2015 Udall Scholarship Nominee
Madeleine Wax, CE’16, is one of three nominated for the Udall Scholarship by Northeastern University. She received an honorable mention with a $350 stipend.
The Udall Foundation awards scholarships to college sophomores and juniors for leadership, public service, and commitment to issues related to American Indian nations or to the environment. The Udall Scholarship honors the legacies of Morris Udall and Stewart Udall, whose careers had a significant impact on American Indian self-governance, health care, and the stewardship of public lands and natural resources.
Madeleine Wax, who is studying to be a civil engineer, is from Oregon and sees the remediation of polluted sites as an issue of environmental justice. The Government Accountability Office estimates that there may be up to 425,000 brownfields—land parcels whose reuse is complicated by environmental concerns—in the United States, and Madeleine’s aspiration is to pursue innovative ways to return these sites to productive use within communities. Madeleine has gained extensive hands-on experience in the environmental consulting field through two co-ops and an internship at Roux Associates, a firm where she was involved in projects as diverse as litigation, military site remediation, and river restoration. A member of the university Honors Program, Madeleine is also a resident assistant at Northeastern.