EPA selects 13 STAR fellows from Pacific Southwest schools

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently awarded $6 million in funding for 52 Science to Achieve Results (STAR) graduate fellows, including 13 fellows from universities in Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada.
 
The STAR fellowship program allows recipients to continue their studies and pursue innovative research opportunities in environmental science fields. Running since 1995, the program has supported approximately 2,000 fellows with more than $65 million in funding. This year’s Pacific Southwest recipients accounted for $1.6 million in funding, with the majority of the students receiving $132,000 each.
 
“Through EPA’s funding, the STAR fellows will pursue innovative research projects while attaining advanced academic degrees,” EPA Acting Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest Alexis Strauss said. “The work these students are doing is inspirational, and will help address environmental challenges in fields such as atmospheric chemistry, green energy, hydrogeology and toxicology.”
 
The University of California, Berkeley, boasts the most fellows this year with five, while two students from Stanford University earned awards. Arizona State University; the University of Arizona; the University of California, Davis; the University of California, Irvine; the University of Hawaii, Manoa; and the University of Nevada, Reno, each had one student selected for the STAR fellowship program this year.