Lenski

Samsonenko

Two Cornell University undergraduates have won scholarships in the 2005-06 Morris K. Udall Scholarship competition.

They are Shoshannah Lenski, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Lena Samsonenko, a junior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The award supports juniors and seniors who plan careers related to environmental policy and Native American students who plan careers related to health care or tribal policy.

Lenski and Samsonenko are among 80 undergraduate students nationwide to receive this year's academic awards of up to $5,000 from the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Foundation. The foundation's programs honor the late U.S. congressman from Arizona.

Since 1998 Cornell students have been awarded 21 Udall Scholarships. This year Cornell is one of only 11 institutions with more than one Udall scholar.

Lenski, of East Lansing, Mich., is a College Scholar with a major in French, a concentration in international relations and a breadth of courses in economics and math. She is the co-founder and president of Teva, a Jewish environmental/outdoor club, she works at Cornell Hillel and has performed with an environmental theater troupe. Last summer she interned at Michigan State University collecting and interpreting indicators of international environmental sustainability in the Environmental Science and Policy Program.

She was recommended for the Udall Scholarship by Tracy McNulty, Cornell assistant professor of romance studies, and Rabbi Ed Rosenthal of Cornell Hillel.

"I intend to use my analytical skills to pursue solutions to environmental degradation through creative and economically efficient policy changes that will promote sustainable resource use. I imagine myself in a career with state or national-level government, or with an environmentally progressive business, in which I could combine my interests of both economic and sociological approaches to environmental problem-solving," says Lenski.

Samsonenko, who is from Vernon, Conn., is a natural resources major with special interests in ornithology and ethnobiology. This semester she is in Costa Rica with the Organization for Tropical Studies. She has worked as a curatorial assistant at the Cornell Museum of Vertebrates, as a leadership intern for Wildside Nature Tours and is treasurer of the Cornell Birding Club. She has volunteered at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, at Promised Land State Park in Pennsylvania and as a birding guide at Cornell's Laboratory of Ornithology. As a high school student, she placed second nationwide in the American Birding Association's Young Birder competition. Her other honors include the E. Vreeland Baker Estate Scholarship for academic excellence, the Arthur H. and Karin A. Nelson Scholarship, also for academic excellence, and the Lillian Stoner Ornithological Award.

She was recommended for the Udall Scholarship by Charles Smith, a Cornell senior research associate in natural resources; David Winkler, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology; and Kimberly Bostwick, a research associate in ecology and evolutionary biology.

"My career goal is to become a professor at the university level where I may teach courses in conservation biology, field biology, field ecology and ethnobiology, as well as perform research in these areas of study. I hope that by teaching field-based courses, creating independent research programs and sharing my knowledge with my local community, I will help spread environmental awareness and foster conservation of critical habitats and ecosystems," says Samsonenko.

Students applying for the scholarship must be endorsed by Cornell to participate in the national competition. This year's endorsement committee consisted of James Lassoie and Barbara Bedford in the Department of Natural Resources; Ruth Richardson, professor of civil and environmental engineering; Jane Mt. Pleasant, American Indian Program director and associate professor of horticulture; and Beth Fiori, fellowship coordinator in Cornell Career Services.