UMass Amherst Libraries Announce Winners of Undergraduate Sustainability Research Awards

The UMass Amherst Libraries are pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 Undergraduate Sustainability Research Award.

The Undergraduate Sustainability Research Award promotes in-depth understanding of sustainability topics, research strategies, and the use of library resources, providing participating students with vital skills they will carry into future academic and vocational endeavors.

The competition was open to all currently enrolled UMass Amherst undergraduates. Five winners were chosen for their outstanding research papers and received $1000 scholarships, thanks to generous donors to the award-winning UMass Amherst Libraries’ Sustainability Fund. The winning papers will be uploaded to ScholarWorks, the university’s digital repository.

Winners:

• Cora Attias-Inzano ’26: “Beech Leaf Disease: Seeing the Trees & Forest”
• Adeline Beckert ’25: “Assessing Undergraduate Perceptions of the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC): Attitudes Across Academic Disciplines”
• Ana Beatriz Juarez Stucker ’25: “The Convergence Between a Just Energy Transition and Community-Based Participatory Research: A Community’s Input on Demand Response Programs”
• Sam Oppedisano ’27: “The Costs of Climate Change: Reflections from COP 29”
• Elizabeth Richards ’25: “Save the Planet, One Baby Dragon at a Time”