The year wrapped up happily for two undergraduates in environmental studies, who received awards that were announced December 12.
Gabriel Sady, a junior majoring in environmental studies, has received the Richard Cooley/Friends Foundation International Award, which will help fund his six-month research project in tropical forest restoration. Sady will spend the first three months of 2008 in Costa Rica, where he will monitor the germination and success of seedlings of different tree species. After his return to Santa Cruz, a colleague in Costa Rica will continue monitoring the plants and relaying data to Sady, who is working with professor Karen Holl and associate professor Michael Loik. The award, which carries a $1,000 cash prize, honors Richard Cooley, the founder of the environmental studies program at UCSC, who died in 1994.
John Prager, a senior majoring in environmental studies and economics, has received the CONCUR, Inc., Scholarship Award in Environmental Studies. Prager, who plans to attend law school and pursue a career in environmental law, is interested in conflict resolution. He has studied in Washington, D.C., where he completed an extracurricular internship with the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances.
The scholarship was established by environmental studies alumni John K. Gamman and Scott J. McCreary, founders of CONCUR, Inc., an environmental mediation firm that specializes in combining environmental policy analysis with facilitation and mediation skills to resolve complex disputes involving scarce or limited natural resources. The award is presented annually to one or more undergraduate or graduate students in environmental studies. It is based on academic merit, and preference is given to students interested in environmental dispute resolution.
