Sonia Delphin Pérez awarded University Fellowship, featured in Grad Funding Spotlight

March 6, 2019
SNRE PhD student Sonia Delphin Pérez has been selected as a 2018-2019 University Fellow by the University of Arizona Graduate College. This prestigious program includes a fellowship offered to the University's highest-ranked incoming doctoral and masters students. Recipients of the fellowship receive a competitive financial package, professional development programming, mentoring and community engagement opportunities, and a richly interdisciplinary cohort. The goals of the University Fellows Program are to recruit the best students to the University of Arizona; develop interdisciplinary scholars, artists, and practitioners who are the next generation of leaders; and promote collaborative innovation on campus and throughout our broader communities.
 
Sonia Delphin Pérez is a doctoral student in the Natural Resources program, working with Dr. José Soto. She attended the National University of Asuncion in San Lorenzo, Paraguay, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Forest Engineering in 2005. After working in the field for a few years, she attended the University of Florida, where she graduated with a Master of Science in Forest Resources and Conservation in 2012. Her research interests are land use planning, conservation of natural resources, and sustainable development, all with an emphasis on finding ways to balance growth and conservation. In particular, her research will focus on the feasibility of developing, implementing, and monitoring a municipal level land use planning strategy that integrates environmental, social, and economic factors, using the Chaco Ecoregion of Paraguay as an example. An avid traveler, she has worked in her native Paraguay, Florida, and Washington, D.C. on projects for the National University of Asuncion, the University of Florida, consultancy firms, and, most recently, the World Wildlife Fund. She enjoys learning about other cultures and being outdoors.
 
Sonia was also recently featured in the Spotlight for the GradFunding newsletter by the University of Arizona Graduate College Office of Fellowships and Community Engagement, where she offered her perspective on finding funding as an international student. In addition to her University Fellowship, she has also received support in the past from the WWF Prince Bernhard Scholarship, Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, the Florida Forest Service and the School of Forest Resources and Conservation at the University of Florida.
 
 
Photo by John De Dios