Gaylord Donnelley Prize

Beginning in 1999, the Environmental Studies Program has recognized its most outstanding seniors for their academic achievements with the Gaylord Donnelley Prize. The award is made by the faculty to the authors of distinguished pieces of interdisciplinary scholarship, and presented to seniors at commencement. It is funded by an endowment from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation and the Donnelley Family, in memory of Mr. Gaylord Donnelley, a conservationist dedicated to advances in research and education. The Donnelley Foundation also endows a post-doctoral fellowship.

2023

Khenzom Alling (Grace Hopper College) Caring for Home and Homeland: Environmental Placemaking in Dharamshala and Tibet

Marc Gonzalez (Davenport College) Maldita Sea, Otro Apagón”: A Historical, Decolonial Analysis of the Puerto Rican Power Grid and the Making of the Energy Crisis

Elizabeth Hopkinson (Jonathon Edwards College) Dying in and out of place: The American hospital as a setting for end-of-life care

Adin Ring (Saybrook College) Harnessing Citizen Science and Collections Data for Invasive Plant Surveillance

2022

Helen Dugmore (Timothy Dwight College ) Winds of Change: Insurance, Climate Science and the Moral Economy of Risk at the IBHS Research Center

Sean Johnson (Grace Hopper College) An Analysis of Capital Flows within US Climate Tech Venture Capital

Danielle Losos (Saybrook College) Weather Satellites for Wildfire Tracking: Mapping Burned Area in Near-Real Time using Geostationary Satellite Data

Caroline Magavern (Berkeley College) Curators of Climate Change: Art Museums in the Anthropocene

Evan Parker (Morse College) An Assessment of Geographic and Taxonomic Biases in Research on Climate Change-Related Range Shifts

Katie Schlick (Silliman College) Disaster, Human Mobility, & Networks of Care: How the U.S. government can mitigate the challenge of managing chronic disease and mental health in populations displaced by natural disaster

2021

Victoria Dombrowik (Pierson College) Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Ground-Level Ozone Formation in Four Cities

Rebecca Ju (Morse College) Developmental acclimation of Porites astreoides larvae enhances

Will Mukamal (Saybrook College) The Environmental Costs of Energy Generation: An LCOE Analysis of ISO New England Generating Facilities

Kenneth Xu (Timothy Dwight College) A Novel Approach to Modeling the Regional Acidification Impacts of Ocean Carbon Disposal: Case Study of the U.S. East Coast

2020

Addison Luck (Pierson College) Upholding Nature’s Rights in Ecuador: Identifying Problems and Providing Solutions

Tristan Furnary (Davenport College) Potential Role of Acetaminophen and Pesticides in the Developmental Origins of Autism Spectrum Disorder via In Silico and Stem Cell Models

Gemma Shepherd (Jonathan Edwards College) Using chitosan for future food packaging: An investigation into the effect of metal crosslinking on chitosan films’ mechanical, water barrier, and antimicrobial properties

Jordan Schmolka (Silliman College) What’s Under the City? Constructing and Contesting the Natural in Settler Colonial New York

2019

Franklin Eccher (Saybrook College), The Hardier Fish: An Environmental History of Trout and Grayling Management in the Montana “Trout Paradise”

Cayley Geffen (Ezra Styles College), Monumental Conflict: The Role of Local and Regional Conflicts In the Opposition to Bears Ears National Monument

Miela Mayer (Silliman College), US Cities’ Renewable Energy Targets, Rhetoric or Reality

Connor Reed (Berkeley College), Engaging open-source precision viticulture to manage spatial heterogeneity and improve cover-cropping practice on an organic vineyard

2018

Joel Abraham (Hopper College), Drought-Response Strategies of Savanna Herbivores

Nicole Boardman (Timothy Dwight College), Glyphosate in Corn Products: Investigating Patterns and Risks of Residue Levels

Claire Gottsegen (Morse College), Species delimitation of the Snail Darter, Percina tanasi, and its implications in U.S. Conservation Policy

Maya Jenkins  (Hopper College), Environmental Violence and Resistance while Incarcerated: An Exploration of Spatial Rupturing & Place-Based Imaginations in New York Prisons

Amanda Mei (Berkeley College), The Spirit that Moves Us: A study of the Spiritual and Sustainable Development of Intentional Communities

2017

Abigail Cheskis (Hopper College), Food Frames for Climate Change Awareness and Action

Alexandra Golden (Trumbull College), “To Preserve Unimpaired”: The Challenges of Climate Change Adaptation in Yellowstone National Park and Statue of Liberty National Monument

Calvin Harrison (Hopper College), “If You Don’t Protect The Companion of the Environment, There Won’t Be an Environment”: Naqab Bedouin and Sustainability at Wadi Attir

Nathaniel Haslett (Hopper College), Offsetting the Cost of Emissions Reductions: Maine Forests and Claifornia’s Cap-and-Trade Market

2016

Eamon Heberlein (Davenport College), Farmland Access Strategies for the Upper Midwest

Hannah Sassoon (Calhoun College), Chasing the Agrarian Dream in Bells Bend, Tennessee

Andres Valdivieso (Pierson College), A Real-World Jurassic Park? Evaluating the Potential Application of Captive Breeding Programs for the Galapagos National Park Through the Design of Breeding Pairs for “Extinct” Lineages of the Galapagos Giant Tortoise

Gracie White (Jonathan Edwards College), Bren Smith’s Ocean Farm: An Assessment of Ecosystem Services

2015

Ijeamaka Anyene (Timothy Dwight College), Children in Dangerous Locations: Mapping Environmental Hazards Near Pennsylvania Child Care Centers

Carlos Gould (Trumbull College), Adoption and Abandonment of Improved Cookstoves: A Case Study of Proyecto Mirador’s dos por tres Cookstove

Shizue RocheAdachi (Davenport College), Together and Apart: Stories of a Patchwork Farming Community in Southwest Wisconsin

Aily Zhang (Silliman College), Let a Thousand Rice Paddies Bloom: Social Eco-preneurs, Food Activism, and Market-driven Sustainable Food Movement in Guangzhou

2014

Abigail Bok (Berkeley College),Organically Urban: Cultivating Alternative Landscapes of Living in Guangzhou, China

Natalia Garza (Calhoun College),The Untold Side of Uranium: Using a Statistical Analysis of the Continuous NHANES to Explore the Decline in Reproductive Health of the Navajo Population

Angela Lee (Davenport College), Dietary Transition of Korean-Americans

James Shirvell (Morse College), Evaluating the Genetic Structure of the Leptospirosis Transmitting Rat Population of Salvador, Brazil

2013

Anna Rose Gable (Pierson College), Practical Pedology: Soil, Sustainability and Agricultural Knowledge in the Georgia Piedmont

Victoria Montanez (Pierson College), Food Waste: The Value of Knowledge-Based Campaigns in Environmental Protection

Coleman Wheeler (Saybrook College), Big Coal in Small-Town Virginia: A Case Study of Environmental Justice and Racial Polarization in the Rural South

Lucia Woo (Calhoun College), The Air Our Children Breathe: PM 2.5 Pollution Survey of New Haven

2012

Holly Rippon-ButlerMoving Milk: Transportation and Commodification of Milk in New York State

Rachel Shaffer, Ozone Pollution and Health in Atlanta: The Implications of a Presidential Decision

Rachael StyerFaith, Family and Farming: The Survival of Small and Mid-Sized Farms in Lancaster, PA Throughout the Twentieth Century

Michael WysolmerskiThe Fight for a Neighborhood: Flood Control and Race on the Anacostia Tributaries

2011

Reuben Fischer-Baum, Private Gardens, Public Streets: The Evolution of Istanbul’s Urban Forest from 1922 to 2007

Cornelia Twining, Changes in the Lakes: The Ecological History of Two Watersheds in South Central Connecticut

Charles Zhu, The Desire for Car Ownership in China

2010

Kathy Hughes, Empirical Study of Habitat Complexity and Predator-Prey Interactions as it Informs Ecosystem Conservation

2009

Kevin Currey, ”We’re Iñupiat, We’re Hunters” Subsistence, Petroleum Development, and Cultural Identity in Nuiqsut, Alaska

2008

Emily Jack-Scott, A Tale of Two Shore Towns: Avalon and Wildwood, New Jersey

Anna Johnson, Climate Change and Agriculture: Carbon Sequestration

2007

Adineke Adeyeye, Sanitation in Batey Libertad: Latrine Use and Waste Disposal Practices

Christa Anderson, Livestock Predation Patterns and Incidents in Northern Tanzania

2006

Jane Brandon Berkeley, The Athens Metro Project: Public Transportation in Urban Planning

Dawn Lippert, The Two Thousand Pound Question: An Analysis of Leatherback Sea Turtle Management on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico

Ariane Lotti, Monitoring the Connection Between Humans and the Land: The Use of Indicators on Three Farms in Italy

Leanna Südhof, A Very Selective Evaluation of Malaria Control Efforts in Africa South of the Sahara: The Global Fund and ITNs

2005

Flora Lichtman, Crafting Sound Policy: The Origins, Evolution and Mis-regulation of Ocean Noise

2004

Livia DeMarchis, Amphibian Conservation: The Public Perception, Policy, and Science of Declines and Deformities

Christopher McPhee, Climate and Cultural Collapse: The Anasazi Implications for Abrupt Human Change.

2002

Brian Boyd, American Studies and Studies in the Environment,The Coyote in the Garden

2001

Megan MacLeod, Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental Biology and Studies in the Environment, Heat Shock Proteins: Cellular Superheroes in the Face of Environmental Pollution

2000

Susan Brown, American Studies and Studies in the Environment,The Silent Leader: Rachel Carson’s Role in the Emergence of the Modern Environmental Movement

1999

Sarah Hollinshead, Political Science and Studies in the Environment, The Big Mess: Environmental Policy and Contamination at the Massachusetts Military Reservation

Joshua Olsen, Architecture and Studies in the Environment, Are Master-Planned Communities Worth It? An Analysis of Financial and Environmental Viability