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by Christina Foster '07
Virginia Wesleyan junior Ivy Ozmon has been fascinated with science since the sixth grade. So it seems fitting that this earth and environmental science major recently won a fellowship from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Ozmon was awarded $41,500 through the Greater Research Opportunities
(GRO) Undergraduate Fellowship. The GRO fellowship program helps colleges and universities with limited funding for research by awarding undergraduate fellowships to students in environmental fields. The purpose of the program is to encourage students to seek graduate work and careers in the environmental science fields.
"I definitely want to go to graduate school," said Ozmon. "I'd love to get my Ph.D. in coastal resource conservation."
The fellowship money Ozmon received will go toward funding her junior and senior years of school at Wesleyan as well as an internship in the summer of 2007. $16,500 was allotted as a stipend for her research and living expenses during her EPA internship next summer.
Ozmon is the first student at Wesleyan to receive this prestigious fellowship. She has been involved in a green roof research project on campus for the past year and continued her dedication to the project during the summer months. The green roof research consists of analyzing rainwater runoff from plots planted on campus; the water is then tested for mercury, phosphorus and nitrogen. Though Ozmon is still researching the green roof project, her EPA internship will allow her to explore different areas of environmental science.
"I think it'll be good for her to do a totally different type of research," said Dr. Elizabeth Malcolm, assistant professor of ocean and atmospheric xciences and Ozmon's adviser.
Ozmon has also applied for a small research grant from the Virginia Academy of Sciences, where she will present her green roof study at a conference in October. Five winners will be announced at the end of the conference. Virginia Wesleyan senior biology and math major Dan Proud won this research grant last year.
Ozmon is one of Wesleyan's top science students whose dedication to her on-campus projects is exemplified through her achievements and the recognition she has received.
"We're trying to increase research and internships in the sciences," said Malcolm. "I think she's a good example."