SEEL funding sends students  to U.S. climate conference

By Mark Lowey

Three U of C undergraduates are in California this week at a prestigious conference on climate change, thanks to support from the Shell Experiential Energy Learning (SEEL) program.

Ola Kowalewski, Liz Brennan and Rebea Chishti—all members of the Environmental Science Student Association—each received $600 from SEEL to attend the ATHGO international symposium on global warming, being held in Los Angeles.

The SEEL program, sponsored by Shell Canada, awarded more than $4,000 in the final round of funding for the program’s first year. Applications for the next round are due March 30, 2008 (see www.iseee.ca/education/seel).

The program, administered by the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy, makes available up to $100,000 a year for individual undergrads and student clubs. The funding can be used for field trips, conferences, student exchanges and other activities focused on sustainable energy, the environment and the economy.

This award will enable me to experience a global perspective on the state of the environment and climate change,” says Kowalewski, in fourth-year environmental science.

Brennan, in her first year of a biological sciences program, says she’s very pleased about “Shell’s commitment to helping students enhance our academic careers by supporting this type of extra-curricular pursuit.” Chishti, in second-year environmental science, says the SEEL award “will enable me to engage and educate myself—outside the classroom—on some of the core aspects of environmental issues.”

During its first year of operation, the SEEL program awarded a total of more than $70,000 to U of C students.

“We have been very pleased to see the quality of the applications and the difference this program can make,” says Frank George, of Shell’s Campus Ambassador Program at the U of C. “We hope to see more students and student groups apply for funding in the future.”

Other SEEL award recipients in the first year’s final round included:
• Mark Blackwell, in second year at the Haskayne School of Business, received $1,300 toward attending this summer’s 19th World Petroleum Congress in Madrid, Spain.
• Bianca Courtright, in third-year mechanical engineering at the Schulich School of Engineering, was awarded $1,000 to travel to Costa Rica to assist in ecologically friendly agriculture, national park restoration and environmental conservation.