Real science, real mentors, since 1992.
EnvironMentors pairs high school students one-on-one with working scientists for a full year of original environmental research. It has been doing that, in one city or another, for more than three decades.
The national program
EnvironMentors began in Washington, D.C. in 1992, built on a simple idea: a high school student, matched with a scientist, can do real research — not a demonstration, not a worksheet, but an original project with their name on it. From D.C. the model spread to chapters hosted at universities across the country.
Today the program is run by GCSE, the Global Council for Science and the Environment, which sets the national framework and hosts the annual international science fair where the top students from every chapter present their work.
The UC Davis chapter
UC Davis first ran an EnvironMentors chapter from 2009 to 2019. We restarted it in 2024, in partnership with Pioneer High School in Woodland: students come to campus every week, each paired with a UC Davis scientist, and build a research project from question to final poster.
The restart worked better than anyone planned. In our first year back, two students earned full scholarships to the international science fair in Chicago, and one placed third overall. In 2025–26, four students earned scholarships to the international fair in Panama — Anna Callens took the top prize for best project overall, and Bareera Rehman won best presentation.
The 2026–27 year is our biggest yet: weekly sessions, our largest cohort of students so far, and mentors drawn from departments across campus.
Leadership
- Grey Monroe, Co-Director — gmonroe@ucdavis.edu
- Erwan Monier, Co-Director — emonier@ucdavis.edu
- Anne Borger, Program Coordinator — aeborger@ucdavis.edu
And the real engine of the program: the UC Davis scientists who volunteer a year of Wednesdays to mentor a student one-on-one. Meet the mentors.