Undergraduate Awards

Each year we present awards to our many students. The following is a list of past winners as well as descriptions for each of those awards. 

The Outstanding Academic Achievement Award

The Outstanding Academic Achievement Award is given to graduating seniors with a Geology GPA of 3.5 or above. Each receives a certificate and a medallion to be worn at graduation.

Tanya Atwater Endowed Scholarship

The Tanya Atwater Endowed Scholarship in Earth Sciences supports undergraduate students who demonstrate financial need and desire to conduct research in Earth Science, with a preference for a female scholarship recipients.

This scholarship was created by The Department's 2016 Distinguished Alumna Melissa (Morse) Reich, who wrote: "Professor Atwater's insights helped establish the most fundamental rethinking of Earth Science in the 20th century. In addition to being a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, (one of only about a dozen women in this distinguished institution’s ‘Geology’ section), she has received a plethora of other major distinctions in her discipline, including a Fellowship in the American Geophysical Union and the Geological Society of America, as well as the Geological Society of America’s Structural Geology & Tectonics Division Career Contribution Award. Professor Atwater’s research brilliantly and innovatively bridges geophysics and geology. Indeed, her international reputation derives from her pioneering insight that the forces shaping the geology of Earth’s ocean basins are often directly connected to geological phenomena occurring on the continents. Professor Atwater is universally recognized as a founder of the now unchallenged worldview of plate tectonics. Her most celebrated scientific contribution was unraveling the tectonic evolution of western North America over the last 100 million years. She resolved numerous vexing geologic questions including how the San Andreas Fault came into existence." 

The William Bushnell Memorial Scholarship

Established by his family to honor Bill, who was a UCSB graduate, a department staff member, and a driving force behind the field program, the William Bushnell Memorial Scholarship is awarded to an outstanding undergraduate field geologist, and covers 100% of the costs for summer field. And, it comes with a Hawaiian shirt!

The Coast Geological Society Award

The Coast Geological Society recognizes academic excellence in the geological sciences every year with its Scholarship Awards Program.

The Department and Arthur Sylvester Field Award

The Department Field Award helps offset the cost of Summer Field. Funds for this award were donated to the Webb Fund, the Art Sylvester Summer Field Fund and the general Field Instruction Fund. The Arthur G. Sylvester Summer Field fund has been established in honor of Professor Emeritus Arthur G. Sylvester. Professor Emeritus Art Sylvester was a guiding presence in the Department of Earth Science for over 50 years. He inspired thousands of students through his passion for field studies. Gifts to the Arthur G. Sylvester Summer Field Fund support the field studies program and help to reduce the cost of summer field geology for all students.

The Departmental Leadership Award

The Department Leadership Award honors a student who has shown unusual leadership and initiative with respect to departmental activities and goals, has helped catalyze activities that have furthered departmental goals, such as the coherence, enthusiasm, and commitment of our undergraduates, mentorship of others, outreach to schools and visitors, the beautification of the department, or other activities that enhance our department. This is awarded only on years when a special undergraduate student exhibits unusual leadership.

The Distinction in the Major Award

The Distinction in the Major Award is presented to students who have completed the Senior Honors Program. Students have completed three academic quarters of independent work that centers on a significant research project.

The York Mandra Scholarship

The York Mandra Scholarship support graduate and undergraduate students in the department of Earth Sciences. It is the donor’s intention that approximately 50% of the available funds be used primarily to help students who need financial assistance toward their expenses in regard to field studies, particularly summer field studies.

The Mineralogical Society of America

The Mineralogical Society of America recognizes academic excellence in the geological sciences.

The Robert M. Norris Prize in Field Geology

The Norris Prize is awarded to an outstanding undergraduate student in the introductory field geology course, in honor of Robert M. Norris, Professor Emeritus of Geological Sciences (1952-86).

The Outstanding Graduating Senior Award

The Outstanding Graduating Senior Award recognizes demonstrated academic excellence in Upper Division Earth Science courses at UCSB. The recipient is generally well known among his/her peers as that person who can demolish a class curve, simply sees the answer before anyone else or asks that one question which strikes at the very heart of the subject. In short, the person is “Outstanding.” The recipient receives a jade pendant, a cash award, and their name on a perpetual plaque.

The Venoco Field Scholarship

The Venoco Field Scholarship is awarded to one or two undergraduates who display commitment and passion for field based studies and who are attending Summer Field. The Awardee receives a substantial cash award and a certificate.

The Webster Field Award

Alumni Alec and Claudia Webster, who met on the EARTH 18 field trip in the 1970’s and have lived happily ever after created this award to support a student who demonstrated an appreciation for field work and is attending Summer Field.

The Charles D. Woodhouse Award

The Woodhouse Award is given to a senior major for merit, scholarship, and promise of success in the profession as determined by the faculty, in memory of Charles Douglas Woodhouse, Professor of Geological Sciences (1938–1955).

The Peggie Dearth Wormington Field Studies Award

This award recognize and celebrates the achievements of students who show distinction in their field research in Earth Science, with a preference towards individuals who may be underrepresented in the field such as women and/or first-generation students. The Fund supports field endeavors involving the creation and dissemination of knowledge by students in conducting research both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.