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2021 Scholarship Recipients

Ten Students Receive 2021 Section Scholarships
Bruce Macler, Scholarship Committee Chair

The recipients of the California-Nevada Section's 2021 scholarships have been chosen. Ten worthy students (operators, undergraduates and graduate students) will receive scholarship checks, membership in AWWA, and a warm welcome into the professional drinking water community. The Section’s Scholarship Committee was fortunate to be able to award $28,500 in scholarships this year. We are especially grateful to the donors that made this possible and expect an equally successful 2022 scholarship program.

The Section awarded three scholarships for graduate-level education. The Dr. Pankaj Parekh Memorial Scholarship of $5000 was awarded to Alma Rocha, a Masters student in environmental engineering at San Diego State University. This scholarship recognizes the late Dr. Parekh, former Director of Water Quality at Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The California Water Service Company Graduate Scholarship of $5000 was awarded to Molly Oshun, a Masters student in the Energy and Resources program at the University of California, Berkeley. And the WQTS Scholarship of $2500 went to Fan Yang, a UCLA Doctoral student in Environmental Engineering.

Six students will each receive $2500 scholarships to help with their undergraduate education. This year’s Melinda Rho Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship went to Thomas Kaps, a Bachelors/Masters student in chemical engineering and materials engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. This scholarship recognizes the late Melinda Rho and her long-time leadership at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Thomas is a previous recipient of a Section scholarship. The Xylem Let’s Solve Water Scholarship was awarded to Riley Milligan, an entering freshman at CSU Long Beach.  The California-American Water Company Scholarship went to Ivan Yan, an Environmental Engineering Science student at UC Berkeley. Libby Adriaansen, an Environmental Science and Policy student at CSU Long Beach was awarded the GEI Consultants Scholarship.  Kirin Kaur, a Hydrological Sciences and Policy student at UC Santa Barbara, received the V&A Consulting Engineers Scholarship. And the Golden State Water Company Undergraduate Scholarship was awarded to Natalia Blake, who is at Cuyamaca College working for her A.S.to be a water/wastewater treatment plant operator.

The CA-NV Section's One AWWA Operator scholarships are given year-round on an on-going basis. These scholarships are co-funded equally by AWWA’s Water Equation and by Golden State Water Company. Matthew Frazier is our most-recent recipient. He was awarded $1000 to help pay for his classes to become a water/wastewater treatment plant operator.

Information on the scholarship program is available here. We accept applications for the One AWWA Operator scholarships at any time. Applications for 2022 academic scholarships will be available starting this November. 

Alma Rocha San Diego State University Dr. Pankaj Parekh Memorial Graduate Scholarship Molly Oshun University of California, Berkeley California Water Service Company Graduate Scholarship Fan Yang University of California, Los Angeles WQTS Scholarship Riley Milligan University of California, San Diego Xylem Let's Solve Water Scholarship Ivan Yan University of California, Berkeley California-American Water Company Scholarship

Libby Adriaansen California State University, Long Beach GEI Consultants Scholarship Natalia Blake Cuyamaca College Golden State Water Company Undergraduate Scholarship Kirin Kaur University of California, Santa Barbara V&A Consulting Engineers Scholarship Thomas Kaps University of Nevada, Reno Melinda Rho Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship Matthew Frazier One AWWA Operator Scholarship