Jewel Lipps a Udall Scholar Honorable Mention
Elizabeth Jewel Lipps, a senior majoring in environmental science and chemistry in Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, received Honorable Mention in the 2014 Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation Scholars competition.
Jewel Lipps, a senior majoring in environmental science and chemistry in Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, received Honorable Mention in the 2014 Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation Scholars competition.
 Jewel Lipps |
A 14-member independent review committee selected this year's group of Udall Scholar applicants on the basis of commitment to careers in the environment, American Indian health care, or tribal public policy; leadership potential; academic achievement; and record of public service. The review committee named 50 Udall Scholars and 50 Honorable Mentions.
A member of SMU’s University Honors Program, Lipps has conducted environmental research as part of Dedman College’s Gaffney Family Interdisciplinary Initiative at the Institute for the Study of Earth and Man (ISEM) and the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. Currently she is working with Dedman College faculty mentor Bonnie Jacobs, a noted paleobotanist, and other SMU students to identify and characterize riparian forest communities within the Great Trinity Forest at the Trinity River Audubon Center. See the video that describes her research.
In addition to her academic pursuits, Lipps has taken an active role in SMU environmental organizations, earning her the Leadership in Sustainability Award from the SMU Sustainability Committee this spring. Lipps has been president of the student SMU Environmental Society and the Dedman College student representative to the SMU Sustainability Committee, and previously served as an Environmental Representative (E-Rep), providing peer role modeling and promoting environmentally conscious behavior within her campus residential community.
The Udall Foundation was first created in 1992 by Congress to honor the legacy of the late Morris Udall, who represented Southern Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives for 30 years. Stewart Udall, who also represented Southern Arizona in Congress from 1955 to 1961, is Morris Udall’s older brother. The two worked together on many environmental and Native American initiatives while Stewart Udall was Secretary of the Interior and Morris Udall a member of Congress.