2011 Institute for Environmental Studies Awards

Each year the Institute for Environmental Studies asks for nominations from the faculty for outstanding graduating Master’s students in the fields of Environmental Studies and Applied Geosciences. In order to receive this award, students must not only maintain a high GPA but also have contributed to the Department of Earth & Environmental Science, the Institute for Environmental Studies, or the student’s chosen field while a student at Penn. We had a large number of excellent nominees this year and the decision was very difficult.

Outstanding Graduate in the Master of Science in Applied Geosciences

Faye Edmund

While in the MSAG program, Faye took a full-time course load in various fields such as mineralogy, geochemistry, geophysics, hydrogeology, and engineering geology.

Faye’s Thesis entitled "Petrographic and XRD investigation of volcanic rocks in Sabah, Malaysia" focused on the mineralogyand geochemistry of volcanic rocksfrom Southeastern Sabah, Malaysia. These rocks have never been described before and Faye’s work will be a significant contribution to the understanding of Malaysian geology.
Faye plans to return to Malaysia and continue to work as a geologist at the Minerals and Geoscience Department of Malaysia.

Outstanding Graduate in the Master of Environmental Studies Program

Vivian Futran

While an MES student, Vivian worked as a Research Intern at the EPA Region 3 office focusing on issues of domestic effects of climate change on water. Vivian was awarded a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship through Penn's Middle East Center and spent a summer in Israel attending an intensive Hebrew language course, and expanding her network related to the nexus of conflict resolution and environmentalism, specifically water.Served as the Program Manager for the Philadelphia Global Water Initiative (PGWI). In that capacity she helped organize international water projects, Wharton’s Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership’s conference on Valuing Water, the 5K Philadelphia Walk for Water, Walk for Life, and the 4th Annual PGWI Water conference. She has also represented PGWI at the United Nations and events related to World Women and Water.

Vivian will pursue her Ph.D. at Israel’s Ben Gurion University in the environmental field.