Duke Junior Ariella Chukwuma Awarded Udall Scholarship

Ariella Amarachukwu Chukwuma, a member of Duke’s class of 2024, has obtained the Udall Scholarship, which acknowledges college students who’ve demonstrated a dedication to careers within the surroundings, well being care or Native American tribal public coverage or well being care.

Students additionally reveal management potential and tutorial achievement. From Allen, Texas, Chukwuma is certainly one of 55 students chosen nationwide. Every scholarship supplies as much as $7,000 throughout the scholar’s junior or senior 12 months.

Chukwuma is a Rachel Carson Scholar majoring in environmental science with a minor in inequality research and plans to pursue a profession in coastal conservation and ecology analysis.

Final 12 months, Chukwuma was awarded a Udall Scholarship honorable point out. Since then, she has expanded upon her earlier environmental work to concentrate on subsistence fishing and the function it performs in strengthening neighborhood cohesion.

Finally, she plans to proceed constructing relationships with the fishers by conducting interviews whereas on the identical time pursuing a historic evaluation of Black, indigenous and different folks of colour fishers and their cultural traditions.

Chukwuma plans to pursue a Ph.D. in environmental science. When requested about her additional plans, she shares, “I need to concentrate on uplifting traditionally marginalized coastal communities, particularly as local weather change makes teams which are already subjected to environmental racism extra susceptible to such discrimination.”

The Udall Scholarship honors the legacies of Morris Udall and Stewart Udall, whose careers had a big affect on Native American self-governance, well being care, and the stewardship of public lands and pure sources.

A 20-member impartial evaluate committee chosen this 12 months’s group of Udall Students. The evaluate committee additionally awarded 55 honorable mentions, which incorporates Duke junior Grace Dewyer.

Duke college students and alumni can obtain assist for alternatives just like the Udall Scholarship from the Nationally Aggressive Scholarships crew at the Office of University Scholars and Fellows.

For extra data on the Udall Scholarship, go to www.udall.gov.