NAAMLP Scholarship

Are you planning a career in mine land reclamation?

Scholarships are available from the National Association of Abandoned Mine Land Programs.

Click on the link below for details and the application.
2024 Scholarship Information

Graduate Recipient - Annika Dudik, Kent State University
Annika Dudik earned her B.S. in Geology and Minor in Biology from Kent State University in Ohio. Throughout her undergraduate, she has worked on research pertaining to anthropogenic environmental contamination. In the summer of 2022, she completed an REU focusing on microplastic contamination in urban stream systems and presented that research at multiple events at Kent State, as well as at the 2022 American Geophysical Union conference. At the beginning of 2023, her research interest switched over to acid mine drainage (AMD), and she began assisting with the collection of water samples discharging from abandoned coal mines.

In the fall of 2023, she will begin her Master’s degree in Environmental Geology at Kent State University. Her thesis project will focus on acid mine drainage in streams and the impact that metallic colloids can play in transporting that contamination outside of treatment systems, with the hopes that this work can aid in the development of future AMD treatment systems.

2023 Scholarship Winners

Madeline Roanhorse Memorial Scholarship Recipient (Western) - Mariam Koanda, New Mexico Tech
Mariam Koanda is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Mineral Engineering. She earned a degree in mathematics from Hostos Community College/CUNY and was recognized for her Outstanding Research Presentation at the 2021 CUNY Symposium. She was also the winner of the Vanguard Award as a woman in a non-traditional career, due to her background as a dumper and excavator operator in West-Africa, Burkina-Faso where she is originally from. She likes helping others, and as president of the HCC engineering club, she honored and served her peers and fostered a thriving engineering community.

Mariam is actively involved in shaping the mining engineering landscape and serves as the vice president of the Cooney Mining Club. She is grateful to her mentor, supervisor, and advisor, Dr. Navid Mojtabai, for guiding her academic and professional journey. Mariam secured an internship at Morenci in 2022, working on optimizing truck utilization for consistent planning, for the summer 2023, she enjoyed a return internship at Sierrita Mine, AZ with the long-range department, working on mitigating the haulage cost in mine operation.

She is excited to explore emerging technologies and sustainable practices to enhance industrial efficiency and mitigate environmental impacts. Mariam is determined to contribute to society's growth while prioritizing environmental sustainability in the mining industry. She is grateful for the scholarship, which will allow her to focus on her studies and make a difference in her future

Eastern Recipient - Elyssa Allen, West Virginia University
Elyssa Allen is a rising senior from Ohio studying environmental geoscience and viola at West Virginia University. After her undergraduate career, she plans on getting a masters in geology. During the school year, she works as a GIS intern for the West Virginia GIS Technical Center and over the past summer, she interned for the Bureau of Land Management in Casper, WY as an environmental protection specialist in the field of oil and gas reclamation. Elyssa is very passionate about environmental protection and wants to focus on mitigating the impacts that mining has on climate change and aquatic ecosystems. Going to school in West Virginia has allowed her to see the effects of mine pollution on local ecosystems first-hand. In her summers and spare time, Elyssa teaches science and music to children from kindergarten to high school and believes very strongly in educational outreach.

Mid-Continent Recipient - Elizabeth Beaumont, Samford University
Liz is a third-year student, double majoring in marine science and geography, with a minor in Biology and a GIS certification at Samford University. She was raised in Jacksonville, Florida and has wanted to work in the environmental field since she was a kid. When she moved to Alabama, she was blindsided by the biodiversity in Alabama's rivers and has since been thrilled by the unique facets of Alabama's biodiversity. Liz did research on planktonic and aquatic invertebrate communities in settlement ponds around Winston County, Alabama. This was how Liz found herself learning about the disastrous effects of abandoned mines and the scars that they leave on the land and water. Through this research, she found the Abandoned Mine Land program and presently works in the field and office mapping reclamation projects for the AML program. She hasn’t found much in the environmental sector that she isn’t intrigued by and is driven to protect the biological communities that are at the mercy of human-caused pollutants and disturbances, and programs like this directly mitigate those disturbances. Liz feels it is vitally important for humans to take responsibility for the environments that existed long before us, that we are gifted and depend on, for the people who come after us. She wants to pursue a fulfilling career that involves research, conservation, or advocacy for fragile ecological communities so that humans can give back to the land we live on.

Past Scholarship Recipients

  • Eastern Recipient: Matt Berzonsky, Saint Francis University in Loretto, PA

    Mid-Continent Recipient: Rebecca Lynn, Iowa State University

    Madeline Roanhorse Memorial Scholarship Recipient (Western): Calli Veautour, Montana State University

    Graduate Recipient: Matt Deyoe, Montana State University

  • Graduate: Garrett Dildine (Pindine)

    Madeline Roanhorse Memorial (West): Molly Taylor

    East: None

    Mid-Continent: Liz Myers

  • Graduate: Md Abu Raihan Chowdhury

    Madeline Roanhorse Memorial (West): Tanzila Alam

    East: None

    Mid-Continent: None

  • Graduate: Chris Brown, Nick Shepherd

    Madeline Roanhorse Memorial (West): Chase Carroll

    East: None

    Mid-Continent: Johnathan Prose

  • Graduate: None

    Madeline Roanhorse Memorial (West): Brianna Mayfield

    East: Bethany Witter

    Mid-Continent: Daniel'le DeVoss

  • Graduate: None

    Madeline Roanhorse Memorial (West): Jeana Ratcliff

    East: Bethany Witter

    Mid-Continent: Kyle Wagner

  • Graduate: None

    Madeline Roanhorse Memorial (West): Meg Doolittle

    East: Gireesh S.S. Raman

    Mid-Continent: Poonam Giri

  • Graduate: None

    Madeline Roanhorse Memorial (West): Abigail Tobin

    East: Laura Nugent

    Mid-Continent: Kendra Miner

  • Graduate: None

    Madeline Roanhorse Memorial (West): Hannah Angel

    East: Mason Oxford

    Mid-Continent: None

  • Graduate: None

    Madeline Roanhorse Memorial (West): Jessica Odenheimer

    East: Rachel Powel

    Mid-Continent: Katherine Stockdale

  • Graduate: Evan Thibaud

    Madeline Roanhorse Memorial (West): Ashley Hodgson

    East: None

    Mid-Continent: None

  • Graduate: None

    Madeline Roanhorse Memorial (West): Calene Thomas

    East: Everett Brill

    Mid-Continent: None

  • Graduate: None

    Madeline Roanhorse Memorial (West): Angela Moyer

    East: Casey Clark

    Mid-Continent: None

  • Graduate: None

    Madeline Roanhorse Memorial (West): Colleen Kenny

    East: Melinda Parsons

    Mid-Continent: None

  • Graduate: None

    Madeline Roanhorse Memorial (West): Marlene Hanabeck

    East: Heather Luinstra

    Mid-Continent: None