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Four New England Students win EPA Research Fellowship Awards

Release Date: 11/20/2013
Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

(Boston, Mass. – Nov. 20, 2013) – Undergraduate students at four New England colleges - in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine - were awarded EPA research fellowships of up to $50,000 each to pursue degrees in environmental science and related fields.

The students who won were: Katherine Ann Corcoran, an environmental studies student at Wellesley College in Wellesly, Mass.; Marissa Sarah Giroux, a marine science major at University of Maine/Orono, who has a minor in neuroscience; Lydia-Rose Keisich, a biology major at Smith College in Northhampton, Mass., and Jessica Zielinski, a sustainability studies major at University of New Haven in West Haven, Conn.

These grants were among more than $1.65 million given to 33 students nationwide through EPA’s Greater Research Opportunities Fellowship program. This year marks the 30th anniversary of EPA’s undergraduate grant program.

“For 30 years, EPA’s undergraduate grant program has nurtured and supported new generations of America’s workforce as they prepare to enter the environmental science and public health fields,” Lek Kadeli, acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “This year’s recipients truly reflect EPA’s commitment to research that promotes a sustainable and healthy nation.”

The 2013 recipients are eligible to receive a fellowship of up to $50,000 for studies in natural and life sciences, environmental sciences and interdisciplinary programs, engineering, social sciences, physical and earth sciences, and mathematics and computer sciences. This program also supplements the students’ education with an EPA internship.

Past winners continue to make a significant impact in their field of study and in their communities. For instance, Sacoby Wilson, director of Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health at the University of Maryland, is working to address environmental injustice and environmental health disparities in the Washington, DC region. Wilson’s work illustrates how science, community organizing, and civic engagement can be used to address environmental health issues at the local level.

The Greater Research Opportunities Fellowship, created in 1982, has funded the education f more than 395 undergraduates as they pursue degrees related to the environmental science and public health fields.

More information:

- 2013 GRO awardees: https://www.epa.gov/ncer/gro13

- EPA’s Greater Research Opportunities Fellowship: http://epa.gov/ncer/fellow/

- Student opportunities at EPA: https://www.epa.gov/careers/internships/

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