May 3, 2021

By: Nizhoni Greyeyes

IndigeFEWSS Trainee William Borkan won 2nd place at the University of Arizona School of Environmental Science annual EnVision competition. This year’s EnVIsion was held during Earth Week in April 2021. William’s presentation, Comparing Uranium Transport through Two Different Porous Media, was a standout among dozens of participating graduate students. 

William is pursuing a MS in Environmental Science where he studies Soil and Water Science. William said about his award, “I was really pleased to find out a few weeks later that I had won second place!” He submitted a four minute video presentation about his research, and said he appreciated the EnVision platform as an opportunity to discuss his research with other graduate students. 

As part of his NSF-NRT training with Indige-FEWSS, William will intern with the Navajo Nation EPA to help address ongoing contamination from uranium mines. Specifically, he will assist the Navajo Nation EPA in doing site inventories and remedial investigations at abandoned mining sites, a serious issue long neglected at the national level.