Current Burch Fellows
Sabrina Krupenko
Class of 2025
Hometown: Fayetteville, NC
Major: Environmental Sciences
Minor: Chemistry
Fueled by her passion for a just energy transition, Sabrina will travel to San Juan, Puerto Rico where she will collaborate with Resilient Power Puerto Rico to evaluate climate resiliency strategies and community solutions to energy poverty. She will research people-first policy solutions to implement solar energy systems and microgrids in rural Puerto Rico, conduct energy assessments, and consult with local community members on energy education. As a part of her fellowship, Sabrina will document Resilient Power Puerto Rico’s solar installations and impact by mapping Puerto Rico’s current solar communities. After her time at UNC, Sabrina plans on attending law school.
Valerie Orozco
Class of 2025
Hometown: Greensboro, NC
Majors: Geological Sciences and Geography
Minor: Social & Economic Justice
Driven by her interest in the convergence of land and water processes with indigenous peoples, Valeria intends to use her Burch Fellowship to travel to Tena and Archidona, Ecuador. There, she will collaborate with indigenous communities in the Amazon River basin to employ methodologies to document and map oral histories in connection with their spatial and landscape dynamics. Following her time at UNC, Valeria plans on pursuing service work with PeaceCorps.
Claire Pringle
Class of 2025
Hometown: Guilford, CT
Major: Neuroscience
Minor: Chemistry
Claire will use her Burch Fellowship to study at La Selva, a preserved ecosystem facility in Costa Rica. She will extend her previous work in the Burmeister Lab on UNC’s campus by testing animal personality traits of individual Dendrobates Auratus poison frogs. She hopes to establish a go-to personality test that the Burmeister Lab can use for future projects. Claire is most excited to learn from the incredible scientists at the facility who value environmental conservation and global collaboration. Upon graduation, she intends to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience.
Abby Rogers
Class of 2025
Hometown: Cary, NC
Major: English and Comparative Literature
Minors: History and African American & Diasporic Studies
With the support of the Burch Fellowship, Rogers intends to embark on a journey following the route of a slaving ship, traveling to Cape Coast, Ghana, Liverpool and London, England, and Charleston, South Carolina. The work on her Burch Fellowship will lay the groundwork for her senior Honors thesis, which will focus on evaluating the successes and failures of sites of remembrance along the aforementioned trade route. Upon graduation, Abby hopes to obtain her Ph.D. in comparative literature or to attend law school.
Alexis Siegler
Class of 2025
Hometown: Decatur, GA
Majors: Neuroscience and Political Science
For her Burch Fellowship, Alexis is planning on traveling to a rural part of Uganda to examine the post-discharge persistence of severe malaria symptoms among children. This research will include associated risk factors and how they contribute to ongoing morbidity and mortality. While in Uganda, Alexis will build off her experience with vector-borne diseases at UNC’s VEER Hub by working with the MUST-UNC Collaboration to conduct home visits to patients, engage with their medical team, and assist with ongoing projects focused on malaria prevention. She embarks on her Burch Fellowship journey with a goal of improving the lives of disadvantaged and medically challenged populations. After graduating from UNC, Alexis wishes to attend medical school.
Eleazar Yisrael
Class of 2025
Hometown: Fayetteville, NC
Majors: Media & Journalism and Communication Studies
With his passion for visual storytelling, Eleazar will travel to Salt Lake City, Utah where he will inquire about the impact of Utah’s social media regulation act; the first state to pass such an act. Eleazar has an interest in understanding the impact of social media on adolescent development and intends to interview residents of the state to see if the act is viewed as an infringement on individual rights. He will compile his findings and will document his experience in a documentary. After his time as a UNC undergrad, Eleazar wants to pursue a Ph.D. in communications and a career in journalism.
Meet previous Burch Fellows
