Matching Grant for Environmental Program
| May 20, 2009
Reaching Enormous Potential
David Gordon ’09 has interned for the James City County Planning Department’s Open Space program. He spent his fall 2007 semester in London for an environmental internship. And in just a few short days in the fall of 2006, David traveled to Tumu Tumu, a small agricultural town in Kenya, and attended a United Nations climate change conference in Nairobi.
The College’s Environmental Science and Policy program helped inspire Gordon to pursue each of these opportunities.
In addition to his ENSP major, David is also fulfilling requirements for a business major: “Understanding business and how to effect [environmental] change will be a vital skill in whatever path I stumble upon after graduation,” he says. “The fact that I have had the opportunity to combine these fields of study grants me a unique competitive advantage.”
Our most recent grant supporting the Environmental Science program comes with a matching requirement. We're seeking $1.6 million in private funding earmarked for the new postdoctoral program.
You can contribute online now to the Mellon Foundation Match.
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Boosts ENSP Program
The expanding reach of the Environmental Science and Policy Program (ENSP) has been greatly enhanced by the generous support of others. One essential partner, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, has awarded the ENSP program three grants since 2000. Each of these grants has allowed the program to grow in notable ways. Faculty have collaborated to redesign the major, add a minor, expand the curriculum and research offerings, and encourage partnerships across the departments. Faculty like Assistant Professor Maria Ivanova, an expert on international environmental policy and governance, have been recruited to join the program.
"William and Mary's program stands out from those of our peers because we apply an interdisciplinary approach to environmental issues that prepares students for a broad range of careers," says John Swaddle, associate professor of biology and director of the ENSP program.
When the Mellon Foundation awarded a third grant to William and Mary's ENSP program, a decade-long effort to build a nationally competitive undergraduate environmental science and policy program was on the cusp of being realized. Of the Mellon Foundation's $1.5 million grant, $330,000 will be used to establish a Center for Geospatial Analysis and $1.17 million will create the postdoctoral program and establish an endowment. To that end, $370,000 will be used to hire postdocs, with $800,000 directed toward an endowment that supports future postdocs hired.
New Postdoc Program Supports Teaching, Research
The new postdoctoral program brings an environmental researcher to the College every year, where she or he is mentored in teaching and research and conducts high-profile research projects with undergraduate students. Postdoc positions rotate across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, integrating all aspects of Arts & Sciences into the Environmental Science and Policy Program.
Integrating Teaching and Research
Yuehan Lu was appointed the program’s first postdoctoral fellow in September 2008 and will complete a two-year term. She obtained her Ph.D. in organic chemistry and oceanography at the University of Michigan.
She is working with professors at the Keck Laboratory and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) to research estuary areas of the York River. By doing so, she also serves as a link between the main campus and VIMS.
"This is really a special position," said Lu. "Often postdocs emphasize teaching or research, but rarely both."
"I'll be able to bring undergraduates with me to VIMS and introduce them to the research field earlier."
A second postdoctoral fellow will be hired for the ENSP program in the fall of 2009.
A Challenge from the Mellon Foundation
Providing permanent funding to support the postdoctoral program will require a $2.4 million endowment. In order to secure these funds, the Mellon Foundation has challenged the College to raise $1.6 million to complement the $800,000 already directed to the postdoc program. The deadline for completing the match is Dec. 31, 2010, and participation from the College community will have a direct impact on the ability to sustain the postdoctoral fellow positions.
"We are gratified that the Mellon Foundation has again recognized the excellent work of the Environmental Science and Policy program," says Carl J. Strikwerda, dean of Arts & Sciences. "I am confident that alumni and friends of the College will step forward and answer the Mellon Foundation’s challenge to build an endowment for our postdoctoral fellows program."
Learn More
For more information about how you can support the Environmental Science and Policy program, please contact Andrew Barry, Executive Director of Development for Arts & Sciences, at 757-221-3712 or [[acbarr]]. You can also learn more through the program&'s website at www.wm.edu/as/environment.
