M&A scholarships announced

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2024-2025 Montgomery & Associates (M&A) scholarship, offered to University of Arizona students pursuing degrees in the Hydrology & Atmospheric Sciences (HAS) or Geosciences department.

Jack Flanigan, hydrology undergraduate student; Min Ma, hydrology doctoral student; and Alma Reasoner, geosciences student, will each receive $2,000 for the 2024-2025 academic year. Students are nominated by professors in their respective departments and recipients are chosen by the Dean of the College of Science or a designee.

Jack, a junior majoring in hydrology with a minor in geology, focuses on modeling the contribution of stormwater to aquifer recharge in detention basins. He is also investigating how to integrate surface water and groundwater models. He plans to pursue a master’s degree in hydrology after completing his undergraduate work. Jack is passionate about applying his academic knowledge to tackle real-world challenges in water resource management.

Min is a first-year doctoral student in hydrology focused on subsurface contaminant transport, particularly the partitioning of contaminant molecules at water-solid interfaces, air-water interfaces, and within the aqueous phase. Through her work on subsurface contaminants, Min aspires to contribute to better risk management, inform policy decisions, and enhance the conservation of natural resources and public health.

Alma is a senior geosciences student who served as an underground geology intern at a mine where she gained hands-on experience that sparked her interest in the intersection between fluids and rocks in the subsurface. She has explored mining-related groundwater characterization, management, and conservation through a hydrology research project to gain a deeper understanding of how fluids move through the subsurface, alter mineral compositions, and impact groundwater resources.

The M&A scholarship was established to benefit HAS and Geosciences students. HAS majors must have a demonstrated interest in investigations in groundwater; geosciences majors must have a demonstrated interest in investigations in subsurface fluid-rock interactions including mining-related groundwater characterization, management, and conservation.

Hale Barter, M&A president and UA HAS alumnus, said, “We are pleased to recognize these outstanding UA HAS and Geosciences students in groundwater studies. M&A has had connections with both these departments since the 1960s through our founders and many past and current employees. The M&A scholarship is an opportunity to give back to the university’s hydrology community and demonstrates our commitment to developing new scientists to solve the complex issues of subsurface hydrology in the face of unprecedented water demand and scarcity.”

For more information about the scholarship, please visit UA’s HAS scholarship opportunities. To learn more about the services offered by M&A–now in our 40^th year–please visit our website or contact Juliet McKenna, P.G.

Jack Flanigan

Min Ma

Alma Reasoner