Trip Details
The Freeman Spogli Institute in conjunction with the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development is offering an exciting opportunity for students to be bold, develop field research skills, and apply tools learned in the classroom to a real-world problem: fossil fuel production and its effects on climate change.
- Faculty Lead: Professor Frank Wolak
- Focus: Energy Policy and Fossil Fuel Production
- Duration: 3 weeks
- Field Dates: June 17-July 7 (approximate)
- Location: Alberta Province, Canada
- Required Course: ECON 121
- Number of Students: 5-8
Alberta Province is associated with many debates surrounding high profile issues like fracking, oil sands (a.k.a tar sands), the Keystone XL pipeline and even the Stanford fossil fuel divestment movement. Students will have the opportunity to weed through the “noise” and directly gather facts on the ground that can contribute to evidence-based decision-making. This time spent in the field gives students a unique and highly valuable opportunity to contribute in a substantial way to ongoing research, gain work experience in a foreign setting, and develop close working relationships (and friendships) with Stanford faculty, researchers, graduate students, and peers in Canada.
Required Course
The Econ 121 course is open enrollment; students do not have to participate in the summer research to take it. However, students that wish to go on the summer research trip must take Econ 121, as they will rely on techniques developed in the class.
Eligibility
Students from all majors are encouraged to apply. This trip is designed to be compatible with any other internship or summer work students also wish to pursue. As such, they should not hesitate to apply even if they have additional plans for the summer.
Financial Support
FSI covers all travel expenses for field research trips, including roundtrip international airfare from San Francisco International Airport, lodging, food, on-the-ground transportation, and necessary visas.
