Weinberg alumna wins several grants for research in Iceland
The Office of Fellowships is happy to announce that alumna Lucy Weidner (WCAS ’21) has won several grants to fund and present her research this year! Thanks to external support from such organizations as the American-Scandinavian Foundation and internal support from her current university, Lucy has already completed significant fieldwork in Iceland and will present some of her findings this summer.
Lucy graduated from Northwestern last year, securing departmental honors while earning her bachelor’s degree in environmental science and English literature, with a minor in Earth and planetary sciences. At Northwestern, Lucy was involved all over campus: as a tour guide in the Office of Admissions; travelling to tournaments with the Mock Trial Team; and camping and hiking with the Outing Club. She was also the social and philanthropy chair for her residential college.
Yet much of her time at Northwestern was spent in research labs dedicated to green spaces and the environment. Working with Dr. Teresa Horton on human interaction with green spaces and Dr. Patricia Beddows on paleoenvironmental research, Lucy honed her skills for literature review and synthesis, data collection, analysis, and modelling, as well as academic writing and orally presenting research. She won the Program in Environmental Sciences’ award for best dissertation for her honors thesis on the historical impacts of Maya agriculture on the Yucatan Peninsula and then secured a place at the University of Edinburgh to earn a master’s degree by research.
To complete her degree, Lucy is working with Dr. Anthony Newton and Dr. Andrew Dugmore, studying how Icelandic land management has contributed to soil erosion and organic carbon movement in coastal areas over multi-century timescales. She recently returned from weeks of fieldwork in Iceland, where she interacted with the local community and spent twelve-hour days in the field, digging holes and looking at soil. She is also collaborating with the Archaeological Institute of Iceland to gain a better perspective on Icelandic economic history and agricultural practices. Throughout this process, she has developed a deeper passion for soil health, food systems, and sustainable agriculture, and plans to pursue a career helping develop sustainability and climate resilience within land management.
Alongside her fellowship from the American-Scandinavian Foundation, Lucy received a Monica Cole Research Grant from the Royal Geographical Society; an Early Career Conference Grant from the British Society of Soil Science; and multiple awards from the University of Edinburgh.
Contact Jason Kelly Roberts at jason-roberts@northwestern.edu to learn more about the American-Scandinavian Foundation Fellowships.