Ph.D. student Lanika Sanders awarded Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship

Lanika Sanders, a doctoral candidate in Taubman College’s urban planning program, has been awarded a Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship from U-M’s Rackham Graduate School to support her dissertation research and writing. Sanders, who researches the role of food systems in adapting to and mitigating climate change, was selected for her creative and ambitious research proposal.

Sanders has extensive experience in environmental planning and food policy. After earning her undergraduate degree, she worked to address food inequities through urban agriculture. While completing her master’s degree in urban planning at the University of Buffalo, Sanders worked in the program’s Community Resilience Lab and Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab.

“My research is looking at the land use tension between solar energy and agriculture, specifically for small and mid-sized farms and under-resourced farmers,” Sanders said. “Solar energy is obviously important amid the climate crisis, but it also comes with a lot of implications for how we use land, and planners are really at the center of that.”

The Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship is annually given to students who have achieved candidacy out of a pool of 240 nominations. Fellows receive a stipend, waived tuition, and health care for three terms. Sanders said the award will let her take her time and not rush through her dissertation.

“The pre-doc will help give me the flexibility to dive more deeply into some of the questions I’m looking at,” Sanders said. “It gives me more time to use all the resources that are available at Michigan.”

— By Joshua Nicholson