NOAA CESSRST Awards Fourth Lautenbacher Scholarship to SDSU Doctoral Student

Posted on May 9, 2020

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.

Miss Fenner has been involved in several community outreach programs including Upward Bound at California State University San Marcos (CSUSM), Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) Program at CSUSM, and National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). Additionally, she has been a key figure in organizing chemistry fairs for underprivileged youth in San Diego, aimed at increasing the number of underprivileged minority youth in science. Miss Fenner also worked with NOAA scientists on analyzing the effects of human activity, land use, and land cover on water quality, and coral reef health, in American Samoa.

Walter Oechel, a Distinguished Professor, at the Department of Biology at the San Diego State University (SDSU), is Andrea’s advisor, and, supported her application for the Lautenbacher Award.

After receiving the award, Miss Fenner said, “I plan to create a community service engagement program that helps students from underrepresented communities in San Diego, CA increase their understanding of STEM disciplines through one-on-one tutoring, exposure to scientific experiments and field research, and other STEM related outreach events”.

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