(Posted August 16, 2010)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Justin Paul, a junior from Garrett, Pa. studying geology at Juniata College, has been awarded an EPA-GRO Fellowship from the Environmental Protection Agency that provides $10,000 a year for tuition for two years and offers a paid internship at the EPA facility of his choice.

Paul, the son of David W. Paul, of Garrett, and Patricia L. Marteney, of Meyersdale, Pa., is a 2008 graduate of Berlin Brothersvalley High School.

An EPA-GRO Fellowship from the Environmental Protection Agency provides $10,000 a year for tuition for two years and offers a paid internship at the EPA facility of the student's choice.

EPA's Office of Research and Development supports several fellowship programs in order to address develop scientists and researchers interested in pursuing careers in environmental science.â?¨EPA's GRO fellowship program helps build environmental studies programs at universities with limited funding for research and development. In 2009, 28 students received this award nationwide.

The purpose of the fellowship program is to encourage promising students to obtain advanced degrees and pursue careers in environmental fields. Eligible students will receive support for their junior and senior years of undergraduate study and for an internship at an EPA facility during the summer between their junior and senior years.
Since the fellowship program began in 1995, EPA has awarded more than 2,200 fellowships to students in almost every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. All applications for EPA's fellowship programs are rigorously peer reviewed.

Paul will begin his paid internship in summer 2011, before the start of his senior year at Juniata.

Paul is currently working on a geology research project overseen by Ryan Mathur, associate professor of geology, as part of a grant administered by Penn State University and Juniata. He is working to examine physical and chemical weathering processes in the Marcellus Shale bedrock. Paul is working on outcroppings in Huntingdon County.

As part of his senior capstone research project, Paul has proposed a soil science research project examining the water holding capacity and bulk chemistry study of reclaimed soils on former surface mining sites.

In addition to his research work, Paul currently serves as vice president of the Andrew Lawson Geological Society, the student geology club at the college. He also works with the athletic training staff as a work-study student.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.