The Elmer Nicholson Achievement Prize recognizes a student for whom “emergence” is an overriding characteristic. The Nicholson Achievement Prize recognizes the greatness of the student’s total UVM experience. Based on that greatness, there is an expectation that the student will make a major contribution in their field of interest. One of this this year’s recipients is Dia Brown (they/she pronouns).

Dia is from Huntingtown, Md., a small town on the Chesapeake Bay. She graduates with a civil engineering degree from the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences.

Trained as an engineer, she is also an environmentalist and has spent her UVM career exploring ways to design sound structures that consider sustainability and social justice.

Dia quickly distinguished herself as a stellar student and a respected leader advocating for diversity in STEM fields. At UVM she founded a chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, worked as an intern for the climate-change organization 350.org, and met with students of color at Winooski High School to encourage them to pursue engineering in college.

She drew inspiration from a wide array of research opportunities and scientific fields. Following her junior year, she worked as a research assistant at the Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences at Penn State analyzing COVID-19 mortality and case data. The summer before she was mapping benthic macroinvertebrates and evaluating water samples as a tidal water analyst for the Chesapeake Bay program. As a laboratory technician for the UVM FabLab she designed and created over 100 parts for clients while calibrating and maintaining a suite of 3D printers and a laser cutter.

Her many honors for service to the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences and the larger university community includes the 2018 UVM Outstanding Achievement Award, the 2019 Provost Award for Activism and Student Leadership UVM, the 2019 COOK Award for Leadership in Residential Life UVM and the 2019 Award for Feminist Leadership in Vermont.

This year Dia was named winner of the 2021 Brett Vincent Gorky Dean’s Recognition Award, given to the undergraduate who demonstrated extraordinary integrity and commitment to others through outstanding service to the faculty, staff and students in CEMS.

This summer Dia will be using scholarship funds to take welding and woodshop courses while studying for the Fundamentals of Engineering exam. Long-term, her plans include moving back the Baltimore/Washington DC area or New York City to work for engineering firms specializing in design of economical and sustainable housing.