Hazen Announces 2024 Diversity-in-STEM Scholarship Winners

(RALEIGH, NC - August 20, 2024) - Hazen and Sawyer is proud to announce the 2024 winners of our Diversity-in-STEM College Scholarships – Julliete Alraheb from the University of Florida (left in photo) and Hannah Olson from the University of Georgia (right in photo).

Julliete, a rising junior majoring in chemical engineering, was driven to study engineering by a science fair project in high school. When it came time to select a topic, she remembered the challenges her relatives in Syria were facing with an erratic water supply. To help arrive at a solution to water scarcity, Julliete researched a variety of irrigation systems to determine the least amount of water required to provide healthy chickpea plants.

“Often taken for granted, water is one of the necessities of life, essential to one's health and well-being,” Julliete shared. “Yet, across the world, this basic need is not always met. Being of Syrian descent, I think about my family in Syria and how they worry whether they will have enough food and water for the next day and whether they can provide for their family. That inspired my research project and started me on the path to being an engineer.”

When she isn't in class, Julliete is involved with the UF Chapter of the Society of Women Engineers, holding a variety of leadership positions including Career Development Chair and Historian Chair. She is also a member of the Arab Student Association and was previously a representative of Engineering Ambassadors and served on the Freshman Leadership Engineering Group.

Hannah is a rising sophomore majoring in civil engineering with an emphasis on sustainability and water. She earned a perfect 4.0 GPA in her first year at UGA. Hannah was inspired to pursue engineering by her mother, who, while not an engineer by trade, used creativity and ingenuity to repurpose household items to overcome limited mobility and chronic pain.

“To me, being an engineer means you must look at everything around you and ask yourself: ‘How can I make this better, safer, more efficient?’” Hannah explained. “It is possible to find solutions to water insecurity, whether it be reclaiming wastewater, finding ways to harness stormwater runoff, or even creating something new. The question of how to supply enough water to meet the need will always be paramount and I hope the future and world I leave behind will be brighter than the present.”

At Georgia, Hannah is a member of both the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers. Last summer, she participated in Discovering Engineering at UGA Summer Academic Boot Camp, a rigorous program that introduced essential engineering skills through projects, hands-on experience, and site visits.

Each year, Hazen awards two $5,000 scholarships to college students who study engineering and identify as members of an underrepresented group. Applications are accepted annually in the spring, with scholarships awarded in the summer.