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.