The talents, opportunities, and privileges I have come with an assumed responsibility to help the next generation. I try to do this by mentoring, creating resources, offering encouragement, advocating for fairer processes, and helping open doors. Beyond my own research, I hope to leave a legacy of empowering students who aim high.
With this commitment in mind, I championed the creation of a Kansas space exploration scholarship and advocated for reducing the number of required letters of recommendation for a geology field camp scholarship. I believe a rising tide lifts all ships, and I aim to expand opportunities and provide guidance so emerging scientists can navigate their paths with confidence and feel connected to a broader community.
Providing Guidance and Resources Students
Some of the ways I have promoted students include writing a guide to becoming a planetary scientist while I was in the M.S. program at K-State, as well as writing application tips.
During my Ph.D. at the University of Kansas, I worked as a Reference Specialist at the libraries, where I helped students find resources and gain access to them. I also helped revamp some of the science and engineering library guides. I specifically focused on the free web resources page, because students often feel lost when they do not know where to start. Providing these links and resources can help them begin their work and prepare for future classes, projects, or even careers by exposing them to tools used in their field.
Some of the easiest ways to support your peers and the next generation include sharing application opportunities through email or social media. I frequently email applications to fellow graduate students for scholarships, workshops, calls for essays, and other opportunities they are eligible for.
Cutting Letter of Recommendation Bloat
I try to reduce letters of recommendation whenever possible, because it is one of the simplest ways to lower barriers for students. Too many applications require letters of recommendation, or multiple letters, which I find unnecessary in many cases. While I am not suggesting eliminating letters for every application, but for many scholarships, the requirement adds extra work for students and professors without improving fairness. Many of these decisions can be made using essays, CVs or resumes, and transcripts, materials students can prepare themselves to showcase their strengths and control their own narrative.
The academic community, including nonprofits that provide scholarships, should carefully consider when letters of recommendation are truly necessary rather than merely desired. While this may go against the tendency to gather more data before making decisions, additional letters carry a real human cost in time and effort. Excess letters are time-consuming, inequitable, and far from harmless. By reducing or eliminating unnecessary letters of recommendation, we can lower barriers for students, lighten professors’ workloads, and allow more time and attention for applications that genuinely require letters.
It is especially important that letters are not required from specific people, such as a student’s advisor or department head. Academic abuse is not uncommon, including the withholding of letters as a form of punishment. By requiring letters from certain people, scholarship programs risk evaluating privilege rather than merit and may inadvertently prevent students from pursuing opportunities that could help them escape abusive situations.
How Excess Letters of Recommendation Are Unfair to Students
Letters of recommendation can be barriers for students, and not only for those who are underperforming. The practice favors students with close faculty connections or those willing to expend extra time, often at personal cost. Some professors never write letters, or set nearly unattainable standards. What happens if the only professor a student knows is unavailable, or if they attend a large university and cannot build strong faculty relationships? Some professors rely on students to draft letters themselves, since the professor does not have time. This practice raises ethical questions but is often the only way for students to obtain letters at all.
Applications are already a crapshoot. Students are encouraged to apply widely to scholarships, internships, and workshops due to competitiveness. Asking multiple times for letters of recommendation slows them down, and frequent requests can be burdensome for both students and professors.
Students who learn of applications at the last minute may be limited, not by their own dedication, but by the availability of professors willing or able to provide letters. Those with readily available professors always have an advantage over students without those resources. At that point, we are evaluating privilege rather than talent or ability.
How Excess Letters of Recommendation Are Unfair to Professors
Professors are already inundated with research, teaching, committees, mentoring, and advising. Adding multiple letters of recommendation to this workload is a strain. Some scholarships never even read the letters provided, making the effort wasted. Over time, professors who agree to write letters frequently may face a feedback loop, being asked repeatedly while those who decline have more time for other work, which increases the unfair burden on professors who write often.
Suggestions
For new scholarships, consider not requiring letters of recommendation.
For existing scholarships, reduce the number required or replace them with a simple signature line.
Alternatively, request contact information so only the top applicants need letters.
By rethinking how we use letters of recommendation, we can make scholarship opportunities fairer for all.
Cutting Letter of Recommendation Bloat for an Existing Scholarship
During my time on the Professional Development Committee at GSA, including two years as chair, I worked to make opportunities more accessible for students, specifically through the J. David Lowell Field Camp Scholarship. I successfully proposed reducing the letter of recommendation requirement from two to one, and the change was approved and implemented the following year.
A core principle of this scholarship is that field camp is essential to geologist training and should be accessible to as many students as possible, yet the excess of letters of recommendation seemed at odds with that same principle. I knew that not all students, through no fault of their own, have equal access to multiple strong letters. My goal was to make the process fairer for all students, from the largest universities to the smallest colleges. It was a small step in the right direction, but I am grateful to have played a part in making opportunities more accessible for everyone.
Creating a New Scholarship and Preventing Letters of Recommendations
As a board member of the Ad Astra Kansas Foundation, one of my goals was to create a scholarship for students at Kansas colleges who are interested in space exploration. Not only did I fight for the creation of this scholarship, but I also worked to ensure there was no requirement for letters of recommendation to lower barriers to applying, and I advocated for the scholarship winners to present their research at our annual Galaxy Forum, showcasing the space work happening right here in Kansas. I also offered and provided feedback on their presentations prior to the Galaxy Forum in case they needed additional resources or support to ease anxiety for first-time public speaking, as opposed to conference talks.