O-Lab/EI Call for Energy and Environmental Economics Research Proposals: 

2023 - 2024 Graduate Student Research Awards

The Opportunity Lab (O-Lab) and the Energy Institute at Haas (EI), through their Initiative on Equity in Energy and Environmental Economics, are  pleased to invite proposals from UC Berkeley PhD students for research addressing critical energy and environmental economics issues. This initiative supports new research in energy and environmental economics, and provides new research and mentoring opportunities for historically underrepresented undergraduates at UC Berkeley. In addition to receiving research funding, grant recipients will select and mentor two or more undergraduates from within the Initiative’s undergraduate applicant pool. The undergraduate applicant pool will be primarily made up of first-generation and underrepresented undergraduates at UC Berkeley who have expressed an interest in gaining research experience in energy and environmental economics.  The initiative is jointly overseen by EI and the O-Lab, with faculty leadership from Meredith Fowlie, Solomon Hsiang, and Reed Walker. 


Research grants of $7,500 will be awarded to selected grant recipients to support their research and their work mentoring and training 2 or more participating undergraduates. Undergraduate mentees are expected to provide assistance on research tasks over the course of the academic year. O-Lab and EI staff will assist in the mentoring and training activities. More information on the opportunity is below.

Award amounts: 

  • $7,500 to cover living expenses, tuition and fees, data costs, travel, and other activities to support students’ research. Awards will be issued for research and project activities taking place during fall 2023 and spring 2024. If you have any questions, please contact O-Lab program manager Joseph Broadus at jbroadus@berkeley.edu.

Requirements and expectations: 

  • Grantees will work directly with two or more Undergraduate Research Assistants by mentoring them on tasks related to the grantee’s research project (e.g. data entry, cleaning, literature reviews, etc) and on general questions related to graduate school, course selection, careers in the field, and other related topics. Specific research tasks and weekly hours will be worked out by the grantee and their research assistants at the beginning of the fall semester.

  • Grantees will be expected to occasionally provide updates related to their projects and to take part in selected short workshops over the course of the year. These workshops will focus on introducing undergraduates to fundamental topics in energy and environmental economics; strategies and guidance on how to apply to  graduate school; impacts of research on policy-making; and other related topics.

  • Grantees will be asked to produce a short (~3 -5 page) progress report on their research and their work with undergraduate mentees at the end of the academic year. This report should detail project benchmarks, tasks completed, challenges and benefits of the program, and other reflections on the experience.

  • Grantees will be asked to complete short pre/post questionnaires at the beginning and end of their participation in the program.

Eligibility: 

  • Doctoral students with GPAs above 3.0 and no incompletes. 

  • Applicants must be actively enrolled at UC Berkeley and not on leave during the grant period 

  • Priority will be given to projects focused on North America

Application Guidelines:

To apply, please complete the application form and submit the following materials as PDFs, with your last name in the file name:


1. Two to three page Letter of Interest that includes:

  • The title of your proposed research project;

  • A description of your project and your broader research interests.

  • Your interest in the initiative’s mission of diversifying the community of scholars in energy and environmental economics

  • How you plan to work with an undergraduate research apprentice on this project, including potential tasks you might ask an undergraduate to help with. Please be as specific here as possible.   

  • The name of your faculty advisor or other research mentor who will oversee your research connected to this award.

2. CV 

3. Current transcript

Deadlines: 

  • All materials must be submitted by April 17th. Decisions will be communicated by April 26th.