Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Announces 2026 Student Award Recipients

Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Announces 2026 Student Award Recipients

New Orleans, LA — The Tulane University Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (EENS) is proud to announce the recipients of its 2026 student awards. These honors recognize exceptional academic achievement, research contributions, teaching, and service to the department and broader community.

UNDERGRADUATE AWARDS

Reinhard A. Steinmayer Award — Meryl LaRue and Zachary Hom

The Reinhard A. Steinmayer Award is the department's highest undergraduate honor, presented to graduating seniors who demonstrate exceptional excellence in academics, research, leadership, and service. The 2026 award is presented to two outstanding students.

Meryl LaRue pursued independent field research in Ecuador's Chocó Rainforest, investigating agroforestry practices and carbon stocks. Her work earned Best-in-Show recognition at the Newcomb Tulane Research Symposium and has been presented at academic conferences. A Stamps Scholar and nominee for both the Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships, Meryl also serves as President of the Earth Science Club and is actively engaged in teaching and community outreach. She holds a Spanish minor and certifications in GIS and Computer Science.

Zachary Hom brings a distinctive interdisciplinary perspective to the department as a Computer Science coordinate major with an Electrical Engineering minor and GIS certificate. Their research includes work on geothermal power potential in the Sabine Uplift and field contributions to the Kivu Rift Project in Rwanda, complemented by professional experience in renewable energy performance engineering. Zach is a Theta Tau officer, teaching assistant, and dedicated mentor to middle school students through the GiST and BATS programs.

Harold E. Vokes Award — Kristen Webster

This year's Harold E. Vokes Award goes to Kristen Webster, a double major in Environmental Earth Science and Environmental Studies with a Chemistry minor and GIS certificate. Kristen's research portfolio spans NASA microgravity experiments, bald cypress endophyte studies, and PFAS analysis — work that has earned her the Gordon Fellowship and a Louisiana Sea Grant Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) award. Beyond the lab, she serves as a GIS teaching assistant, resident advisor, and career peer advisor, and is the founder of the Greenlife Action Team, a student organization dedicated to sustainability, mentorship, and community engagement.

Department Chair's Award — Claudia Miller

Claudia Miller receives the Department Chair's Award in recognition of her sustained research contributions and commitment to mentorship. Her honors thesis examines the impacts of oyster reef restoration on Louisiana shorelines — a topic of pressing relevance to the state's coastal future. Claudia has also conducted marine ecosystem monitoring with Seaside Sustainability and coral reef analysis in Tulane's Reef Lab. She shares her expertise as a lab teaching assistant, calculus tutor, and peer mentor, and holds a Mathematics minor and GIS certificate.

Senior Honors Scholar — Meryl LaRue

Meryl R. LaRue is a senior majoring in Earth and Environmental Sciences at Tulane University. Her thesis, "Effects of Land Use on Carbon Stocks in the Ecuadorian Chocó," examines how shade-grown cacao farming can serve as a nature-based climate solution — storing carbon, supporting biodiversity, and improving farmer livelihoods in one of the world's most biodiverse regions. The research, conducted through independent fieldwork in Northwest Ecuador, earned Best-in-Show at the Newcomb Tulane Research Symposium and has been presented at academic conferences. A Stamps Scholar and nominee for both the Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships, Meryl serves as President of the Earth Science Club and is committed to teaching and community outreach. She holds a Spanish minor and certifications in GIS and Computer Science.

GRADUATE AWARDS

The Vokes Fellowship — Zoe Shribman

Zoë Shribman is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Tulane University, where she studies mangrove blue carbon stocks and fluxes under the advisement of Daniel Friess, Ph.D.. Her dissertation research investigates how carbon stocks and fluxes vary across environmental and geomorphic settings, with current fieldwork centered in Baja California Sur, Mexico, in partnership with COSTASALVAJE and local conservation partners. She is committed to ensuring her research has real-world impact — informing mangrove restoration and conservation projects at the community level.

A mangrove scientist with over a decade of field experience, Zoë has conducted research across Singapore, Florida, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, and the Gulf Coast. She holds an M.S. in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences from Louisiana State University, where she studied belowground carbon storage and soil development in Southwest Florida mangrove systems, and a B.S. in Marine Science from Eckerd College. She is a co-author on several peer-reviewed publications and has collaborated with organizations including the Mangrove Action Project, Blue Forests, and Forest Carbon.

Graduate Research Award — Eduardo Arzabala

Eduardo Arzabala is a PhD candidate in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Tulane University, where he works in Cynthia Ebinger's, Ph.D. geophysics research group. He specializes in geomechanics, induced seismicity, and machine learning applications in seismology. His dissertation investigates the mechanical drivers of induced and natural earthquakes — including those triggered by wastewater injection and magmatic intrusion — while advancing predictive models of earthquake ground motion using Graph Neural Networks. His research integrates geophysical data, finite-element modeling, and deep learning to improve seismic risk assessment in intraplate regions. Eduardo is the lead author of a 2026 publication in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth and has presented his work at AGU and EGU international meetings. He holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Colorado Boulder. Outside of research, he most enjoys spending time with his family.

Outstanding Teaching Assistant — Meryl LaRue

Meryl R. LaRue is a senior majoring in Earth and Environmental Sciences at Tulane University. As a teaching assistant in the department, Meryl has consistently demonstrated the qualities that define exceptional instruction — thorough preparation, sustained student engagement, timely and equitable grading, and a genuine commitment to student learning. Her dedication extends well beyond required duties, reflected in her active involvement in community outreach and her leadership as President of the Earth Science Club. A Stamps Scholar and nominee for both the Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships, Meryl brings the same rigor and care to the classroom that she applies to her own research. She holds a Spanish minor and certifications in GIS and Computer Science.

Outstanding Teaching Assistant — Kaetlyn Rodriguez

Kaetlyn Rodriguez is a PhD student in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Tulane University, where she conducts research on sea level rise and ocean oxygenation during the last interglacial period (MIS 5e). She works under the mentorship of Dr. Torbjörn Törnqvist in the Quaternary Research Group and Dr. Yi Wang in the Geochemistry and Paleoceanography Lab. A California native, Kaetlyn's lifelong curiosity about the natural world — from mountain ranges to coastlines — continues to drive her work on climate change and Earth's dynamic systems. She earned her B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2022.

As a Teaching Assistant, Kaetlyn exemplifies the department's highest standards for graduate student instruction. She consistently demonstrates preparedness, student engagement, and academic integrity in every lab session she leads — arriving early, staying actively present throughout, and ensuring every student fully participates in course activities. Her commitment to timely, fair grading and accessible office hours reflects a genuine investment in student success. Kaetlyn's dedication to her teaching responsibilities, alongside a demanding research program, makes her a well-deserved recipient of the Outstanding Teaching Assistant award.

New Orleans Geological Society Scholarship Awards

We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2026 New Orleans Geological Society (NOGS) Scholarship Awards. NOGS expanded its scholarship offerings this year, increasing both the number of awards and individual dollar amounts to further support outstanding students pursuing degrees in the earth sciences. Recipients were formally recognized at the April 22, 2026 NOGS luncheon.

To be eligible, students must maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher, be currently enrolled full time in upper-division undergraduate or graduate coursework, major in an earth science discipline such as petroleum geology, environmental geology, or geophysics, and be enrolled full time in the Fall 2026 term.

2026 NOGS Scholarship Recipients

Graduate Scholarships

Kaetlyn Rodriguez — $3,500

Mao Mao — $3,250

Oluwadamilare Odugbesan — $3,250

Senior Scholarships | $3,000 each

Gracen Miller

Michael Douglas

Junior Scholarships | $2,500 each

Charlie Goldstein

Danh Ngo

The department formally recognized all award recipients at its annual end-of-year celebration held on April 23, 2026. Congratulations to this year's honorees for their outstanding contributions to the field and to the Tulane community.