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2024 ������ Geophysical Institute Schaible Fellowship winners announced

Students in geology and space physics are the recipients of 2024 Geophysical Institute Schaible Fellowships.

Kyra Bornong of Minnesota and Zack Williams of Oregon will each have fellowship financial support for two academic years, 2024-2025 and 2025-2026.

“We are delighted to be able to support Kyra and Zack in their research at the Geophysical Institute and under the guidance of their exceptional faculty advisors,” said Geophysical Institute Associate Director Jessica Larsen, who manages the fellowship program.

Bornong earned a master’s degree in geology from Idaho State University, where she studied landslides in Yellowstone National Park.

Her fellowship work will use satellite observations and fieldwork to understand hillslope permafrost conditions and how landslides modify those conditions and the surrounding landscape. 

Williams obtained a master’s degree in teaching from Pacific University in Oregon, where he taught middle and high school. He moved to Alaska and taught at North Pole High School from 2022 to 2024.

His fellowship work will focus on modeling Saturn’s magnetosphere using data from NASA’s Juno mission.

The fellowship program is named for Grace Berg Schaible, one of the University of Alaska system’s strongest private financial supporters. She was also a former Alaska attorney general and University of Alaska graduate.

Schaible died in 2017, but the fellowship’s endowment received a $2.2 million gift from her estate in 2018, providing enough of a financial base so that planning for the awarding of fellowships could begin.

The first fellowship was awarded in 2021. Two more were awarded in 2022, when the program opted to award fellowships every two years.

“The generosity of Grace Schaible, in life and through her estate, has benefited the university in so many ways,” Larsen said. “Her legacy continues through the Geophysical Institute Schaible Fellowships, which help today’s students become the breakthrough scientists of the future.”

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Jessica Larsen, 907-474-7992, jflarsen@alaska.edu

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