On June 17th, School-wide Honors Awards Ceremony awarded our trainees Kevin Wright and Shawn Pedron the honor of Outstanding Contributions to the Department (Grad). Currently, both Kevin and Shawn are pursuing a PhD in Earth System Science. Kevin and Shawn were selected because of their vital role as graduate representatives this year.
In this role, they helped facilitate the ESS retreat. At the retreat, they lead town hall meetings where students could openly discuss their concerns relating to the program and the department. They compiled a report of the concerns, sharing it with the Vice Chair for Graduate Studies and Student Affairs Manager. When they prepared the report, they offered possible solutions, some of which the department can and will be implementing over the Summer. Shawn and Kevin also presented the critical concerns from the report at a faculty meeting, helping gain buy-in from the faculty. Their leadership this year will help benefit current and future graduate students. Stay tuned for further achievements from these two excellent scholars and all our trainees.