EARTH PhD Student Gabby Kitch is Recognized with an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
April 16, 2017
PhD Student Gabriella Kitch has been selected to receive a 2017 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship!
For the 2017 Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) competition, NSF is bestowing fellowships on only 2000 of the over 13,000 applications received.
Gabriella Kitch, a first year PhD student working with Professor Andrew Jacobson, aims to take a closer look at surface ocean chemistry during the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a time of geologically rapid warming ~56 million years ago. Before arriving at Northwestern University, Kitch focused on terrestrial mercury cycling for her honors thesis at Washington and Lee University based on fieldwork completed during an NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) completed at the University of Michigan Biological Station. During her time at Washington and Lee, Kitch also held an internship with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Water Science Research Center in Richmond, VA where she focused on high-resolution water sampling of streams and rivers throughout Virginia.
In Virginia, Kitch also worked with the local nature center and in the public classrooms to teach science to grade school students. In her hometown of San Diego, she taught K-12 students about the local ecosystems as a Summer Adventure Intern for the Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Now in Chicago, Kitch is pursing opportunities to discuss climate change to Evanston and Chicago communities. Kitch is volunteering with the Forest Preserves to help teach interactive field trips for public schools on the Southside of Chicago. Through her outreach activities, Kitch first hopes to communicate the impacts of climate change, but also give students in urban areas an opportunity to develop a connection to nature.
CONGRATULATIONS, GABBY, on this well-deserved recognition!