About the Scholarship

The Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research (CCR) held its 10th annual Reid Bryson Scholarship competition on February 13, 2020. There were 18 student applicants from a diverse set of departments and centers across campus, including Nelson Institute, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Space Science and Engineering Center, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Integrative Biology, Forest and Wildlife Ecology, Geography, Chemistry, Botany, UW Biocore, Department of Medicine and Public Health, and Agricultural and Applied Economics. This rich variety captures the interdisciplinary nature of Professor Reid Bryson's studies and will inspire other UW students.

The winners of the 2020 Reid Bryson Scholarship are Guo Yu for the $1000 first place award and Nicholas Spoerk, David Fastovich, and Alyson Douglas for individual $500 runner up awards.

2020 Reid Bryson Scholarship Competition Results.

Applicants for the Reid Bryson Scholarship must either be a registered undergraduate or graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, from any department or center. The research should either address (1) fundamental climatic and meteorological processes or (2) environmental issues at the interface of climate, people, and the environment. Professor Bryson's research was highly interdisciplinary, so students from across the sciences and humanities are encouraged to apply.

Professor Reid Bryson (1920-2008) was the founder of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Meteorology and Center for Climatic Research and was the first director of the Institute for Environmental Studies (now the Nelson Institute). Dr. Bryson was one of the pioneers of modern climatology and among the first to explore the influence of climate on humans and human culture. He gained fame for his studies of past and future climate, the relationships between climate and the biosphere, and the interaction of climate and human societies. A polymath, Bryson's scholarly interests ranged from studies of archaeology and geography to geology and limnology, and he tied them together through an abiding interest in weather and climate.

See all past competition results here: Past Competitions