The Class of 1964 John F. Kennedy Memorial Award is to encourage well-qualified students to enter careers in public service or government fields. This year, Katherine McComas, Vice Provost for Engagement and Land-Grant Affairs, introduces Dr. Karl Hausker '79, who presents our winner for 2021, Alice Soewito.
Alice
Soewito is an Environment and Sustainability major with minors in Business,
Climate Change and International Development. Having lived in three countries
throughout her life, she has always been inspired to work on the global
environmental crisis through cooperation. At the same time, Alice understands
that to tackle large issues we have to “think globally and act locally”. She is particularly interested in the
implementation of climate policies through work in extension and outreach
programs or cooperatives, such as Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE). She was given the opportunity
to work with the Zambian Ministry of Agriculture to build climate smart
agricultural tools and assisted them at UNFCCC’s Conference of Parties 25 in
2019. In 2020, Alice went to Tanzania and Seychelles as part of her study
abroad and also continued to learn about extension and outreach. There, she
studied how to promote ecotourism ventures that directly benefited the local
community.
After
graduating, Alice hopes to
establish an extension program in Surakarta, Indonesia to develop effective
freshwater solutions. She was inspired by her mentor and thesis advisor,
Professor Rebecca L. Schneider who
works on Cornell’s ditch extension program. Alice hopes to model that program
and bring it to Indonesia to work on non-point source pollution management by
working with local leaders such as the mayor and key industrial leader. Ultimately, she hopes act as a liaison, assisting in bridging the
gap between science and policy, and policy and communities by working with
governments and local communities to create environmental solutions.