“We’ve always had a cooperative model that emphasizes interdisciplinarity,” explained Henry Boachi, manager of the highly successful Climate Fellows Program at the UVA Environmental Institute.

“We’re training the next generation of climate scientists and supporting post-PhD students along that trajectory. We expect our postdocs to help lead their labs, but we hadn’t anticipated downstream impacts on graduate and undergraduates,” Boachi explained.

As it turned out, with postdocs joining different labs and groups, faculty at UVA gave them opportunities to mentor students at a timely moment in the careers of these young professionals.

The mentoring portfolios of these international Fellows - the ‘happy accident’ of the program, as Boachi noted - was possible through a mix of structured meetings and happenstances. The new relationships the Fellows formed were as varied as the group itself.

“Every postdoc has at least two faculty mentors with different disciplinary foci. It’s a naturally diverse group,” Boachi noted, “reflecting the international nature of STEM in 2025 at the graduate level and beyond.”

Internationals make up 57% of the United States’ STEM postdoc population. Like international students, who contributed $43.8 billion to the U.S. economy last academic year alone, international postdocs such as the Climate Fellows make significant contributions to both the economy and to advancing American leadership in scientific research. The Institute has supported seventeen postdocs since the program’s inception, and five recently transitioned out into other positions. In the fall semester of 2025, the Institute and faculty mentors will welcome another five Fellows at UVA. The program’s goals are bold and have had impacts beyond the original conception.

“To UVA students,” Boachi stated, “our Climate Fellows are also near-peers, perhaps easier to turn to than faculty advisors. Mentoring builds relationships.”

In at least one case, this mentoring has ended in a lasting friendship. From his new post at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, Dr. Sergio Armando Barbosa Casas, who transitioned out of the Fellows program in March 2025, described his still-strong bond with current UVA student Yidi Wang, a gifted hydrodynamicist from China. “We have a special connection,” Casas shared, “because of our work and the immigration experience.”

The Climate Fellows offer hands-on support when working alongside the students. Eventually, there could be a chance to publish together.

"Working with [Casas] has been an incredibly meaningful and enriching part of my experience at UVA,” Yidi Wang shared about the experience. “His mentorship has significantly enhanced my understanding of complex topics within my research, particularly through his analytical insights and detailed feedback. Our collaboration has not only strengthened the direction and quality of my work but also helped me grow as a researcher."

The Climate Fellows mentorship undertakings benefit the university at large. “It’s not a one-way street,” Casas said. “Our faculty often co-author additional publications that flow from these mentorships. That directly benefits UVA.”

These undergraduate/postdoc partnerships also provide new ideas for existing climate models, including one in Casas’ field. “The students I worked with had different focuses: one was working on floods, the other on topography. So, I asked the designers of our model for tweaks which made it more useful based on their feedback. There was no need to reinvent the wheel and it helped them get a fast start.”

“My advisor, Jon Goodall, was preparing me for a faculty position,” Casas reflected. “That means, number one is research, and number two is offering services, such as co-authoring, or guest teaching. Third, you need to understand mentoring, because it’ll be part of your faculty role. So, when undergrads showed interest in my topic area, my advisor encouraged me to work with them.”

The program shows that students who are supported in times of transition generally pay it forward. This works best, Casas has found, when there’s a solid model to guide our natural impulse to collaborate. “I try to copy my advisor’s style,” Casas said. “He’s shown me key ways to become a better mentor.”