EcoRAMP Position - [CA-0127-Markus-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: Computational methods to analyze media coverage of wildfires
Mentor: Nicole Meister
Project Overview:
News coverage of wildfires has the ability to shape public perceptions of wildfires and action towards mitigation. However, we have little insight into the range of wildfire-related topics currently discussed in the media and how these topics can vary across cultures. We aim to use computational methods to analyze media coverage of wildfires in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Our goal is to ultimately improve communication strategies for engaging diverse populations to learn the skills and develop the mindsets to live safely with wildfires.
The EcoRAMP Student Will Do:
- Experiment with computational methods to uncover themes and topics within a news dataset
- Literature review of relevant methods for cultural analytics that can be used for the task and dataset
- Extract and process data relating to wildfire media coverage
- Implementation of 3 topic modeling techniques
- Comparison of extracted themes across countries
- Generating actionable recommendations for improving media communication on wildfires
The EcoRAMP Student Will Learn:
- Cultural psychological theories and behavioral science research about cultural defaults and how they manifest in media reports in three different countries
- Translating computational social science and behavioral research findings with real-world problem-solving
- Knowledge about ongoing wildfire policies and communication
Qualifications/Skills Required:
- Strong research and analytical skills
- Data extraction and data processing skills
- A background in quantitative methods (programming, data analytics) and/or cultural analytics
- Knowledge of clustering and topic modeling algorithms
- Ability to work independently under faculty guidance
- Attention to detail and organizational skills
- Interest in climate adaptation, cross-cultural comparison, or behavioral science 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.