For the second academic year, the UVM Environmental Program has awarded undergraduates a grant award to follow their dreams and to actively pursue environmental change. The Ian A. Worley Award fosters and celebrates creative and innovative approaches in confronting current and future environmental challenges.

Established in 2013, the fund was inspired by the empowering teaching of Ian A. Worley, former long-time Professor of Botany and Environmental Studies in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Director of the Environmental Program. Professor Worley’s integrative and creative approach to problem-solving and scientific inquiry was inspiring and impactful to Founding Donor, Gary Simpson (CALS ’76), who initiated this award in the spirit of fostering and celebrating creative, integrative, imaginative, and innovative approaches to addressing the environmental challenges that face us.

This spring’s recipients are Jessica Mailhot (ENSC ’16) in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources and Akriti Bhargava (ENVS ’15) and Mikayla Peront (ENVS ’16) both in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Jessica’s funded project is called “Wing Strokes: Predicting Mean Arrival Date of Blue-headed & Red-eyed Vireos in Response to Changing Spring Climate as Depicted Visually in Art.” She will use arrival dates for these two songbird species to create a model that predicts changes into the future. She is in part testing a theory that migration distance affects species' abilities to adapt to change; but besides being a passionate scientist, Jess is an accomplished artist interested in finding ways to express scientific insights through art. This is a field that is expanding rapidly as it can help engage those outside of scientific circles in appreciating what science has to say about important topics. Her final project, she hopes, will be exhibited in UVM's Davis Student Center or other public place.

Akriti’s project, “Saving King Naga: Conservation and Snakes in Rajasthan, India,” takes her to India this summer. Most literature and conservation news focuses on large and charismatic species like tigers and elephants. Her goal is to better understand people's relationships with snakes and to investigate how religious beliefs, specifically those of Hinduism, play a role in human-snake interactions. Akriti is from India and her family will be helpful in gaining her the opportunity to talk with a variety of people in several villages.

From Bethel, Vermont, Mikayla will conduct her project, "Down on the Dairy Farm: Why Young People in Bethel, Vermont, are Choosing to Stay," in her hometown, a long-time dairy farming community. Usually studies of farms in Vermont focus on why people are leaving. Mikayla is taking the opposite approach by investigating why some young people are staying in dairy farming. In addition to interviews, she will ask each farmer to photograph the things that shape their view of the farm. She will analyze the farmers' photographs and display collections at a meeting of the farming community and on UVM's campus.

"We are thrilled with the unusual projects undertaken by these students as they are encouraged to 'think outside the box' and take their creativity to new heights of imagination," acknowledges Environmental Program Director Stephanie Kaza.

Fall 2014 recipient Navah Shoshanah Stein (ENVS ’15) used her award to partner with New Farms for New Americans and to better understand the experiences of Bhutanese refugees settled in Burlington, Vermont.  For her ENVS senior thesis, she asked questions regarding how identity is reformed or maintained based on the food sources available in their new environment. “Food stands for much more than something people simply consume,” Navah states. “Food tells a story of life, environment, and culture.”

Katherine Wilcenski (ENVS ’15) also applied her Fall 2014 award to her senior ENVS thesis, an interactive sculpture incorporating ecotherapy concepts to help people become aware of their preoccupied state and become more connected to the natural environment. She experimented with fungi growing on recycled biodegradable substrates such as cardboard, hay, wood chips, and seeds.

Jackson Massey (ENVS ’15) used his 2013 award to establish the campus student organization Climate Change Adaptation and Relief Efforts (CARE) which became his ENVS senior thesis project. Led by Jackson, the group conducted riparian buffer zone restoration, urban canopy inventory, and rain barrel construction projects as ways to work toward climate change adaptation. “This award has taught me that there is always a way to accomplish your goals, no matter how far-fetched they may seem,” he states. Jackson plans to study climate change adaptation in graduate school and hopes to start his own climate change adaptation consulting business.

Mackenzie Jones (ENVS ’15) applied her 2013 award to her ENVS senior thesis, a photo documentation of the potential of the repair industry to reduce waste from consumption. “I believe that not only does the repair industry have the potential to reduce waste from consumption but also to cause a shift in the social aspects of consumption by bolstering longevity in products, relationships, and livelihoods,” she states. Her dream is to become an art director for a company focused on supporting environmental awareness and responsibility.

2013 award recipient Francesca Hall (ENVS ’15) founded the Vermont Student Climate Coalition (VSCC) and expanded its membership to 13 colleges in Vermont with partnerships at seven organizations in the state. As co-chair for two years, Francesca helped VCSS host three conferences and two leadership retreats, including the immensely successful Vermont Power Shift conference held at Landmark College in November 2014. “VSCC has introduced students at colleges across the state to pressing environmental, economic, and social issues impacting the state and has empowered students with the skills necessary to organize on their campuses,” states Francesca. “Without the Ian Worley Award none of this would have been possible, and I would not have been able to pursue my passions and actualize them through this organization.” Francesca will teach English through Teach for America, pursue a master’s in education and possibly her law degree, and continue her commitment to social, economic, and environmental justice, building off her work in Vermont.

“The Ian A. Worley Award provides opportunities for innovative and entrepreneurial thinkers to benefit our communities and the environment,” states Rubenstein School Dean Nancy Mathews. “It reinforces the commitment we have to ensure that learning and discovery at the University of Vermont benefit people beyond our campus borders. We are deeply grateful for Gary Simpson's generous philanthropic support so that today's students benefit from Ian Worley's legacy at the University of Vermont.”

The Ian A. Worley Award is open to creative and entrepreneurial undergraduate majors or minors in Environmental Studies, undergraduates enrolled in a 200-level ENVS course, and UVM faculty members who regularly teach Environmental Studies courses.  For more information, see the Environmental Program’s award webpage.