Sustainability Majors awarded National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Fellowships

Hayley Hilfer, a Sustainability major with emphases in both Environmental Science and Environmental Policy, was one of 130 applicants selected for a summer research fellowship at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey in their Dynamic Urban Environmental Systems and Sustainability Program. This program is a multidisciplinary research effort involving near surface geophysics, urban geochemistry and urban ecology in northern New Jersey. Hayley will do urban ecology research involving biodiversity and ecosystem services in the New Jersey Meadowlands.

Sydney Stracke, also a Sustainability major with emphases in both Environmental Science and Environmental Policy, was awarded a highly competitive summer research fellowship at the University of Nevada-Reno in their program called “The Value of Snow: Summer Research Experiences in Drought Resiliency and Natural Resources Issues in the Sierra Nevada and Great Basin Region”. Sydney will work on research involving food security and marginal lands in the Great Basin.

The National Science Foundation funded fellowships provide 10 weeks of rigorous, mentored research experiences, room and board, a $4000 stipend, plus travel expenses. The Sustainability program is an interdisciplinary, cross college degree program that began in 2012.