The Mary and Randall Hack ’69 Graduate Award for Water and the Environment is administered by the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI) to provide research funding to Princeton University graduate students pursuing innovative research on water and water-related topics with implications for the environment, including projects related to climate science, engineering and environmental policy. Projects from a broad range of disciplines are eligible.
Application Information
Important Dates
- October 30, 2024: Fall Open House
- February 1, 2025: Application Available in SAFE
- February 5, 2025: Spring Open House
- April 1, 2025: Application Deadline
- May 6, 2025: Hack Day
- May 2025: Award Recipients Announced
Funding Support
In the 2023-2024 academic year, several awards in amounts up to $10,000 will be available for dissertation support. Funds may be used for a range of purposes, including fieldwork, travel, conference participation, equipment purchases, and costs associated with data analysis and facilities use. The funds cannot be used for tuition support or indirect costs. Awards are for one year and are nonrenewable.
Eligibility
To be eligible, applicants must be regular, full-time Ph.D. candidates (post generals prior to the application deadline) at Princeton University. Eligibility status is viewed as pertaining to the student’s status in the current academic year.
Application Materials
Applications should include the following. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Students in DCE are not eligible to apply.
- Completed Hack Fund application available on the Student Activities Funding Engine (SAFE)
- Graduate transcript(s) – an unofficial copy is acceptable.
- Two letters of recommendation emailed to Amber Lee (amberlee@princeton.edu) by the application deadline.
Award Selection
A committee of Princeton faculty will conduct a formal review and selection process, with conflicts of interest taken into account. The award(s) will be selected based on the quality of the proposed research, strength of faculty letters of recommendation, proven student accomplishments (peer-reviewed publications and awards), and financial need for independent research.
New fellows will be invited to attend Hack Day, in which current awardees will present their research in an effort to learn from one another’s work and demonstrate the accomplishments of Hack Award recipients. The first Hack Day was held May 8, 2020.
Award Recipients
| Year | Recipient | Dept. | Adviser(s) | Project title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Ruby An | EEB | Jonathan Levine | Quantifying Snow-mediated Feedbacks Between Shrub Dominance and Permafrost Thaw in a Warmer, Wetter Arctic |
| 2024 | Sam Ditkovsky | AOS | Laure Resplandy | Investigating the Effects of Changing Ocean Oxygen Conditions on the Vertical Structure of Marine Ecosystems |
| 2024 | Moriah Kunes | GEO | Bess Ward | Exploring the Impacts of Thermal Stress and Eutrophication on Nitrogen Cycling in the Shallow Water Coral Montastraea cavernosa |
| 2024 | Soo Yeon Lyuh | MUS | Dmitri Tymoczko | Harmony of the Depths |
| 2024 | Michael Mandelkorn | HIS | Jeremy Adelman | Dis/Order in the Hills: Mapping Mobilities, Capital, and Ecologies Across a Zomian System, 1852-1974 |
| 2024 | Megan Mazzatenta | MAE | Luc Deike | Measuring the Effect of Organic Molecules on Aerosol Production by Collective Bubble Bursting in Stream Water Samples |
| 2024 | Gemma Sahwell | GEO | John Higgins | Coral Archives: Seawater Chemistry and Cultural Histories |
| 2024 | Maxwell Smith-Holmes | ARC | Sylvia Lavin | Taxing Liquidity: Revenue and American Littorals |
| 2024 | Jun Zhi Tan | CHE | Michele Sarazen; Bruce Koel |
Designing Zeolites for Selective Removal and Deconstruction of PFAS |
| 2024 | Stavi Tennenbaum | EEB | Bridgett vonHoldt | Snowpack as an Eco-evolutionary Driver in a Hibernating Mammal |
| 2024 | Justin Wright | MUS | Tyondai Braxton | On-Site Composition in Svalbard, Norway |
| 2024 | Qiqi Yang | EEB | Bryan Grenfell | Contribution of Aquatic Environment in Avian Influenza Transmission and Evolution in Waterbirds |
| 2023 | Rachael Clifford | ENG | William Gleason | On the Poetics of Water in Nineteeth- and Twentieth-Century Caribbean Literature |
| 2023 | Theo Gibbs | QCB | Jonathan Levine | Detecting Higher-order Interactions Among Species of Floating Aquatic Plants |
| 2023 | Finote Gijsman Kelemu | EEB | Robert Pringle | Drought-mediated Downgrading of Ecological Communities: Understanding the Impacts of Megafaunal Declines on Dung Beetle Communities in a Semi-arid African Savanna |
| 2023 | Christian Gray | EEB | Lars Hedin | Deciphering the Role of Water and Soil Nutrients in Shaping Fynbos Belowground Adaptations |
| 2023 | Dina Kussainova | CHE | Athanassios Panagiotopoulos | Development of Ab Initio-based Machine-learning Models to Study solubilities and Mean Ionic Activity Coefficients of Alkali Halides in Water |
| 2023 | Bing Lin | SPI | David Wilcove | Pro-conservation Behaviors of Recreational Scuba Divers on Coral Reefs in Southeast Asia |
| 2023 | Camila Llerena-Olivera | CEE | Peter Jaffé | Enhancing Microbial Electrolysis Cell Applications of Acidimicrobiaceae sp. Strain A6 for Wastewater Bioremediation with Carbon Brush Anodes |
| 2023 | Yeraldi Loera | EEB | Shane Campbell-Staton | Genomic and Regulatory Signatures of Selection in Pesticide-Exposed Morelet’s Crocodiles (Crocodylus moreletii) from Belize |
| 2023 | Jinhee Park | CEE | Peter Jaffé, Bruce Koel | Understanding the Role of PAA-Coated Iron Oxides in Iron Reduction and PFAS Degradation: A Study Using X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy Techniques |
| 2023 | Darius Sadighi | ANT | João Biehl, Jerry C. Zee | Climate Humanitarianism: The Making of Nature-Based Solutions in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta |
| 2023 | Melissa Tier | SPI | Elke Weber, Michael Oppenheimer | Multi-Level Climate Adaptation Governance |
| 2023 | M. Shaharyar Wani | MAE | Craig Arnold | Removing “Forever Chemicals” (PFAS) from Water: Developing High-Performance Carbon Aerogel-Based Water Filter |
| 2022 | Joel Abraham | EEB | Robert Pringle | Fire-flooding Interactions in Parque Nacional da Gorongosa, Mozambique |
| 2022 | Lucas Eduardo Allegratti Prates | ANT | Joao Biehl | Storying Amazonia’s Last Frontiers |
| 2022 | Dahyun Choi | POL | Helen Milner | Politics of Environmental Regulations |
| 2022 | Ipsita Dey | ANT | Rena Lederman | Investigating Indo-Fijian Spiritual Relationships With Agricultural Landscapes: Hindu “Eco-Bhakti” Practices Along the Sigatoka River |
| 2022 | Trey Hendrix | EEB | Christina Riehl | Winter is Coming: Snowstorms and Dispersal in a Climate-sensitive Wren |
| 2022 | Naomi Intrator | GEO | Bess Ward | Copper Geochemistry of Denitrification Within Oceanic Oxygen Minimum Zones |
| 2022 | Carli Kovel | CHM | Paul Chirik | Rational Polymer Design for the Prevention of Microplastics in Marine Environments |
| 2022 | Maria Carolina Nicola Barbosa Muniz | CBE | Athanassios Panagiotopoulos | Bubble Nucleation Studies of Water With Ab Initio-based Deep Neural Network Model |
| 2022 | Jeremy Schneider | HOS | Anthony Grafton | Oceans of Extinction: Ammonites and the Visual Culture of Shells, 1500-1900 |
| 2022 | Xinyi Shen | CEE | Claire White | Development of a Coarse-grained MD Simulation Model for Clay-Water Mixtures |
| 2022 | Emily Wei-Hsin Sun | CEE | Claire White | Nanoscopic Controls on Multiphase Flow Through Fine-grained Sedimentary Minerals |
| 2022 | Julie Tierney | EEB | Lars Hedin | Can Hydrologic Nutrient Losses Cause a Dramatic Shift in Amazonian Forests? |
| 2021 | Avery Agles | CBE | Ian Bourg | Replica Exchange Molecular Dynamics to Uncover the Molecular Architecture of the Biofilm Matrix |
| 2021 | Tairan An | ARC | Sylvia Lavin | The Hydrosocial Entanglement of the Zoological Station in Naples, ca. 1870s-1910s |
| 2021 | Shashank Anand | CEE | Amilcare Porporato | Landscape Dynamics as a Coevolution of Ecohydrological and Geomorphological Processes |
| 2021 | Jianshu Duan | GEO | Satish Myneni | Temporal Interactions Between Dissolved Organic Matter and Minerals: Implications for Interfacial Structures and Mineral Surface Reactivity |
| 2021 | Allison Hogikyan | AOS | Laure Resplandy | Response of Water and Carbon Cycles’ Coupling to Global Warming |
| 2021 | Jacob Levine | EEB | Stephen Pacala | Maintenance of Biodiversity in Water-Limited Plant Communities |
| 2021 | Samuel Moore | CBE | Michele Sarazen | Impact of Light on Aqueous Pollutant Degradation by Iron-based Metal-Organic Frameworks |
| 2021 | Jenna Ott | CBE | Sujit Datta | Six Feet Underground: Direct Visualization of P. putida in Degrading Groundwater Contaminants |
| 2021 | Yeongjun Ryu | GEO | Daniel Sigman | Isotope-Ratio Measurement of Ammonium in Nutrient-Poor Ocean Waters |
| 2021 | Daniel Shaw | MAE | Luc Deike | Bursting-Bubble Aerosol Transport of Biological Material |
| 2021 | Jiarong Wu | MAE | Luc Deike | Wind-Wave Modeling and Application to Offshore Wind Farm |
| 2020 | Francisco Carrillo | CBE | Ian Bourg | Characterization and Prediction of Fluid Flow in Deformable Porous Media |
| 2020 | Eunah Han | GEO | Xinning Zhang | Examining Hydrological Effects on Mo-Independent Nitrogen Fixation by Epiphyte and Soil-Associated Microbes in Temperate and Tropical Rainforests |
| 2020 | Julie Kim | CEE | Catherine Peters | Simultaneous Removal of Toxic Metals and Capture of Atmospheric CO2 in Mining-Affected Waters |
| 2020 | Aleksander Musial | ART | Thomas Kaufmann, Basile Baudez | Immersion: Eastern European Transformations of Hygiene Architecture, 1680-1830 |
| 2020 | Daniel Ruth | MAE | Luc Deike | Bubble-Mediated Oxygen Transfer in Turbulent Flow |
| 2020 | Joanna Schneider | CBE | Sujit Datta, Rodney Priestley | Removing Contaminants from Porous Groundwater Aquifers |
| 2020 | Kewei Zhao | CHEM | Satish Myneni | Transformation of Metastable Amorphous CaCO3 Phases: Implications on Chemical and Environmental Processes |
| 2019 | Christopher Browne | CBE | Sujit Datta | Unstable Polymer Solution Flow for Groundwater Remediation |
| 2019 | Sassan Hajirezaie | CEE | Catherine Peters | A Novel Coupling of Industrial Wastewater Treatment and Climate Change Mitigation |
| 2019 | Matthew Hutchinson | EEB | Robert Pringle | A Shifting Baseline: How Inter- and Intra-annual Changes in Water Availability Determine Resource Competition Between African Herbivores |
| 2019 | Wenying Liao | EEB | Lars Hedin | Mechanistic Prediction of Global Nitrogen and Carbon Cycle Under Changing Water Regime |
| 2019 | Jack Murphy | GEO | John Higgins | Lead Isotopes in Tap Water: Identifying the Sources of Lead Contamination in Trenton, N.J., Homes |
| 2019 | Shiv Priyam Raghuraman | AOS | Venka Ramaswamy | Understanding the Impacts of Water Vapor and Cloud Changes on Earth’s Energy Budget |
| 2019 | Danielle Schlesinger | GEO | Satish Myneni | Molecular-scale Analysis of Climate Change Impact on Organohalogen Geochemical Cycling in Coastal Panamanian Mangroves |
| 2019 | Jennifer Willemsen | CEE | Ian Bourg | Molecular Dynamics Simulation and Experimental Study of the Adsorption of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances on Smectite Clay Surfaces |
| 2019 | Shuwen Yue | CBE | Athanassios Panagiotopoulos | Polarizable and Machine-Learning Models for Aqueous Electrolyte Solutions |
| 2018 | Vinicius de Aguiar Furuie | ANT | João Biehl | Assessing the Impact of Climate Change on an Amazonian River Economy |
| 2018 | Xiaogang He | CEE | Eric Wood, Justin Sheffield | Toward a Better Understanding of Flood and Drought Risk and Its Relationship with Climate, Anthropogenic Activities and Human Behaviors |
| 2018 | Heather Hunter | CEE | Catherine Peters | Metals Removal from Wastewater Through Co-Precipitation with Barite |
| 2018 | Nancy Lu | CBE | Sujit Datta | Immiscible Fluid Displacement in 3D Deformable Porous Media: Understanding Groundwater Contamination |
| 2018 | Danrui Ni | CHM | Robert Cava | Preparation of Doped Copper-Silver-Galium-Indium Sulfide (CSGIS) Semiconductor for Photocatalytic Water Reduction and Hydrogen Evolution |
| 2018 | Lindsay Ofrias | ANT | João Biehl | Oil Contamination in the Ecuadorian Amazon: An Ethnography Inquiry of Intention and Intervention |
| 2018 | Xin Sun | GEO | Bess Ward | Explore Unexpected Nitrite Oxidation in Anoxic Waters |
| 2018 | Noemi Vergopolan da Rocha | CEE | Eric Wood, Justin Sheffield | Downscaling Remotely Sensed Soil Moisture to 30-m Resolution Using Hyper-Resolution Land Surface Modeling in the Conterminous U.S. |
| 2018 | Jeffrey Young | CBE | Athanassios Panagiotopoulos | Models and Methods for Activity Coefficients and Solubility of Aqueous Electrolytes in Molecular Simulations |
| 2018 | Estella Yu | MAE | Howard Stone | Particle Separation by Size Using the Motion of a Bubble |
| 2017 | Kessie Alexandre | ANT | João Biehl | Clean Water, Green City: An Ethnographic Study of Aging Water Infrastructures and Urban Greening in the City of Newark |
| 2017 | Keita DeCarlo | CEE | Kelly Caylor | Merging Soil Structure with Plant Function: Investigating the Role of Belowground Plant Morphology on Soil Water Dynamics |
| 2017 | Ying Liu | MAE | Howard Stone | Enhanced “Greener” Oil Recovery Through Low-Sanility Waterflooding |
| 2017 | Hamid Omidvar | CEE | Elie Bou-Zeid | Hot Runoff Effects on Streams Temperature and Ecology |
| 2017 | Melany Ruiz | CEE | Peter Jaffé | Characterization and Optimization of the Feammox Process for the Development of an Energy Efficient Anaerobic Ammonium Removal |
| 2017 | Kimia Shahi | ART | Rachael DeLue | Margin, Surface, Depth: Picturing the Contours of the Marine in Nineteenth-Century America |
| 2017 | Kaia Tombak | EEB | Daniel Rubenstein | Parasite Exposure Dynamics and their Impacts on Zebra Populations in a Landscape with Changing Water Distribution |
| 2017 | Henry Xian | CEE | Ning Lin | Coastal Flood Resilience Under Climate Change: From Scientific Modeling to Behavioral Understanding |
| 2016 | Maya Buchanan | WWS | Michael Oppenheimer | Resilience Outcomes Under Uncertain Sea-level Rise and Adaptation Strategies: An Agent-based Modeling Approach for Jamaica Bay |
| 2016 | Yuyang Fan | MAE | Marcus Hultmark | A Scalable, Low Energy Consumption, Nanoscale Velocity and Temperature Sensor for Environmental Monitoring and Water-based Marine Research |
| 2016 | Cynthia Gerlein-Safdi | CEE | Kelly Caylor | Satellite and Model-based Characterization of Canopy Dew Formation and Interception in Tropical Forests |
| 2016 | Jennifer Guyton | EEB | Robert Pringle | Causes and Consequences of Vegetation Community Shift in a Critical Floodplain Ecosystem after Near-Extinction of Herbivores and Severe Drought |
| 2016 | Yao Lai | MAE | Howard Stone | Flowback Dynamics and Reduction of Water Use in Hydraulic Fracturing |
| 2016 | Kathryn Maxson | HOS | Angela Creager | Sea Change: Salt Water and the Study of Life in America, 1888-2000 |
| 2016 | Darcy McRose | GEO | François Morel | The Role of Siderophores in the Pathogenicity and Ecology of Marine Vibrios |
| 2015 | Jesse Ault | MAE | Howard Stone | Large Surface Area Continuous-flow Evaporative Water Purification |
| 2015 | Josh Daskin | EEB | Robert Pringle | Hydrology and Fire Impacts in Everglades Headwater Under Climate Change |
| 2015 | Mingzhen Lu | EEB | Lars Hedin | Hydrological Nutrients Loss from Pristine Mountain Catchments of Western Cape Province, South Africa — an Adaptive Strategy of the Hyper-Diverse Fynbos Vegetation? |
| 2015 | Ben Schaffer | CEE | Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe | Biomass and Soil Moisture Dynamics; Implications for Landscape Characterization and Structure |
| 2014 | Stephanie Debats | CEE | Kelly Caylor | Remote Monitoring of Agricultural Crop Development Under a Changing Climate for the US and Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 2014 | Brianne Smith | CEE | James Smith | An Interdisciplinary Approach to Exploration of Flash Flood Severity and Frequency Across the United States |
| 2013 | Carole Dalin | CEE | Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe | Impacts of Policy and Climate on China’s Food and Water Security |
| 2013 | Xingli Giam | EEB | David Wilcove | Impacts of Land-use Change on Freshwater Systems in Southeast Asia |
| 2012 | Minjin Lee | CEE | Peter R. Jaffé | Adapting Dynamic land Model, LM3V, to Simulate Nitrogen Exports and Transformations in the Susquehanna River |