GENEVA, N.Y.—William Smith cross country runner Fiona Howes '27, a geoscience major is a 2025 recipient of the prestigious Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship, the leading U.S. award for undergraduates pursuing careers in oceanic or atmospheric sciences.
 
The highly competitive scholarship provides up to $9,500 per year for two years, a paid summer internship with an international research project and funding to attend two national scientific conferences. Howes joins a distinguished group of past HWS recipients, including Alex Dwyer '23, Jack Polentes '21, Lukas Ruddy '18 (Hobart basketball), Brook Adams '16 (William Smith swimming & diving) and Macy Howarth '16 (William Smith rowing).
 
"I'm thrilled by the hands-on opportunities the Hollings Scholarship offers," says Howes. "I'm excited to get my hands dirty and contribute to a field I care deeply about."
 
On the cross country course, Howes showed steady improvement in her 6-kilometer time throughout her sophomore season, improving her time by nearly two and a half minutes. She ran her fastest 6K in the Liberty League Championship, stopping the clock at 28:57.7. She also posted her first collegiate top 20 in the 2024 CCOC Championships, as the Herons took the team title for the third straight year. Howes' athletic accomplishments coupled with her success in the classroom, earned her a spot on the 2024 Liberty League All-Academic Team.
 
In addition to her coursework and racing, Howes is vice president of the Geoscience Club, a teaching assistant for "Introduction to Hydrogeology," a first-year mentor, and a member of the Food Recovery Club.
 
Last summer, she participated in HWS' Summer Research Program, examining whether calcite in Seneca Lake can serve as a reliable proxy for historical temperature changes. Her research, "Assessing the Reliability of Using Stable Isotopes of Bulk Carbonate for Paleoclimate Analyses in Seneca Lake, New York," was presented at the American Geophysical Union conference in Washington, D.C., in December 2024.
 
Howes credits her advisors, Associate Professors of Geoscience Tara Curtin and David Finkelstein, for their support. "They've been my biggest advocates while challenging me to grow. Their mentorship has shaped my HWS experience," she says.
 
Curtin says she and Finkelstein were thrilled Howes asked to work with them on an independent research project last spring and summer. "Fiona excelled at integrating data from multiple sources. She combined in situ water chemistry measurements she made on the HWS research vessel, the William Scandling, and in our lab with existing NOAA and USGS datasets to quantify the relative importance of evaporation and stream inflow on Seneca Lake's water balance. She impressed us with her dedication to uncovering answers to the questions she posed. We are incredibly proud of her achievements," Curtin says.
 
This summer, Howes will be a guest student at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, working on the Upstream Pathways of the Faroe Overflow (UFO) project. She'll begin by analyzing hydrographic data from the 2024 UFO Cruise, then spend a month aboard the R/V Roger Revelle in the North Atlantic between Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
 
"I can't wait to contribute and learn from the scientists leading this important work," she says.