180: The power and need for SEG Scholarships

SEG Scholarships encourage the study of geophysics and related geosciences in universities worldwide. Due to the generosity of donors, the SEG offers a range of different scholarship opportunities to students all over the globe. In this special episode, we feature two scholarship recipients and the founder of a new Scholarship Program. Host Andrew Geary speaks first with Manika Prasad. Manika is a Colorado School of Mines professor passionate about students and diversity within the geosciences. She co-founded the SEG Educational Equity Scholarship in 2021 to support underrepresented students in their study area or that bring diversity to their attending university. Manika shares what she hopes this scholarship will achieve and why the SEG Scholarships matter to the industry's future. Next, we highlight two scholarship recipients: Juliet Nneamaka Ilechukwu and Sharmila Appini. They share how they learned about the SEG Scholarships and how it made them better students and geophysicists. They also share what the scholarships allowed them to achieve and one lesson they will take away from this experience. This episode will leave no doubt of the power of the SEG Scholarships to benefit the Society, geophysics, and individual lives. Since the number of scholarships available depends primarily upon the number of sponsors and the amounts they contribute, each donation matters. This episode will provide the reasons and the voices for how your donation could change the science of geophysics and someone's life. Listen to the full archive at https://seg.org/podcast. HIGHLIGHTS * 1:46: Manika Prasad * 15:43: Juliet Nneamaka Ilechukwu * 24:19: Sharmila Appini RELATED LINKS * Learn more about SEG Scholarships (https://seg.org/Scholarships) * Learn about the 2022-2023 recipients (https://seg.org/Education/Student/Student-Opportunities/Scholarships/List-of-scholarship-recipients) * Donate to the SEG Scholarships (https://donate.seg.org/Scholarships) ABOUT THE INTERVIEWEES Dr. Manika Prasad has been an active member of SEG since 1987. She has served on several SEG committees and the SEG Board of Directors (Second vice-president 2018-19; First vice-president 2019-20). She is a professor at the Colorado School of Mines. She is passionate about students, geophysics, and diversity within the geosciences. Manika and Günter Fuchs recently established a scholarship endowment with the SEG Foundation in 2021. The SEG Educational Equity Scholarship was established to support students attending university anywhere in the world who are underrepresented in their area of study or that bring diversity to their attending university. The donor's intent was to promote and increase the representation of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) geoscientists. Applicants are asked to describe how their selection as a recipient will improve the diversity of the geosciences community in the country where they are attending university and how they or the SEG might help increase representation for their group in geosciences and SEG. Ms. Juliet Nneamaka Ilechukwu is from Nigeria with a Master of Science (M.SC) in Geophysics. Ms. Sharmila Appini is from India with a Bachelor of Science (Honors) and a Master of Science (under the Integrated Program) in Applied Geology. She has a Master of Science in Geophysics from the University of Houston and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Geophysics. CREDITS Zach Bridges created original music for this show. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary at TreasureMint. The SEG podcast team is Jennifer Cobb, Kathy Gamble, and Ally McGinnis.