The College of the Environment is pleased to announce the following undergraduate and graduate scholarships awarded for 2021-22.

Del Rio Endowed Environmental Studies Scholarship

The Del Rio Family Foundation established the Del Rio Endowed Scholarship Fund for Environmental Studies to encourage and support students with an interest in the environment who are participating in the Educational Opportunity Program. The Program promotes academic success and graduation for under-represented ethnic minority, economically disadvantaged and first-generation college students at the University of Washington. The Foundation hopes that through their studies and participation in real-world environmental research and problem-solving, students will broaden their personal horizons to include issues of global concern and will develop a passion and the skill set for making a difference in the world.

Recipients:

• Aidan Dealy, Incoming Freshman, Earth & Space Sciences (4 year award)
• Camille Andrew, Incoming Junior Transfer Student, Environmental Studies (2 year award)
• Caitlin (Caity) Rigg, Incoming Junior Transfer Student, Environmental Studies (2 year award)
• KyungJae Lee, Incoming Freshman, Oceanography (4 year award)

Nancy Wilcox Endowed Scholarship

This scholarship is made possible by the generosity of former UW Provost Phyllis Wise, who established it to support students pursuing degrees in the College of the Environment. Wise named the endowment in honor and memory of her late sister, Nancy E. Wang Wilcox, a middle school teacher who tried to develop the minds of young adolescents using creative and innovative ways of learning. It is this legacy that inspired Provost Wise to establish this endowment to carry on her sister’s commitment to helping others achieve their educational goals.

Recipients (*continued funding from 2020-21)

• Raphael Bakin*, Junior, Atmospheric Sciences
• Ella Coleman, Incoming Freshman, Atmospheric Sciences
• Amanda (Mandy) Jackson*, Junior, Earth & Space Sciences
• Henry Li, Junior, Environmental Studies
• Kortney Maeda, Incoming Freshman, Environmental Studies

Clarence H. Campbell Endowed Lauren Donaldson Scholarship

Clarence H. Campbell established this scholarship in memory of Lauren “Doc” Donaldson to support students in the Schools of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, Marine and Environmental Affairs and Oceanography. Professor Donaldson earned his MS and Ph.D. degrees from the UW in 1931. He served on the faculty of the School of Fisheries from 1932 until his retirement in 1973. Doc was a world-renowned expert in the development of fish stocks and trained countless students in freshwater fisheries research and management. Clarence Campbell, ’30, established this fund to recognize Doc’s lasting influence.

Recipients:

• Souta (Bill) Saechao, Incoming Junior Transfer Student, Aquatic & Fishery Sciences
• Carolyn Kounellas, Incoming Freshman, Marine Biology
• Jenna Callan, Incoming Freshman, Marine Biology
• Irissa Danke, Senior, Marine Biology
• Leah Davis, Junior, Marine Biology
• Sophie Jenness, Incoming Freshman, Oceanography
• Caleb Flaim, Junior, Oceanography & Environmental Studies
• Dominic Eastburn, Incoming Junior Transfer Student, Oceanography

Dani Elenga Environment Scholarship

Sigrid Elenga and Steve Smyth established the Dani Elenga Environment Scholarship in memory of their daughter, Dani Elenga. The Scholarship encourages and supports students with an interest in the environment who are participating in the Educational Opportunity Program, which promotes academic success and graduation for under-represented ethnic minority, economically disadvantaged and first-generation college students at the UW.

Recipients:

• Melissa Mendoza, Sophomore, Atmospheric Sciences
• Elysia Viengkham, Senior, Earth & Space Sciences
• Camille Andrew, Incoming Junior Transfer Student, Environmental Studies
• Lucy Lipscomb, Junior, Marine Biology

Vontver Environment and Human Health Endowed Scholarship

Lou Vontver was fortunate to have career changing experiential learning opportunities while serving as a flight medical officer with the U.S. Air Force in the Far East. He saw the effect of poverty, demography and environment on human health and well-being. Those experiences led him to a career he had never imagined during medical school. He finished a reproductive endocrinology fellowship, a residency in Obstetrics-Gynecology, a Master of Education, and became a faculty member of the UW School of Medicine. He tried to impress on students the importance of poverty, demography, and environment on human health. He was also a member of the Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility (WPSR). He is now an active member of WPSR’s task force on climate change and has learned even more about its effect on human health. With this endowment Vontver hopes to give students in the College of the Environment opportunities for experiential learning such as he had, which hopefully will inspire them to pursue studies on the environment and human health.

Recipient:

• Russell Botulinski, Senior, Environmental Science & Terrestrial Resource Management

Michael and Rebecca McGoodwin Endowed Scholarship in Environmental Conservation, Atmospheric, and Earth Sciences

Michael McGoodwin established an endowment to support undergraduate students in the College of the Environment in December 2019. This endowment honors the life and memory of Rebecca McGoodwin and their shared passion for the natural environment. By supporting undergraduates on the basis of academic merit and financial need, this scholarship helps students who are pursuing the study, investigation, and conservation of the biosphere and its protection from human impacts. Areas of study may include but are not limited to, the study of relevant Earth and atmospheric sciences such as aquatic and terrestrial habitats including oceans, soils, forests, atmospheric physics and chemistry, and the interactions of these with past and current life forms.

Recipient:

• Anna Gilmore, Senior, Environmental Science & Terrestrial Resource Management

College of the Environment Scholarship

This scholarship is made possible by the generosity of donors. The scholarship was created to support both undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in the College of the Environment.

Recipients:

College of the Environment Top-Off Award

This award is offered to top-ranked incoming graduate student applicants across the College and provides a one-time payment to be used as the student sees fit to enhance their scholarly work at the University of Washington.

Recipients:

• Kristen Falcinelli, Incoming Graduate Student, Oceanography
• Jonathan Gates, Incoming Graduate Student, Earth and Space Sciences
• Asiya Hussein, Incoming Graduate Student, Marine and Environmental Affairs
• Turtle McCloskey-Potter, Incoming Graduate Student, Environmental and Forest Sciences
• Spencer Ressel, Incoming Graduate Student, Atmospheric Sciences
• Ben Sullendaer, Incoming Graduate Student, Environmental and Forest Sciences
• Brendan Wallace, Incoming Graduate Student, Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management
• Joshua Zahner, Incoming Graduate Student, Aquatic and Fishery Sciences

Integral Environmental Big Data Research Fund Award

This funding award supports graduate students who are incorporating a big data approach to their scholarly work. In this context, a big data project is defined as one where the student is focused on extracting information from large datasets through the use of interesting, innovative computational and analytic approaches, and where the object of the work is an exploration of emergent patterns and/or relationships of scientific interest.

Recipient

• Rachel Fricke, Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (advisor: Julian Olden)

Project: Emerging technologies to assess human benefits from and risks to water resources

Hall Conservation Genetics Research Fund

This award is made possible by the generosity of Benjamin and Margaret Hall. During his 38 years in genetics, UW Professor Emeritus of Genome Sciences and Biology Benjamin “Ben” Hall made many key discoveries, including the patented invention “Expression of Polypeptides in Yeast” which the UW- licensed for the production of vaccines against Hepatitis B Virus and Human papillomavirus, as well as Human Insulin, and other recombinant proteins. This funding award supports graduate students working in the field of conservation genetics.

Recipients:

• Ashlee Abrantes, Environmental and Forest Sciences (advisors: Kristiina Vogt)

Project: Environmental DNA as an index for freshwater conservation and management

• Hannah Dawson, Oceanography (advisor: Jodi Young)

Project: Characterizing potential drivers of organic matter turnovers in changing polar oceans: first measures of RNA viruses in sea ice

• Mary Fisher, Environmental and Forest Sciences (advisor: Phillip Levin)

Project: Tracking the ecological impact of the Invasive European green crab (Carcinus maenas) with DNA metabarcoding

• Anne Polyakov, Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (advisor: Andrew Berdahl)

Project: Characterizing genetically distinct ectomycorrhizal fungal communities adapted to a natural nitrogen gradient along salmon streams