Training the next generation of engaged researchers is at the heart of Public Scholars for the Future, which supports doctoral students interested in inclusive, collaborative and impactful research with non-university partners.
This cohort-based program includes a 10-week class that helps students incorporate community-centered theories and methods into their research and fields of study. Students also receive mentorship and $1,000 for research support. The following stories highlight just of a few of the fellows who have achieved significant success in their public scholarship.
In 3 years
we've supported 27 graduate students
from 16 disciplines
Empowering Future Environmental Leaders
Jadda Miller’s deep commitment to community engagement began during her time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal, where she was encouraged to teach at a local school alongside her focus on agriculture and food security projects. This experience ignited her passion for combining environmental science with education.
Following the Peace Corps, Miller (B.S., sustainable agriculture, ’14) earned her master’s degree in environmental science and spent several years teaching place-based education at a charter school in Maui, where she developed hands-on science education programs focused on local environmental issues.
Her seventh graders’ political advocacy and project on reef-safe sunscreens was featured in local media and played a key role in convincing the Maui County Council to ban non-reef-safe sunscreens in 2021. “The students really came into their power and their agency on this local environmental issue,” Miller said.
Miller returned to UC Davis in 2022 to pursue a doctorate in education, drawn by the Center for Community and Citizen Science and its faculty, Heidi Ballard and Ryan Meyer — both recipients of PSE fellowships and grants. “It’s so refreshing to see that there are other academics seriously engaged in community-based work,” said Miller, who was a 2023 Public Scholars for the Future graduate fellow.
Miller has also received a Public Impact Research Initiative grant to collaborate with nonprofit Kipuka Olowalu and the Kihei Charter School to teach students in Maui about native and invasive plant species and Traditional Hawaiian Ecological Knowledge, ultimately fostering a more fire-resistant landscape.
“The fellowship program has had a profound influence on my development as a scholar and my commitment to being an equitable partner in community-led and community-based research. This experience has not only shaped my approach to coursework but has also fundamentally altered my perspective on the opportunities, purpose and conduct of research. The program has inspired me to become an advocate for public scholarship and engagement within the institution and the broader academic community.”
— Jadda Miller, School of Education