Erica Chang received the Scheffey Award in recognition of her outstanding environmental leadership. Erica’s time at Williams was marked by her passion for environmental and marine studies and her enthusiastic participation in the program. She worked on an independent study to bring more sustainable seafood to campus, conducted marine ecology research at Williams Mystic that led her to present at an academic conference, interned at a local vet clinic helping small animals and occasional wildlife, and was a teaching assistant for the Environmental Planning class. Erica will attend UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in August to pursue a degree specializing in wildlife. She hopes to work on both an individual and ecosystem level through wildlife medicine to help restore our damaged environment.
The Rosenburg Prize for for outstanding scholarship and potential for solving environmental problems, was awarded to Natalie DiNenno. An environmental studies major, Natalie played an active role in the Center for Environmental Studies as well as the Hopkins Forest, where she was an HMF Educator. Natalie also wrote several articles about environmental initiatives and attended the Williams-Mystic program. A vocal and enthusiastic proponent of the W-M Program, Natalie gave a compelling Log Lunch presentation about her marine policy research project on land loss in coastal Louisiana.
Natasha Baranow won the Thomas Hardie Award, which goes to the student who has done the best work in environmental studies. Her thesis about the effects of climate change on agriculture, “Small Scale Agrarian Acclimation: Climate Narratives of Farmers in the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast,” was advised by Professors Henry Art and Sarah Gardner; it may be found on the CES website: https://ces.williams.edu/files/2018/07/NBaranow_Thesis.pdf . Following graduation, Tasha joined Resonance, an international environmental consulting firm in Burlington VT, where she is a project assistant on a team that works on natural resource management, conservation, and international development.
The Environmental Studies Committee Award honors seniors who have made outstanding contributions to the environmental studies community. This year two students received the award: Kathryn Dix, wrote a thesis about the effects of climate change on coffee cultivation, “Recasting Organic: Cultural and Material Landscapes of Resistance. ” Katy also researched pollinator protection in Williamstown and was a Hopkins Forest educator and caretaker. Following graduation, she is spending her summer continuing her coffee research in Guatemala and Peru and next year she heads to France to teach English. The other recipient was Eleanor Lustig (at left), an Environmental Studies and Math double major who did several research projects on farmers, farming and food. Eleanor was also a Log Lunch cook, a WRAPs volunteer, a leader of the Campus Kitchen Project, and a member of thinkFood, in addition to being a tutor in Williamstown schools.
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