VADM C. Lautenbacher Public Service Graduate Success Stories
About Lautenbacher Scholarship
Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher is a long standing supporter of the NOAA Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions (EPP/MSI) which was established in 2001. He was, and continues to be, committed to education and to increasing the number of students who graduate with post-secondary degrees in STEM disciplines.
This scholarship provides financial support for masters’ and doctoral studies in Earth Systems Science, Engineering, Data Science, Geosciences and Remote Sensing Technologies.
Past Winners
2021 - 2022
Julio Ceniceros
Julio Ceniceros is the joint fifth recipient of Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher Public Service Graduate Scholarship, administered annually by the NOAA Center for Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies (NOAA CESSRST). Julio is a Ph.D. student at the University of Texas at El Paso studying earth and environmental sciences. His research involves water-quality parameters (surface temperature, turbidity, salinity) of five Arctic lagoons along the Beaufort Sea and how they respond to climate-induced changes in terrestrial, atmospheric, and sea-ice systems
Wendy Prudencio
Wendy Prudencio is the joint fifth recipient of Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher Public Service Graduate Scholarship, administered annually by the NOAA Center for Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies (NOAA CESSRST). Wendy is a Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County where she studies Public Policy and she is currently researching energy resilience in coastal regions
Candace Agonafir
Candace Agonafir is the joint fifth recipient of Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher Public Service Graduate Scholarship, administered annually by the NOAA Center for Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies (NOAA CESSRST). Candace is a Ph.D. student in Civil Engineering at the City College of New York. Her research involves New York City Flood Vulnerability Mapping using Merged Remote Sensing and In-Situ Data
2020 - 2021
Andrea Fenner ( Activity & Report)
Andrea Fenner becomes the fourth recipient of Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher Public Service Graduate Scholarship, administered annually by the NOAA Center for Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies (NOAA CESSRST).
Andrea Fenner, a Ph.D. student in SDSU’s joint doctoral program in ecology, studying the effects of drought, fire, and stand age on CO2 flux in semi-arid chaparral ecosystems. Monitoring of atmospheric greenhouse gases, in particular carbon dioxide (CO2) and its impact on climate change, has been part of NOAA’s mission.
2019 - 2020
Suhey Ortiz Rosa ( Activity & Report)
Suhey Ortiz Rosa becomes the third recipient of Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher Public Service Graduate Scholarship, administered annually by the NOAA Center for Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies (NOAA CESSRST). Suhey Ortiz, a Ph.D. student in the University of Puerto Rico’s Marine Sciences program is studying Bio-Optical and Biogeochemical Characterization of “Dark Water” Events in Tropical Oligotrophic Waters and the impact of black water masses in optical properties and ecological implications.
2018 - 2019
Veeshan Narinesingh ( Activity & Report)
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Cooperative Science Center for Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies is pleased to announce that Ph.D. student Veeshan Narinesingh has been awarded the prestigious NOAA-CESSRST Lautenbacher Public Service Graduate Scholarship. As part of his interdisciplinary program in Physics at The Graduate Center at the City University of New York (CUNY), he will research atmospheric blocking.
“It’s a dream come true! It’s basically going to be an expansion of some ongoing projects in science outreach with Hamilton-Grange Middle School,” said Narinesingh.
2017 - 2018
Stephen Escarzaga (Activity & Report)
Escarzaga is a UTEP alumnus who earned his bachelor’s degree in science. As part of his graduate studies, he will research satellite and ground‐based remote sensing techniques to measure coastline changes in the Arctic. To fulfill part of the scholarship’s service requirement, he will spend the summer conducting education and outreach in the predominantly Native American community of Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska, where his students will be introduced to basic applications of remote sensing first hand.
