SCMA Scholarship
2026 SCMA Scholarship Awardees
Kate Dezii, is a PhD candidate at the University of South Carolina studying Geological Sciences. She is passionate about advancing environmental stewardship through multidisciplinary perspectives. By combining her background in civil engineering with principles of hydrogeology, she has the opportunity to develop innovative approaches to complex environmental challenges. Her current research investigates the impacts of rising water tables on coastal communities and ecosystems within barrier island environments. Specifically, she is interested in understanding how maritime forests and salt marshes respond to these hydrologic changes, particularly as ghost forests become more prevalent. Kate is equally interested in applying this knowledge to strengthen the resilience of coastal communities facing more frequent and severe flooding.
Lillian Doll is pursuing her master's at Clemson University researching shoreline erosion in coastal stormwater ponds. She is co-advised by Dr. Sarah Waickowski and Dr. Amy E. Scaroni. Lillian received her B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of South Carolina Honors College in 2023 and has since worked as a research technician at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's Institute of Marine Sciences, and at North Carolina State University in the Crop and Soil Sciences Department. To learn more about her current research, you can visit: https://arcg.is/0XXmen0
Amber Mercer is a senior with a Conservation Biology major and an Outdoor Leadership minor at Winthrop University. During her time at Winthrop, she has participated in two years of plant ecology research. They collected data at a biological station in the Florida scrub, where they conduct prescribed burns to manage the habitats. Their research included insect herbivory and its relation to time since fire, carnivorous plants and their prey, ground cover species impacts on endemic endangered plant species, a plant host and its parasitic tritrophic relationship, and more. Currently, Amber is an intern at the South Carolina Department of Transportation in the Environmental Services Office. At Winthrop, she is an officer of a conservation club, and serves as the secretary or the University's TriBeta National Biological Honors Society. She will begin work on her Honors Thesis this year to create and illustrate a fungi field guide for the Southern 8ths Farm to encourage outdoor engagement and educate the public on identification practices.
Siddhartha Regmi is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation at Clemson University. He earned his M.S. in Forest Resources from Clemson University and his B.S. in Forestry from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. His research focuses on forest ecology and restoration, with an emphasis on understanding how forest ecosystems respond to natural and management-related disturbances. During his master's research, he investigated the impacts of sea-level rise, hurricanes, and changing environmental conditions on mortality and recovery of coastal forest trees in South Carolina. His current Ph.D. research examines how prescribed fire severity influences tree transpiration, carbon dynamics, and forest recovery in longleaf pine ecosystems by integrating field data with satellite remote sensing and eddycovariance measurements. Siddhartha's long-term goal is to become a professor with a research and extension appointment, leading a research program that advances ecological restoration science and translates findings into practical, science-based forest management strategies.