AMES, Iowa -- It's one for the record books. An Iowa State University student has been awarded two of the nation's most distinguished scholarships. Nathaniel Looker, a third-year student majoring in global resource systems and agronomy from Des Moines, has been named a 2011 Udall Scholar and a 2011 Goldwater Scholar. Both awards were announced today by the University Honors Program, which coordinates nominations and applications.
"As far as I'm aware, this is the first time an ISU student has won both the Udall and the Goldwater Scholarship," said Dana Schumacher, an assistant director of the Honors Program.
"Only about 25 percent of those nominated for the Goldwater and 15 percent of those nominated for the Udall will be selected," she said. "To have won both in the same year is a remarkable achievement and a real testament to Nate's accomplishments and potential."
The Udall Foundation awards scholarships to undergraduate students who show promise of making significant contributions -- through scientific advances, service or community action -- to environmental, natural resource or Native American issues. Scholars are selected for their participation in campus activities, research or service. Looker was selected as one of 80 scholars from a field of 510 candidates nominated by 231 universities and colleges throughout the United States.
The Goldwater is the nation's premier undergraduate scholarship in mathematics, natural sciences and engineering. The 275 Goldwater Scholars were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,095 students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide.
Looker is on a research internship this semester at the Universidad Rafael Landivar in Guatemala, measuring transpiration in a cloud forest. He is working with a Guatemalan Ph.D. student who is modeling hydrological balances in a watershed in the country's arid corridor.
"The project relates ecosystems to stream flow as a way of demonstrating the practical societal benefits of conservation," Looker said.
"Climate data collection in the area is also part of a World Wildlife Fund-supported network designed to monitor climate change throughout Central America and provide a first alert of natural disasters, such as floods and droughts," he added.
"I love being in the field, getting engrossed in the subject we're studying and also just appreciating the natural beauty of the forest," Looker said.
Looker will pursue a research career, having also worked as an undergraduate research assistant in the Ecohydrology Laboratory in ISU's Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, and in the Agronomy Department's Weed Science Laboratory.
"I plan to earn a Ph.D. in landscape ecology and do research for an international research institution or at a university," Looker said. "I want to analyze the ecological dimensions of international development. I'll focus on the measurement of ecosystem functions in ecologically and economically vulnerable locations in Latin America."
Looker was valedictorian of his Dowling High School class in 2008, and served as a World Food Prize Borlaug-Ruan Intern at the International Potato Center in Peru that summer. A National Merit Scholar, Looker is a member of the University Honors Program. He's active in the International Association of Students in Agricultural and Related Sciences, ISU's Student Organic Farm and is a disc jockey on the student radio station.
The 2011 Udall Scholars will assemble in August in Tucson, Ariz., to receive their awards and meet policymakers and community leaders in environmental fields, tribal health care and governance. Each Udall Scholar receives a scholarship of up to $5,000.
The one and two-year Goldwater scholarships cover the cost of tuition, fees, books and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year.