Clark School Senior Named Marshall Scholar

COLLEGE PARK, MD - University of Maryland Senior Erin Hylton, a civil engineering major in the A. James Clark School of Engineering, has been named a 2014 Marshall Scholar. She is one of approximately 40 Marshall Scholars selected from a pool of more than 900 nominees nationwide to receive a scholarship, which fully supports two years of graduate study in the United Kingdom.

"Erin's achievement places her in the front ranks of aspiring global leaders and reminds us all of the outstanding caliber of Maryland's students," said History Professor Richard Bell, UMD's faculty advisor for U.K. postgraduate fellowships.

Founded by a 1953 Act of the United Kingdom Parliament, and named in honor of U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall, the Marshall Scholarships commemorate the humane ideals of the Marshall Plan, which contributed vitally to the reconstruction of Europe following World War II, and they express the continuing gratitude of the British people to their American counterparts. Prominent Marshall Scholars include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and Pulitzer Prize winning author and journalist Thomas Friedman.

Hylton, who is currently studying in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has focused her academic and future professional pursuits on water resource engineering and aims to devote her career to improving water resource access and quality in the developing world. With the support of the Marshall Scholarship program, Erin will first pursue a master's degree in hydrology and sustainable development at Imperial College London, followed by a master's degree in water science, policy and management at the University of Oxford.

According to Hylton, "Water is our most basic and precious natural resource, and its allocation must be balanced across a variety of conflicting uses, from irrigation and energy to sanitation and consumption. As a Marshall Scholar, my studies will prepare me to design and execute context-sensitive water management practices that will help propel us toward a sustainable hydrologic future."

At UMD, Hylton has served as president of Engineers Without Borders and co-founder and president of Maryland Sustainability Engineering. A member of the University Honors Program and a Federal Semester participant, Erin has held internships with the Environmental Protection Agency and with ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA. She has conducted research on the robustness of mathematical models used to estimate the magnitude of extreme flooding events. After her junior year, Hylton carried out an independent summer research project in Sao Paulo, Brazil, analyzing the social and ecological impacts of the Belo Monte dam project. During her senior year she studied abroad in Denmark, where she took graduate-level coursework in civil engineering.

Hylton has received numerous awards and citations for academic excellence and civic contributions from the Clark School and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She is a previous winner of two national scholarships -- a 2012 Udall Scholarship recognizing her environmental leadership and a 2013 Boren Scholarship to pursue advanced Portuguese language studies in Brazil.

Hylton is UMD's second Marshall Scholar and fourth recipient of a major United Kingdom scholarship in the last four years. Krzysztof Franaszek, a biology major, received a 2013 Gates Cambridge Scholarship. In 2011 Dylan Rebois, a mechanical engineering major, won a Marshall Scholarship and Ethan Schaler, also a mechanical engineer, won a Churchill Scholarship. Students interested in learning about the Marshall Scholarships and other national scholarship opportunities should contact the National Scholarships Office.

About the Marshall Scholarship:

Marshall Scholarships finance young Americans of high ability to study for graduate degrees in the United Kingdom. Up to forty Scholars are selected each year to study at graduate level at an UK institution in any field of study. As future leaders, with a lasting understanding of British society, Marshall Scholars strengthen the enduring relationship between the British and American peoples, their governments and their institutions. Their direct engagement with Britain through its best academic programs contributes to their ultimate personal success. A two-year award, the Marshall Scholarship covers all university fees, cost of living expenses and includes an annual book grant, thesis grant, research and daily travel grants, and fares to and from the United States.

Published December 2, 2013