We are delighted to welcome Jessica Chacko and Jeanne Michalon to the FeME team as our inaugral Earth Fellows! The Earth Fellows programme, led by the University of Edinburgh’s Edinburgh Earth Initiative (EEI), brings together postgraduate and PhD students from across the institution to help accelerate climate solutions. Earth Fellows work on both individual and team-based projects spanning climate change research impact, enterprise, communications and engagement, and education.
In this Q&A, they share their backgrounds, interests, and what they hope to achieve during their time with FeME.
Q: Tell us about yourselves:
Jessica: I am a sustainability professional currently pursuing an MSc in Global Strategy and Sustainability at the University of Edinburgh. My FeME role involves data cleaning and summarisation of the Climate Challenge 2025.
Jeanne: I am a mechanical engineer. I am currently doing PhD in computational fluid mechanics applied to cancer cells detection in blood flow for early diagnostics. I have joined the FeME 1: Education team.
Q: What does FeME mean to you?
Jessica: I was initially drawn to FeME because I am interested in how climate and engineering researchers can incorporate the social sciences to better serve communities. FeME’s emphasis on inclusion in its failure modes model feels both innovative and necessary to ensure that engineering solutions empower and uplift the women and children most affected by climate change.
Jeanne: FeME means rethinking how engineers do engineering to put the focus on societal and environmental benefits. This means we need to rethink how we talk about technical content to include the communities into the discussion, and we need to transform engineering to welcome community actors as engineers. I have been passionate about tackling gender imbalance in engineering for years and I look forward to expanding this work to all underrepresented groups in engineering.
Q: What do you work on at FeME?
Jessica: I clean, sort, and summarise datasets produced during FeME’s inaugural Climate Challenge to produce reports for internal and external communications.
Jeanne: In my role, I am currently coordinating the FeME STEPS programme which is interdisciplinary summer student projects. I also grow and curate FeME communications, including FeME Tapestry, showcasing diverse global contributions to climate-conscious engineering.
Q: What is a previous project you’ve worked on that aligns with FeME values?
Jessica: I previously worked at the Smithsonian Institution, where I helped convene climate and conservation scientists, policymakers, and practitioners. In this role, I was consistently inspired by the women leaders who single-handedly enact change within their communities, while navigating regulatory barriers, funding challenges, and gendered social norms. Globally, women are at the forefront of implementing climate solutions, yet they are rarely included in strategic decision-making spaces. Witnessing this disparity has shaped how I think about sustainability and systems change and makes me excited to contribute to FeME’s mission of inclusive, equitable, and innovative engineering.
Jeanne: During my undergraduate, I collaborated with women from the engineering school to create an outreach program with and for teachers. We worked with the city council and local teachers on improving literacy and numerical skills through an interactive program centered on engineering. From creating their first engineering logbook to making DNA gummies chains, by working with the city council, we were able to work with children that usually don’t get access to the traditional outreach program.
Q: What are you most excited to work on?
Jessica: I’m looking forward to deepening my understanding of the key points of failure identified during the Climate Challenge and helping to frame next steps for future FeME work.
Jeanne: I am excited about the freedom to try and experiment that FeME allows. Student projects, school outreach and success stories showcase aren’t new, but I am excited to see how we can engineer them to have inclusion at their heart.
Make sure you sign up to the FeME mailing list to learn about Earth Fellow opportunities in the future.