2026 PhD Student Symposium
The Bren PhD Student Symposium is held annually to highlight the diverse, cutting-edge research being conducted by Bren School PhD students. The students will present short (3-minute) talks and longer (12-minute) talks describing their work. The event is open to the entire UCSB and Santa Barbara communities and is free to attend.
The Symposium will be presented in person in Bren Hall 1414, followed by a reception and awards ceremony in the Michael J. Connell Memorial Courtyard.
SCHEDULE
1:00pm: Words of welcome from PhD Symposium Committee Chair Kelly Garvey and Bren School Associate Dean Bruce Kendall
1:10pm: Risa Lewis, Renae Marshall, and Zoe Sims, Beyond Monoculture: Understanding Impacts and Enabling Conditions for Intercropping in the United States
1:25pm: Wen-Tien Wang, Air Quality, Health, and Equity Outcomes of Decarbonizing Petroleum Refining in the United States
1:40pm: Paxton Ridgway, Drivers and Management of Changing Sediment Regimes in California's Rivers
1:45pm: Olivia Ross, Investigating Fire-Drought Interactions in the Sierra Nevada
2:00pm: Fatiq Nadeem, Satellites vs Farmers: Evidence from Strategic Evasion in South Asia
2:05pm: Aidan O'Neil, From Climate Help to Hindrance? An Analysis of Combined Heat and Power Systems in the US Industrial Sector
2:20pm: Ojas Sarup, Comparing Ecohydrological and Climate Resilience Outcomes of Forest Management in India
2:25pm: Break
3:05pm: Michelle Mohr, Novel Fire-Disease Interactions May Buffer Forests Under Climate Change
3:20pm: Jaenna Wessling, Life Cycle Carbon Footprint of Global Apparel
3:35pm: Emma Rigatti, One Species, Many Strategies: How Plant Hydraulic Traits Shape Divergent Water Use in Coast Live Oaks
3:40pm: Trace Martin, Safer Swimming: Innovating Microbiological Water Quality Testing
3:55pm: Eleanor Thomas, From Smokestacks to Power Plants: Does Industrial Electrification Reduce or Relocate Air Pollution Burdens?
4:00pm: Anna Pede, Agreeing on Conservation? Forests and Land-Use Consensus in Peru
4:15pm: Closing Remarks
4:20pm: Reception in the Michael J. Connell Memorial Courtyard
Download the symposium program to read abstracts of all talks
Thank you to our 2026 PhD Symposium Supporter:
And thank you to the Bren School's Corporate and Institutional Partners:
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, California Homebuilding Foundation, California Marine Sanctuary Foundation, Donald Bren Foundation, Kingfisher Foundation, Latham & Watkins, Natalie Orfalea Foundation, Professional Environmental Managers Association (PEMA), Rincon Consultants, Safe Passage Youth Foundation, Southern California Edison, The Kirby-Jones Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Toad&Co.