AWRA Awards $8,000 in Student Scholarships
MIDDLEBURG, VA, SEPTEMBER 10, 2018
AWRA is pleased to announce the recipients of our 2018 Richard A. Herbert Memorial Scholarship Fund awards. Considered by AWRA and our members to be one of the organization’s greatest accomplishments, the scholarship fund, established in 1980, has helped more than 60 students continue with their studies in water resources management.
Application packets for 2019 may be submitted starting in January 2019.
The 2018 AWRA Richard A. Herbert Memorial Scholarship Fund winners are:
John Brackins, 2018 recipient of the Graduate (Ph.D.) Student Award ($2,000)
John is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Water Resources Engineering at Tennessee Technological University (TTU). His dissertation will focus on the combined effects of storm surge and precipitation-induced flooding, with the goal of providing sufficient planning data to help reduce flood losses from tropical cyclones.
As an undergraduate student at TTU, John focused on water resources and related engineering principles for his Bachelors of Science degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Through his graduate coursework, he has delved deeper into specific topics with a continued emphasis on applications to water resources, including hydraulic channel design, groundwater resource management, coastal hydrodynamics, and stormwater management principles
In his own words, “I look forward to pursuing an academic career and training the engineers of the future with the knowledge I will have gained during graduate school, and specifically to passing along effective floodplain management strategies to aid in building infrastructure resilient to changing hydrologic and hydraulic conditions for years to come.”
Caroline Hackett, 2018 recipient of the Graduate (M.S.) Student Award ($2,000)
Caroline is completing a master’s program in Hydrogeology at the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas Austin, where her master’s thesis studied recharge from the upper Nueces River to the Trinity and Edwards aquifers in south-central Texas. She will be continuing her graduate study at the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education in Delft, Netherlands.
In her own words, “The IHE Delft program is uniquely suited to build on my experiences to prepare me for a career in water resources management. The Institute’s collection of cutting-edge expertise and international perspectives is unique, as is its role as a thought leader on the role of water in community development. I look forward to learning from international faculty and peers who can offer insights from their experiences working within a vast range of hydrologic settings, management policies, technical approaches, and cultural perspectives. Upon completion of the program, I will begin my career as a water resources engineer, bringing an integrated water resources approach to projects both at home in the US and abroad. My professional passion for water resources stems from an understanding that water underpins many aspects of society. With the critical support of the American Water Resources Association scholarship, the IHE Delft curriculum will prepare me to make a difference in this field.”
Mark Devey,
2018 recipient of the Undergraduate Student Award ($2,000)
Mark is majoring in Watershed Sciences at Utah State University (USU), with an emphasis in management and restoration dimensions of watersheds and aquatic ecosystems. His current undergraduate research project will explore the viability of a paleolimnological technique which could reconstruct historic phosphorus concentrations in lakes. He plans to present his findings at Utah State University’s undergraduate research symposium and at AWRA’s 2018 Annual Conference in Baltimore.
In his own words, “Going into my senior year of college, I have chosen to remain open to future career and education options, rather than prematurely limiting myself to a specific sub-field in natural resources. That being said, my limited experience draws me to stream or lake restoration work. I find the prospect of designing approaches to restoring these systems for both human use and ecological function to be an exciting challenge. Before then, I will likely pursue a master’s degree, perhaps building upon the research I hope to complete prior to graduating next year.”
Due to the overwhelming generosity of AWRA members, the Board of Directors and Scholarship Committee are pleased to announce three ancillary scholarships. Recipients are:
- Melissa McCracken ($650), Ph.D. Student, Oregon State University
- Claire Nauman ($650), M.S. Student, University of Alabama
- Michaella Becker ($700), Undergraduate Student, University of Delaware
If you would like to show your support for our next generation of water resources managers, please consider making a donation to our scholarship program. You do not need to be a member of AWRA to donate.