Outstanding Student Achievement Award
This award is given in recognition of the recipient's overall scientific excellence, achievement, and promise, coupled with outstanding service to the scientific and/or public communities. This award is made possible by the generosity of donors who prefer to remain anonymous at this time. We are pleased to name the following individual as the recipient of this year's award:
Allison Luengen is highly deserving of this award based on her scholarly achievement, her progress and consistently outstanding performance in her research, her performance as a teaching assistant, her performance at student presentations, and her overall citizenship contributions to the University and scientific community within her field.
Allison Luengen is an outstanding student with impeccable academic credentials, an innovative and dedicated research scientist, committed to a public career that addresses emerging environmental problems, and actively involved in public service. As such, she epitomizes the aims of the Ocean Sciences award.
Allison's undergraduate record at UC Berkeley was outstanding (e.g., 3.65 GPA in Integrative Biology), and she had already demonstrated both research skills (e.g., excellent senior thesis) and a commitment to resolving complex environmental problems. These accomplishments were evidenced by the numerous awards that she received during that period. However, she did not have the expertise in geochemistry that she felt was needed to be successful for complex, interdisciplinary studies and remediation of environmental contamination in San Francisco Bay, which is her career goal. Consequently, she determined to join Prof. Russ Flegal's research group, rather than pursue another degree in Biology, which would have involved much less course work.
That determination was extremely fortunate for Flegal's Lab, which has primarily focused on the biogeochemistry of contaminants in the Bay. As Prof. Flegal's student Allison completed her degree in the Marine Sciences Masters Program, currently the Ocean Sciences Masters Program, in less than three years, and concurrently began her doctoral studies in Environmental Toxicology during her final year in that program. She also did so well in both her MS classes and in her Marine Science thesis research that she received the Natural Science (now Physical & Biological Sciences) Division Dean's Award for the first year of her doctoral studies. Her Marine Science MS thesis was also selected by the campus for submission to the University of Western Universities competition as the outstanding MS thesis for the consortium, and the consortium selected it as a finalist for that award.
Receiving awards for both academic achievement and public service is nothing new to Allison. She graduated with Honors in Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, where she also received a prestigious Morris K. Udall Fellowship in Environmental Policy. If our graduate students received grades, she would have had a higher GPA for her MS graduate studies in Marine Science at UC Santa Cruz. Based on that MS graduate performance, she received an extremely competitive Achievement Reward for College Scientists (ARCS) to begin her Ph.D. studies in Environmental Toxicology.
Because that discipline is so diverse, Allison acquired skills in Biology, Chemistry, Oceanography, and Environmental Toxicology that will enable her to conduct research to resolve important environmental problems. Moreover, she has designed a thesis project on the biological aspects of mercury contamination in San Francisco Bay organisms that complements the geochemical studies of two other doctoral students in the lab group, and assembled a group of faculty advisors from Ocean Sciences, EEB, and Environmental Toxicology. Allison is so committed to conducting important and meaningful research on environmental concerns in San Francisco Bay that we are confident that (1) her new studies will be extremely successful and (2) she will then continue that work in a career protecting and enhancing the state's environmental resources.
The viability of her Ph.D. thesis project is evidenced by the success of her MS thesis research. It was designed to complement the lab's existing projects in San Francisco Bay, while developing a new area of expertise within the lab group. To gain that expertise, Allison spent an inordinate amount of time at Bodega Marine Laboratory (about 4 hours away from UCSC) learning techniques to measure immune responses in oysters, adapting them for mussels, determining those techniques were not directly applicable for mussels, and then developing new techniques for mussels. The rigor of her efforts were acknowledged with her receipt of both a National Shellfisheries Association Student Endowment and Award for her presentation at their national meeting. She then presented the results of some of her MS thesis research at the international meeting of Heavy Metals in the Environment, where several colleagues volunteered that it was among the best - if not the best - presentation by anyone at that meeting. More recently (three weeks ago), Allison received the Award for Best Student Presentation at the meeting of the Northern California Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry for her presentation of the results of her initial doctoral thesis research. The first two manuscripts for that research are in draft form, and the third is in preparation. Consequently, Allison is well on her way to graduating - with an outstanding thesis - within the next six months.
Most notably, Allison is committed to utilizing her academic and research expertise in a sociopolitical format to actively promote the health of San Francisco Bay. She has already demonstrated that interest through her internships with the California State Legislature's Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee, the Morris K. Udall Fellowship in Environmental Policy, and the San Francisco Estuary Institute. The latter organization has a standing offer of employment for her, and Prof. Flegal has already received inquiries about her availability from other non-governmental organizations, as well as state and federal agencies. As a consequence, we fully expect Allison to quickly become a leader in the environmental field in the San Francisco Bay area, at the state level, and nationally.
In summary, Allison Luengen is a truly exceptional student and researcher. She has published the results of her MS research in Marine Science in Marine Environmental Research, and has received honors for her oral presentations of that research at national meetings. She has completed the course work for her doctorate in Environmental Toxicology, and has already received honors for her oral presentations of that research, which is now being drafted for a series of publications. Based on both her academic accomplishments and her ongoing involvement in social issues, she epitomizes the truly exceptional students that merit the Ocean Sciences Award.
The Ocean Sciences Department is pleased to recognize Allison Luengen's contributions to scientific research, education, and service with this year's Ocean Sciences Outstanding Student Award.
Ken Bruland,
Chair of the Ocean Sciences Department
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