Math Student Meredith Bain Receives Udall Scholarship

Meredith Bain, a junior from Charlotte, N.C., majoring in mathematics and German studies, was recently selected as a 2018 Udall Scholar.

The Udall Foundation awards its highly regarded undergraduate Udall Scholarships to Native Americans and Alaska Natives committed to issues related to health care and tribal public policy and to students committed to issues related to the environment. Selections were made by a 16-member independent review committee on the basis of leadership potential, a record of public service, and academic achievement. Each scholarship provides up to $7,000 for the recipient’s junior or senior year; both scholars and honorable mentions gain access to a listserv and directory of program alumni. The Udall Foundation has distributed 1,624 scholarships since its first awards in 1996.

Bain is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts and came to NC State as a Goodnight Scholar. She is the president of the Climate Reality Project Campus Corps, which recently submitted a proposal to shift the campus’ electricity usage to renewables from fracked gas. In addition to serving as an executive committee student representative with the Sierra Club’s Capital Group and working as an activist with The Dogwood Alliance, Bain is an executive with the Student Government Sustainability Department, was a participant in the Women of Welch Living and Learning Village, conducted research last summer with Professor Dmitry Zenkov in the Department of Mathematics, and has tutored math for grades K-12 for over two years.

This summer, Bain will travel to Ingolstadt, Germany, where she will use statistical programming to model the city’s carbon dioxide emissions during an internship with the municipal government within the Department of Climate Protection, Public Health, and Environment. She plans to earn a J.D. with a concentration in energy law and aims to reach a career goal of establishing renewables as N.C.’s primary source of energy.

“Learning about [Stewart] Udall’s work reinforced my sense of the urgency of promoting renewable energy, but it also encouraged me to see the extent to which renewable technologies have progressed since [his] time,” said Bain. “He spent his career advocating for the research to develop the affordable solar and wind technologies on the market today, and it is awesome to think that the work I want to do will build upon his success by implementing those technologies.”

Bain is NC State’s 15th Udall Scholar. This year, 50 Udall Scholars were selected from 437 candidates at 209 colleges and universities, and 50 sophomores and juniors were awarded honorable mentions.

Chancellor Randy Woodson surprised Bain in person with the news of her Udall Scholarship selection.

This article is excerpted from the Fellowship Advising Office.