WDHOF 2019 scholarship and training awardees span the globe
This year’s 59 awardees of the scholarship and training grants by the US nonprofit organization Women Divers Hall of Fame come from several countries around the world. With a record number of applications, there was stiff competition for over $75,000 in scholarships and grants.
X-Ray Mag's regular contributor Brandi Mueller received an Advanced Dive Training Grant towards technical dive education and gear. A popular and prolific dive writer and underwater photographer, author of The Airplane Graveyard, Brandi intends to use the grant to continue her technical dive training so she can reach, photograph and write stories about new places and deep wrecks to share with a wider audience.
Recipients of awards came from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, the Caribbean, the Persian Gulf and Antarctica.
Advanced dive training
X-Ray Mag’s own regular contributor Brandi Mueller received an Advanced Dive Training Grant for technical diving education and gear, which is sponsored by WDHOF. An instructor and boat captain with an M.S. degree from the University of Hawaii, Brandi is a popular and prolific dive writer and underwater photographer, author of The Airplane Graveyard. She intends to use the grant to continue her technical dive training so she can reach, photograph and write stories about new places and deep wrecks to share with a wider audience.
Two others were awarded the same grant, including Jeanne Bloomberg, a graduate student at Louisiana State University, where she studies coral reproduction and population connectivity of mesophotic reefs deeper than 30m; and Californian Tiffany Sih, a researcher with a doctorate in marine biology currently based in Australia, who will use her grant towards becoming accredited as a Scientific Diver, working in remote locations.
Diverse fields and levels
Fifty-six other scholarships and grants were awarded in the areas of underwater archaeology; undergraduate, graduate and doctoral studies and post-doctoral research in higher education in the fields of marine biology, ecology and conservation, and environmental and ecological sciences; leadership in ocean conservation, adaptive scuba, healing and wellness; hard-hat commercial diving; underwater photography; dive medicine and public safety; basic dive training for professionals, college, high school and primary school students; advanced recreational dive training; advanced technical dive training; and disabled diver training. For a full list of this year's awardees, download the pdf below or click on: WDHOF 2019 Scholarship Awards.
Mission
The mission of the Women Divers Hall of Fame includes “recognizing women divers who have made outstanding contributions to the exploration, understanding, safety and enjoyment of our underwater world” and “supporting the underwater world and its associated careers by promoting opportunities for women and men in diving through scholarships, internships and mentorship opportunities and a worldwide network of industry contacts.” ■
For more information, please visit: www.wdhof.org.