The Ming-Ho Yu Award for the Best Outstanding Student in Environmental Toxicology was created in 2005 and named for professor emeritus Ming-Ho Yu to honor him and the legacy he left in the College. Dr. Yu played a key role in developing the environmental toxicology program in the college in the early 1980s. He also helped to rebuild and reconfigure the program when the Institute of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry was created and the new director, Dr. Wayne Landis, was hired in 1989. Dr. Yu’s love of teaching and inspiring students to pursue a career in environmental toxicology continued even after he retired in 1997.
In subsequent years, he worked with The Western Foundation to establish a scholarship fund for undergraduate students that has slowly grown over the years and provided additional support for a deserving student in the environmental toxicology program. Eventually, the award of scholarship funds and the Ming-Ho Yu Award for the Best Outstanding Student in Environmental Toxicology were combined into one award ceremony to which Dr. Yu attended each year up until his death on March 17, 2020.
In tribute to his memory as a teacher, mentor, dedicated researcher, and accomplished scholar, the scholarship fund was renamed the Ming-Ho Yu Environmental Toxicology Scholarship Fund in May 2020. Scholarship funds and the Ming-Ho Yu Award are awarded each spring quarter to the undergraduate in Toxicology Emphasis Program in the Environmental Sciences major who excels academically, as well as shows the leadership and research skills that promise an outstanding advanced education and career in the field. The award recipient is selected by the Institute of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry Director and affiliated faculty based on their first-hand knowledge and work with the student in the course of the academic year.
Since its inception, 23 students have received the award. The student receives a personalized engraved plaque, as well as has their name added to the perpetual plaque displayed in the Institute of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry. Students have also received tuition waivers awarded from the Ming-Ho Yu Environmental Toxicology Scholarship Fund.
To make a donation to the fund, visit The Western Foundation’s Make a Gift page.
Previous recipients of the award are:
2023-24 Brianna Benner
2022-23 Ashlyn Lee
2021-22 Cristina La
2020-21 Katie Knaub
2019-20 Katie Benoit and Ava Gempler
2018-19 Ethan Brown and Janae Gallant
2017-18 Ian L. Moran
2016-17 Kimberly Diep
2015-16 Miranda L. Aiken
2014-15 Ryan J. DeWitt
2012-13 Courtney Fung
2011-12 David C. Wood
2010-11 Mariana N. Cains and Susannah T. Edwards
2009-10 Brian Church and Siobhan Sloan-Evans
2008-09 Evan Gray
2007-08 Melody Feden and Andrew Ryan
2006-07 Chad Weldy
2005-06 Jessica Ellis