College Compost Research Scholarship Winners Announced
06/28/2021 12:35 PM
The CREF Board of Trustees has announced the winners of this year's Compost Research Scholarships for college students. Two students were awarded national scholarships. The Foundation received many worthwhile applications but these two stood above the rest. The goal of the scholarship is to encourage more compost-related research projects, a core mission of the Foundation. The students receive not only a financial award but are also invited to present their finished work at the USCC Annual Conference during a CREF research session.
A scholarship was awarded to Brooke Schmidt, a senior at the University of Arizona. Brooke’s research project aims to explore how compost can be improved through mineral additives to provide longer-lasting benefits for arid cropland farmers. Also awarded a scholarship is Md Mahfuz Islam, a Ph.D. student at North Carolina State University. His research will focus on managing compacted construction sites and roadside soils to improve stormwater infiltration and reduce watershed pollution, primarily through the incorporation of composts.