Faust ’19, Mohamed ’20 named Doris Duke Conservation Scholars

Two students, Roger Faust ’19 (Omaha, Neb.) and Nasra Mohamed ’20 (Apple Valley, Minn.), were recently named 2017 Doris Duke Conservation Scholars.

The pair is part of a cohort of 20 students who were selected from a pool of over 200 from colleges and universities across the country. The program, which is hosted by the University of California Santa Cruz, is focused on increasing diversity in the field of conservation science.

The two both heard about the program from associate professor of biology Daniel Hernandez, who helps teach the summer field course as well as serves on the advisory committee. The program consists of a summer of fieldwork around national parks and reserves, followed by continued engagement and learning during the school year, and then another summer where scholars pursue summer conservation practice internships.

Faust, who normally summers at home in Nebraska, is excited to get more diverse research experiences in national parks throughout California. ” I loved getting the opportunity to design experiments in many different locations on my OCS trip to Australia and I wanted to do more of the same, so that was my biggest draw to this program,” said Faust. “Getting to connect to other students that also have diverse backgrounds and experiences will further spark new learning and ways of thinking about the scientific process.”

The program, which also exists at the University of Michigan, the University of Washington, and Northern Arizona University, is only in its second year. This is the first time Carleton students have been accepted into the Santa Cruz program, with Malia Molina ’18 (Makawao, Hawaii) having been accepted last year into the Michigan program. Hernandez says that the program is an important one for developing the next generation of conservation scholars who will continue the work of protecting our environment as well as furthering Carleton’s goals of broadening engagement in the sciences.