Whitney Blanchard, UNH G‘08 has been awarded a Student Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research in Norway during the coming year. A resident of Newtown, CT, Ms. Blanchard is working toward an M.S. in Civil Engineering at the University of New Hampshire.
Ms. Blanchard will spend the 2007-2008 academic year in Trondheim, Norway, working with scientists from the Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research at the Norwegian Institute of Technology (SINTEF) and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. With the aid of computer modeling, the team will study and quantify the physical, chemical and biological effects of oil spills in arctic regions. Her proposal has also attracted a grant from the American-Scandinavian Foundation.
Ms. Blanchard graduated from UNH magna cum laude with a B.S. in Environmental Engineering in September 2006. As an undergraduate, she spent spring 2004 studying civil and environmental engineering in Edinburgh, Scotland, through the UNH exchange program with Heriot-Watt University. She anticipates the completion of her M. S. in Civil Engineering at UNH in December 2008.
In 2006 Ms. Blanchard was the recipient of the University Women’s Award and the Civil Engineering Service Award. In fall 2006, she completed an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) internship with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Northwest Fisheries Science Center Ecotoxicology Program in Seattle, WA, while also taking classes in marine affairs and risk assessment as a visiting graduate student at the University of Washington. In 2005 she completed an AAAS internship at the NOAA HAZMAT Division in New Orleans, LA, and in 2004 was awarded a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship with the UNH Bedrock Bioremediation Center. She has served as president and project co-manager for Students Without Borders, coordinating a team of students to implement an engineered water system in Niger, West Africa. She co-authored a proposal to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency which netted a $10,000 P3 Award: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity, and the Planet.
In keeping with Fulbright’s mission, Ms. Blanchard plans to become engaged with the community through Norwegian culinary courses, hiking, cross-country skiing and other outdoor activities. Upon her return to the U.S. she hopes to publish her research findings, apply for a NOAA grant involved with national government policy development and, ultimately, to pursue a career with NOAA.