EESI Environmental Scholars
EESI associates must nominate students for these research assistantships by May 1.
Please consider the following criteria when nominating EMS graduate students:
- Students who increase the diversity of our college;
- Students who work across environmental disciplines and who work with more than one advisor;
- Students who are working in areas promoted by the EESI Strategic Plan (see http://www.eesi.psu.edu/resources/Faculty_Staff.shtml)
- Students who help promote collaborative work with the University of Puerto Rico faculty and students;
- Students interested in using 3D visualization technologies in their research;
- Students who will work with EESI fixed-term faculty as well as EESI associates;
- Students who are or will be advised by untenured faculty.
Students within the departments of EME, Geosciences, and Meteorology are highly solicited at this time due to the fact that other RA support is currently disproportionately committed to Geography students.
Nominations should be sent to Debbie Lambert (lambert@eesi.psu.edu) as one PDF document which includes:
- Letter of nomination for the student written by the advisor which includes how many semesters of support are needed and when support is needed;
- Copy of the student’s current transcript;
- Name of one faculty reference who can be contacted for more information about the student;
- One-page description of research written by the student;
- CV of the student which includes citations of papers or posters as well as papers published (if any).
Nominations will be reviewed by the EESI Advisory Committee (Richard Alley, Andrew Carleton, Jenni Evans, Amy Glasmeier, David Pollard, Alan Taylor) and chosen by the EESI Director.
EESI Environmental Scholars receive tuition waivers and stipends. The criteria for selection include students who work across environmental disciplines and who work with more than one advisor; students who increase the diversity of the college; and students who are interested in using 3D visualization technologies in their research.
The EESI Environmental Scholar is a competitive award and is based on a student’s academic record, research interests and faculty recommendations.
Note: A competition for EESI Environmental Scholars will be held annually once in the winter for nominations of prospective EMS students, and once in early spring for current EMS students.
Six graduate students who are pursuing research in interdisciplinary environmental sciences have been selected as EESI Environmental Scholars for the 2008-09 academic year.The 2008-09 EESI Environmental Scholars are:
Liza Diaz, a current Master’s student in the Department of Meteorology and a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico. Diaz is interested in tropical meteorology and climate change. She will be working on the analysis and interpretation of North American CO 2 data.
Venkata Pradeep Indraka, a current Ph.D. student in Energy and Geo-Environmental Engineering and a graduate of the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli, India. Indraka’s research has both computational and experimental components in the investigation of the use of atmospheric CO 2 as a photocatalyst to produce renewable carbon feedstocks.
Lindsey Interlante, a new Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography who earned her undergraduate degree at The College of New Jersey and her Master’s in public administration at the University of Delaware.
Christiana Pollack, a new Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography who attended Penn State as an undergraduate and earned a Master’s in energy and environmental analysis at Boston University.
Xuhua Shi, a current Master’s student in the Department of Geosciences who earned a Master’s in Structural Geology from the Institute of Geology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research spans the disciplines of paleoclimate and tectonics as he intends to test the hypothesis that the expansion of the Tibetan Plateau was accomplished through the outward flow of weak lower crust.
Roman Tonkonojenkov, a current Ph.D. student in the Department of Geosciences and a graduate of York University, Ontario, Canada. Tonkonojenkov is interested in Earth system ecology and more specifically, using observations of atmospheric oxygen to understand the sensitivity of the terrestrial carbon cycle and ocean circulation.