Graduate students Nina Lanza and Ann Ollila, in the Institute of Meteoritics, are being honored as recipients of the 2009 Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowship award at an Earth & Planetary Sciences department colloquium on Friday, Sept. 4.
Photo: Amelia Earhart. UNM students Nina Lanza and Ann Ollila awarded Zonta Amelia Earhart Fellowships.
Each student, who will receive a $10,000 fellowship, will give a 15-20 minute talk about her project at the colloquium. After the talks, Zonta representative Danita Ultsman will give a brief history of Zonta and the Amelia Earhart fellowships and make a presentation to Lanza and Ollila.
Lanza received her fellowships (she was also a 2008 Amelia Earhart fellowship recipient) for projects investigating calibrating the ChemCam LIBS for carbonates and examining Martian gullies as debris flow deposits.
Ollila's project is the study organic materials using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) under Martian atmospheric conditions in preparation for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover mission.
Founded in 1919, Zonta International is a global organization of executives and professionals working together to advance the status of women worldwide through service and advocacy. Zonta members volunteer their time, talents and money to local and international service projects, as well as scholarship and award programs aimed at furthering women's education, leadership and youth development.
The Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowships were established in 1938 in honor of Amelia Earhart, famed pilot and member of the Zonta Clubs of Boston and New York. The Fellowships are made annually to women pursuing graduate PhD/doctoral degrees in aerospace-related sciences and engineering.
Each year Zonta awards 35 Fellowships in the amount of $10,000 each year to young women who are seeking advanced degrees in the study of aerospace engineering and related studies. Earhart was a member of Zonta International and her life was dedicated to advancing new horizons.
Media Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
Posted by scarr at August 31, 2009 10:22 AM