Alexander Shenkin, an assistant research professor in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, was named a Henry Arnhold Fellow by the Mulago Foundation. This international fellowship is given to founders who are addressing the problems of climate and poverty in creative, sustainable, scalable ways. Shenkin talked to The NAU Review about his work, SelvaFlux, and the problem he aims to address.
Briefly describe the work the Mulago Foundation does.
The Mulago Foundation finds leaders with scalable solutions to climate, conservation and poverty, then backs them with funding, coaching and a powerful peer network. Each year they select roughly 20 fellows across their two fellowship programs from thousands of applicants. Fellows receive an unrestricted $100,000 grant plus a year of intensive strategy workshops and mentorship designed to help them take what works and make it go big. The fellowship also serves as the on-ramp to Mulago’s longer-term funding portfolio.
Why did you apply for the fellowship? Please share the project as well.
SelvaFlux is built on a discovery my collaborators and I published in Nature in 2024: Trees remove atmospheric methane through microbes living in their bark. That’s a climate benefit forests have been providing all along, but nobody had quantified it or figured out how to include it in forest carbon economics. SelvaFlux is building the measurement tools, data infrastructure, and carbon-market certification pathway to change that. The potential: making reforestation and conservation projects 20 to 30 percent more financially viable, especially in the tropics, so more forests get restored and protected.
I applied to Mulago because they specialize in exactly the challenge we face right now: taking a proven scientific concept and designing it for impact at scale. Their frameworks for scaling, plus the network of 250+ fellows working on climate and conservation, are precisely what SelvaFlux needs as we move from methodology development to commercial deployment.
How does it feel to be chosen for this prestigious fellowship?
It’s an honor; Mulago selected just 22 fellows this year from more than 4,000 applicants. More than anything, it feels like validation that the science is ready for the real world. I’m excited to use the fellowship to sharpen SelvaFlux’s strategy for scale and to represent NAU as we turn rigorous forest science into practical climate solutions. And I’m looking forward to learning alongside a cohort of people who are just as obsessed with impact as we are.