The Claire H. Sink Scholarship was established by LSC alumna, Claire Sink who graduated with an M.S. in Agricultural Journalism (now LSC) in 1965. Since graduating from UW-Madison, Claire has represented technology development programs to industry, academia, and state regulators, and served four presidential administrations within the U.S. Department of Energy from 1983-2006. Claire is a 2020 recipient of the College of Agricultural & Life Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award. This scholarship was created by Claire to support a student whose studies focus on the areas of technology management and sustainability.
Congratulations to our 2021-2022 Claire H. Sink Life Sciences Communication Scholarship recipient!
Becca Beets
Degree program: Ph.D. in Mass Communications and Ph.D. minors in Educational Psychology and Science and Technology Studies
Hometown: Portland, OR
Receiving the Claire H. Sink Scholarship is a great honor and I am incredibly appreciative to have been selected. As I head into the third year of my Ph.D. program, I am starting to think about how to develop my own research agenda. This has admittedly been hard to prioritize over my other research responsibilities. Rather than taking on an additional job in the fall, this scholarship will allow me to dedicate more time to honing my own research pursuits and staying focused with my coursework. Thank you!
Future goals: After graduating, my hope is to remain in academia. Since starting at UW-Madison, I have had the opportunity to teach and to be involved with a number of different research projects. My ultimate goal is to find a tenure-track faculty position that would allow me to teach communications courses and to establish my own research agenda. Working at an institution where there are opportunities for interdisciplinary research collaborations would be ideal since my interests expand beyond communications.