidate
Jennifer Hofmeister
Integrative Biology, Ph.D candidate
Abby Knight
Chemistry, Ph.D candidate
Ryan Melnyk
Plant and Microbial Biology, Ph.D candidate
Nicolas Alexandre
INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY, PH.D. CANDIDATE
Mallory Ballinger
INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY & MUSEUM OF VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY, PH.D. CANDIDATE
Stefano Cestellos-Blanco
MATERIAL SCIENCE ENGINEERING, PH.D. CANDIDATE
Jackie Childers
MUSEUM OF VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY, PH.D. CANDIDATE
Natalie Graham
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, POLICY AND MANAGEMENT, PH.D. CANDIDATE
Clarke Knight
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, POLICY AND MANAGEMENT, PH.D. CANDIDATE
Gene Tyson
Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. Ph.D. awarded 2006
Adam Leaché
Integrative Biology, Ph.D. awarded 2008
Jessica Cande
Molecular and Cell Biology, Ph.D. awarded 2009
Marjorie "Jody" Westbrook
Scientist, Invitae, Ph.D. awarded 2011
Tom Sharpton
Assistant Professor, Oregon State University Ph.D. awarded 2009
Kabir Peay
Assistant Professor, Stanford University Ph.D. awarded 2008
Ashley Murray
Founder & CEO, Waste Enterprisers, Accra, Ghana Ph.D. awarded 2009
Kristin Robrock
Managing Engineer, Exponent, Inc. Ph.D. awarded 2008
Philip Johnson
Assistant Professor, University of Maryland Ph.D. awarded 2009
Lillian Fritz-Laylin
Molecular and Cell Biology Ph.D. awarded 2010
Kelly Wrighton
Assistant Professor, Ohio State University Ph.D. awarded 2010
Michael Wasserman
Assistant Professor, St. Edward’s University, Austin, Texas Ph.D. awarded 2011
Eric Steen
CEO and Founder, Lygos, Inc. Ph.D. awarded 2010
David Soergel
Software Engineer, Google Ph.D. awarded 2010
Christopher Ellison
Postdoctoral Fellow, Ph.D. awarded 2011
Chodon Sass
Postdoctoral Researcher, UC Berkeley Ph.D. awarded 2010
Lars Plate
Postdoctoral Fellow, Scripps Research Institute Ph.D. awarded 2013 
Chris Golden
Director of HEAL (Health & Ecosystems: Analysis of Linkages) Ph.D. awarded 2011
Steven Bellan
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Texas at Austin Ph.D. awarded 2012
Andrea Silverman
Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Berkeley Ph.D. awarded 2013
James Schnable
Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Ph.D. awarded 2012
Tanya Renner
Assistant Professor, San Diego State University Ph.D. awarded 2011
Manisha Anantharaman
Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, UC Berkeley Ph.D. candidate
Daniel Richter
Postdoctoral Fellow, Station Biologique de Roscof, France Ph.D. awarded 2013
Joey Pakes
Integrative Biology, Ph.D. awarded 2013
Nicholas Matzke
Postdoctoral Fellow, NIMBios, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Ph.D. awarded 2013
Cristina Poindexter
Postdoctoral Researcher, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Ph.D. awarded 2014
Danielle Christianson
Energy and Resources Group, Ph.D. candidate
Joshua Apte
Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Austin Ph.D. awarded 2013
Micah Ziegler
Chemistry Ph.D. candidate
Andrew Rominger 
Environmental Science, Policy, and Management and  Energy and Resource Management Group Ph.D. candidate
Daniel Portik
Integrative Biology Ph.D. candidate
Matthew Luskin
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, POLICY AND MANAGEMENT PH.D. CANDIDATE
Christopher Hann-Soden
Plant and Microbial Biology Ph.D candidate
Gabrielle Boisrame
Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ph.D candidate
Grace C. Wu
ENERGY AND RESOURCES GROUP, PH.D. CANDIDATE
Lydia Vaughn
ENERGY RESOURCES GROUP, PH.D. CANDIDATE
Erin Jarvis
INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY, PH.D. CANDIDATE
Tim O'Connor
INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY, PH.D. CANDIDATE
Kripa Jagannathan
ENERGY AND RESOURCES GROUP, PH.D. CANDIDATE
Colin Carlson
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, POLICY AND MANAGEMENT PH.D. CANDIDATE
Michael Yuan
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, POLICY AND MANAGEMENT PH.D. CANDIDATE
Clay Noss
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, POLICY AND MANAGEMENT PH.D. CANDIDATE
Isaac H. Lichter Marck
INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY, PH.D. CANDIDATE
Lindsey Hendricks-Franco
INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY, PH.D. CANDIDATE
David Kurz
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, POLICY AND MANAGEMENT PH.D. CANDIDATE
Kirsten Verster
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

58 Total

Philomathia Alternative Energy Fund (2021/2022)

Philomathia Alternative Energy Fund

Past Recipients

Berkeley Energy and Climate Institute

Past Recipients

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