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������Ƶ seniors Shae Frydenlund and Jennifer Rusciano are two of 40 students awarded the prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship for a year of exploration around the world.

The $25,000 fellowship prize will allow Frydenlund (seen at right) to meld her passion for environmental geography with her interest in art. She will examine the environmental impact of the demand for valuable plants through the medicinal plant trade.

During her travels to Ecuador, Russia, China, Tanzania, and Albania, she plans to create a documentary that captures the complex ecologies of the medicinal plant markets and promotes sustainability as well as conservation in the industry.

“I am eager to show that this seemingly obscure trade is actually a vibrant, widespread network involving countless stakeholders, governments, and environments,” Frydenlund said.

Rusciano (seen at left) will explore the relationship between chocolate, communities, and culture in Europe, Africa, and Latin America.

Through her project, “Bittersweet: Exploring the Light and Dark Sides of Cocoa Production,” she will investigate how the ideas and values of consumers, manufacturers, and organizations in the developed world translate into real impacts in the lives of cocoa farmers and their communities in developing regions.

“So many things go into making a bar of chocolate,” she said, “not just the physical ingredients, but also the communities they come from, and the cultural, historical, environmental, and economic currents which shape these places”