The Udall Undergraduate Scholarship Program identifies future leaders in environmental, Tribal public policy, and health care fields. As a condition of their award, Scholars attend a multiday Scholar Orientation experience in Tucson, Arizona. It is anticipated that this year, they will award up to 55 people $7000 each. The Udall Undergraduate Scholarship honors the legacies of Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall, whose careers had a significant impact on Native American self-governance, health care, and the stewardship of public lands and natural resources. This year, NIU was able to nominate these four amazing students, the maximum applicants allowed per institution for the environmental category, after a competitive campus process.
Emma Bell is a sophomore anthropology and environmental studies major. Some of her experiences that make her an ideal candidate for the Udall scholarship are that she is a McKearn Fellow, a member of the NIU First Nations Native Alliance, she was a Women in Archeology intern, and completed the Justice Challenge last summer on food insecurity. “As an environmental archaeologist, I aim to collaborate with Tribal Nations in the Midwest to document and conserve archaeological sites and to apply research on precolonial agriculture and land management practices to contemporary concerns of sustainability, food sovereignty, and environmental impacts.”
Skyler Bracket is a junior psychology and environmental studies major. Some of her experiences include working in the Jones-Based Restoration Lab on the NIU campus with with their ongoing small mammal trapping project at Nachusa Grasslands, which utilizes yearly documentation of rodent communities to monitor diversity and population stability within the prairie. She also was invited to be an undergraduate research assistant during her cognitive research study aimed at testing drawing vs. causal modeling (writing) strategies to adapt professional guidance towards more engaging learning methods that would aid student retention of scientific processes. In addition to this, she has committed to 120 hours to the NIU Greenhouse on campus. “I aspire to develop innovative approaches for communicating scientific concepts to those whose values do not align with sustainable efforts.”
Tamar Morehead is a sophomore sustainable food systems major with minors in biology and black studies. Tamar was inducted into the John Henrick Clarke Honor Society and is the treasurer of the NIU Garden Club. She enjoys volunteering at the huskie food pantry on campus and educating students on commingling of foods and chemicals to ensure safety for all students. She is passionate about reducing food waste and ensuring there is more fresh produce available for all in need. “I plan to become a biostatistician whose career consists of collecting and analyzing data from living organisms, for medical and human produce research.”
Hallela Wagner is a sophomore environmental policy and law major. She is the vice president for the Justice and Sustainability Association and is on the Environmental Studies Student Advisory Board. Hallela is a Rockford Promise Scholarship recipient and has done research with Dr. Colin Kuehl and at SIU-E as a research assistant. “I aspire to pursue a career in urban planning. Both my intrinsic and professional goals revolve around addressing the intersection of environmental degradation and social injustice through devoted community involvement. I believe the first step to addressing our environmental crisis begins on the community level, where we can cultivate respectful and reciprocal relationships with both the natural world and each other.“
