The Aquarium of the Pacific announced the winners of its new Community, Equity, Learning, and Persistence (CELP) Scholar Program.
The 15 winners are Southern California students studying in fields related to the ocean.
The scholar program gave the winners $10,000 each “to support their academic pursuits,” according to the website.
Jenny Dean with the Aquarium of the Pacific told KNX News’ Nataly Tavidian that the goal of the scholar program is to help more people see themselves in marine science.
“We are putting one small step forward to try and correct for that because we think that there should be broader representation in the marine sciences and the aquarium can help contribute to that,” she said.
Dean said about 100 people applied for the scholarship this year. One of those recipients was Troy Wynne, a Ph.D. student in the joint ecology program at San Diego State University and the University of California, Davis.
“I'm really passionate about believing in the importance of understanding and protecting our oceans in service of those who are disproportionately impacted by poor environmental and particularly ocean health,” she said. “So coastal communities that are it's subject to sea level rise and UTR application and over pollution of our coastal ecosystems. I'm really interested in uplifting and safeguarding their health in addition to the health of our marine ecosystems.”
For more information on the scholarship, click here.
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