Three Tulane University students receive prestigious national awards
Three Tulane University undergraduate students from the School of Science and Engineering were recognized for their achievements in the classroom and the laboratory with a pair of national awards. Rising seniors Nathalie Clarke and Danielle (Nelle) Kulick were named 2019 Goldwater Scholars by The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. Recent graduate Steven Stradley received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRFP).
Clarke and Kulick, who are both majoring in environmental biology and anthropology, are two of 496 Goldwater Scholars awarded nationwide for 2019–2020. The Goldwater Scholarship fosters and encourages outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences and engineering. The scholarship is the premier national undergraduate award of its type for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. It provides a $7,500 stipend.
Clarke plans to pursue a PhD in environmental toxicology or chemical ecology to study pollutants cycling in ecosystems and run a toxicology laboratory. She hopes to advocate for marginalized communities that have been adversely affected by climate change.
Kulick will seek a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology to study ecological mediators of multi-species interactions and their implications in conservation. Her current research — which she plans to continue in her graduate study — focuses on how species interactions shift in response to stress caused by global change.
A chemical engineering major, Stradley was awarded the NSF-GRFP, the nation's oldest and most established fellowship program that directly supports graduate students in various STEM fields. The fellowship provides $34,000 a year for three years and a cost of education allowance of $12,000 per year. Stradley will attend the California Institute of Technology to pursue a PhD in chemical engineering.
“Given the intellectual curiosity of our students, the strength of the programs in the School of Science and Engineering, and the commitment of our internationally recognized faculty to mentoring young scholars, it is no surprise that Tulane students are recognized by the Goldwater Scholarship program and the NSF Graduate Research Fellowships program,” said Charlotte Maheu Vail, Tulane’s Fulbright Program Advisor and Director of Tulane’s Honors Program. “Nelle, Nathalie and Steven epitomize the very best of Tulane University and the Newcomb-Tulane College Honors Program and deserve these prestigious honors for their outstanding work and their dedication to pursuing research careers in the sciences.”
