Summer at Stanford

Written By: Ian Silvester

A University of Arkansas – Fort Smith geoscience senior earned a fully funded summer research fellowship at Stanford University's School of Sustainability, where she is studying methane emissions alongside students from institutions including Harvard, Yale and MIT. 

Abby Webb is the only student from the southern United States selected for the program's 16-member cohort, an opportunity she said brings her one step closer to a career in geoscience research and higher education. 

“I want to know how we can better understand the Earth,” Abby said. “What I’m doing is amazing; it’s great for the Earth, and it aligns a lot with my why.” 

Abby’s eight-week program at Stanford continues until the UAFS fall semester begins. Throughout her fellowship program, she has lived in the dorms and worked alongside her fellow. 

She said she was at the Geological Society of America conference in the fall, when Stanford representatives approached her professor and mentor, Dr. Maurice “Moe” Testa, about the upcoming fellowship. 

“They came out and found him and were like, ‘Hey, we would love for one of your students to come out here and work on some research,’” she recalled. “Next thing I know, Moe sat me down and was like, ‘Hey, Abby, I want you to apply for this.’” 

At the time, she thought there was no way a student from Fort Smith would get chosen for a program as large as this, Abby said. Additionally, she was in the middle of navigating a family crisis with her mom being in and out of the hospital and her dad starting chemotherapy for a cancer diagnosis. 

Abby was in the process of applying to other similar summer programs when Testa put the Stanford program on her radar. She said the application for Stanford was so intensive that the others had to be put on the back burner. By the time she finished Stanford’s application, the others were past due, leaving all her hopes pinned to the single Stanford application. 

Thankfully, she said, they were equally as interested in her. 

Before Abby became a geoscience student, she had plans to become a teacher. A prerequisite science class led her to change her major, but she said she hopes to use that background in teaching in her future. 

Abby said she plans to enter a Ph.D. program immediately after her graduation from UAFS in the spring of 2027. From there, she wishes to combine her love of research with her background in teaching to work as a professor at a school similar in size to UAFS and be an influence like Testa to her future students.

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 Abby is a past recipient of the Bill and Marjorie Dixon Memorial Scholarship, the John McFarland & Baldor Scholarship, and the W. R. Walker Scholarship. 

• Tags:
• College of Arts and Sciences
• Geosciences
• Student Research