Aaron and Elizabeth Waters Student Research Fund

The Aaron and Elizabeth Waters Student Research Fund supports graduate students in the Earth and Planetary Sciences, empowering them to conduct impactful research and pursue transformative professional development opportunities. Your gift helps foster future scientific leaders and continues the legacy of Aaron and Elizabeth Waters.

"The Waters Fund has been instrumental in supporting my research and professional development during my PhD at UCSC. These funds helped cover travel costs to meet with project collaborators, present my work at meetings, and support essential research expenses like computing equipment and training courses. This support has directly advanced my dissertation and allowed me to engage more fully with the broader scientific community."

~ Kristin Dickerson, Ph.D. Candidate & 2023 Waters Award Recipient

"The financial support provided by the Waters Award enabled me to conduct fieldwork in Southern California and India. Without the rock samples I collected on these trips, two of my projects would not have been possible."

~ Keenan Hassell, Ph.D. Candidate & 2022 Waters Award Recipient

"The Waters Fund has provided me the opportunity to attend multiple conferences over the past few years... As an interdisciplinary scientist, attending small, discipline-specific conferences is an important way to meet researchers from other fields and build both relationships and an understanding of how [my research] impacts their discipline."

~ Sam Kodama, Ph.D. Candidate & 2024 Waters Award Recipient