Jackie Luu’s academic excellence, conservation research led to Goldwater Scholarship

John Hollis — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 18:52:52 +0000

Jackie Luu’s academic excellence, conservation research led to Goldwater Scholarship John Hollis Mon, 04/05/2021 - 14:52

Mason junior Jackie Luu was named a recipient of the Goldwater Scholarship. Photo provided

Jackie Luu, a junior Environmental Science and Policy major from Glen Allen, Virginia, is George Mason University’s first-ever Barry M. Goldwater Scholar from the Department of Environmental Science and Policy within the College of Science.

Luu, a member of Mason’s Honors College, was among the 410 students chosen nationally as 2021 scholars and will receive a $7,500 stipend that will help her cover tuition and room and board next year.

“My immediate reaction was just shock,” Luu said. “I’m honored and I think it will help open a lot of doors for me as a scholar.”

The Goldwater Scholarship, established by Congress in 1986 in honor of U.S. Sen. Barry M. Goldwater, fosters and encourages outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. It is considered the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields.

The Goldwater Scholars were chosen on the basis of academic merit from a pool of 1,256 natural science, engineering and mathematics students nominated by the institutional representatives of 438 colleges and universities nationwide. Nearly all of the scholars intend to obtain a doctoral degree.

“It’s a great honor to be chosen,” she said.

LaNitra M. Berger, who is Mason’s senior director of fellowships in the Office of Undergraduate Education, called Luu a dedicated researcher and a pleasure with whom to work.

“I am thrilled that she won the Goldwater, and that she represents Mason and its commitment to academic excellence so well,” Berger said.

Luu, 21, who credited Mason faculty among her mentors for their critical help in her application process, is no stranger to academic success. An excellent high school student, she was recruited to Mason as a Smithsonian-Mason Scholar and spent the Fall 2020 semester at the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation in Front Royal, Virginia.

“Jackie is an avid and talented young conservationist who has been one of the most active students with SMSC,” said Robert Barrett, the school’s assistant director of recruitment and outreach.

Luu enjoyed her time doing research in Front Royal. "It was great and showed me there are lots of different opportunities in the field and helped fuel my passion for doing research,” she said.

She worked with her mentor, Karen T. Lee, and a committee of advisors in preparing her Goldwater application. A Mason faculty committee selected the university’s nominees for the national competition.

Luu’s research essay centered on work she’s currently doing with Lee on color variations within female green crabs. The two will soon co-author a paper with their findings.

Lee, assistant director for Mason’s Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research (OSCAR) and a member of the university’s Goldwater Committee, said Luu’s selection has made her “proud and excited.”

“This is something that can really be a huge boost to a student’s career,” said Lee, an affiliate faculty member in Mason’s Departments of Biology and Environmental Science and Policy. “This is a big deal.”

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation has awarded 9,457 scholarships since 1989.

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Campus News

Goldwater Scholarship

Department of Environmental Science and Policy (ESP)

College of Science

Students

Freshman who found her passion at Mason creates floating island to save pond

Colleen Rich — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 16:09:58 +0000

Freshman who found her passion at Mason creates floating island to save pond Colleen Rich Thu, 09/12/2019 - 12:09

How do you combat an overabundance of algae? Create a floating biological island.

That’s what freshman Kennedy Ream did after attending the Washington Youth Summit on the Environment (WYSE) hosted by George Mason University, the National Geographic Society and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo as a high schooler in 2018.

Mason freshman Kennedy Ream installed a floating biological island to combat the algae problem in the pond behind her high school in Logansport, Indiana. Photo by Tony Walters. Courtesy of Pharos Tribune.

The island, which took Ream a couple months to build, is a mass of aquatic plants, foam, netting and corrugated pipes filled with water valves, she said. The environmental science major and member of Mason's Honors College first learned about floating biological islands on an excursion to the Rappahannock River with WYSE. Inspired by Mason speakers who emphasized that small steps could make an impact on the Earth, she said she set out to build one for a pond in need near her high school.

While algae can be a home for organisms, such as bugs and frogs, too much of it can throw off the ecosystem’s balance, creating a disproportionate amount of prey to predators, Ream explained. The plants on top of her island help naturally filter out excess algae and, in doing so, balance out the population of all organisms living there.

“A lot of people don’t realize how much they can make a difference,” said Ream, who said she became very passionate about environmental science at WYSE and decided to apply to Mason after attending the summit.

Kennedy Ream

Ream, whose dream job is to become an environmental scientist for National Geographic, said she originally planned to go to college in her home state of Indiana. But after learning about Mason’s strong environmental science program, its opportunities near the nation’s capital and the university’s high return on investment for students finding jobs after graduating, she was hooked.

“Mason is really good at helping students switch from college to a career,” said Ream, who added that she’s looking forward to the networking opportunities afforded by Mason. “That makes me feel really comfortable that I’ll find [a job] as soon as a graduate.”

Ream said she’s adding a data science minor, which she hopes will help with her future research, and a minor in Chinese. Asia’s unique wildlife—such as the endangered pangolin, which is a scaly anteater—is something she hopes to bring more awareness to in the future, perhaps on a National Geographic expedition, she said.

She said she thinks a program like Mason’s can help her get there and make an impact.

“Our students are immersed in a very distinctive transdisciplinary, hands-on program that unfolds within a learning environment of practicing scientists, leading teachers, writers, policy analysts and a host of other resources—including living collections of endangered species,” said A. Alonso Aguirre, chair of the Department of Environmental Science and Policy (ESP) at Mason. “ESP promises an experience and an education that will be life changing.”

Department of Environmental Science and Policy (ESP)

environmental science

Students