EcoRAMP Position - [BIO-0124-Guzman-1]
Applications are open until the due date: 9:00 AM PST December 1, 2025 for Winter Quarter
The Ecopreneurial Research for Accelerating Market Pathways (EcoRAMP) program offers an experiential learning opportunity for Stanford undergraduates to work with a research team on an active Sustainability Accelerator project. Throughout the engagement, the student will learn about both the development of sustainable solutions and the approaches for their externalization for real-world impact. At the end of the quarter, the student will deliver a short presentation highlighting their key learnings. This program is funded by Stanford Ecopreneurship and the Stanford Sustainability Accelerator.
Project Tagline: Agriculture, food production, solar energy, soil carbon capture, climate resilience, dual land use
Primary Mentor(s): Gisel De La Cerda
Project Overview:
The global shift to renewable energy is essential to reduce GHG emissions, but often competes with agricultural land use, threatening food security. Agrivoltaics (co-locating solar panels with crop production) offers a promising solution. However, farmers must understand the potential costs and benefits of these systems on their operations. This team proposes to investigate trade-offs between renewable energy generation, crop productivity, and soil carbon capture and storage, with primary research sites in the California Central Valley. By engaging farmers and community organizations, the team will collaboratively design the parameters of an AVS field experiment that reflects real-world management needs. This experiment will help validate tools and methods needed to assess crop performance and soil carbon responses under AVS configurations. When paired with economic analyses, the resulting ecological data will inform a decision-support framework for evaluating AVS feasibility and supporting California farmers in making evidence-based choices about agrivoltaic adoption.
The EcoRAMP Student Will Do:
● Develop a stakeholder map for agrivoltaics in California.
● Conduct needs-finding interviews with California farmers (especially in the Central Valley) to understand economic, operational, and decision-making factors related to agrivoltaic adoption.
● Write a summary report reviewing existing techno-economic analyses (TEAs), cost–benefit studies, and economic models for agrivoltaics.
● The student may be asked to present their findings at conferences or meetings with community research partners.
● In addition to the entrepreneurial project, the student will participate in lab and field work campaigns to collect soil samples across various experimental sites.
The EcoRAMP Student Will Learn:
● The student will collaborate with a team of researchers (within and external to Stanford) to understand the breadth of stakeholders (farmers, developers, policymakers, utilities) needed for the adoption and implementation of agrivoltaics.
● The student will learn how to integrate regional knowledge into the economic interpretation of the potential for agrivoltaic markets (e.g., Central Valley cropping systems, water constraints, labor issues).
● The student will learn to communicate their insights to diverse audiences, including academics, growers, and the broader public.
Qualifications/Skills Required:
● Strong interest in research and data analysis
● A background in quantitative methods (statistics, econometrics, programming) could be helpful, but is not required
● Ability to work independently under faculty guidance
● Attention to detail and organizational skills
● Interest in survey-based research
Time Commitment and Compensation:
- By participating in EcoRAMP, you commit 10 hours per week per quarter. We are looking for anticipated engagement across multiple quarters through Spring 2026.
- The student will receive a $2,000 stipend per quarter. Please note: stipends, prizes, or awards to students who are receiving other forms of financial aid for any purpose are a form of financial assistance and may require adjustment to your scholarship eligibility and /or adjustment to your overall cost of attendance. The Financial Aid Office has the responsibility to determine if these funds can be applied to meet your Student Responsibility and if other adjustments are necessary. Please contact the Financial Aid office before applying to ensure you are fully informed before making any decisions about your experiential learning opportunity.
Eligibility:
- Stanford Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors are eligible for this position. Note: co-terms who are in their first 4 years or 12 quarters of attendance and have not conferred their undergraduate degree are considered undergraduate students and are eligible for this position.