UConn Student Wins Prestigious Marshall Scholarship

The following informaiton was provided by the University of Connecticut:

For the second time in four years, a University of Connecticut student has won a prestigious Marshall Scholarship.

Ethan Butler, a 2012 chemical engineering graduate and past president of the UConn chapter of Engineers Without Borders, will spend the next two years in the United Kingdom pursuing his graduate studies at one, and possibly two, of Britain’s finest academic and research institutions.

A resident of Southbury, Conn., Butler is one of 34 students in the United States to receive the highly-competitive scholarship this year. He is the third student in UConn’s history to be a Marshall Scholar. The others being Michelle Prairie in 2009 and Virginia DeJohn Anderson in 1976.

The Marshall Scholarship is Britain’s flagship government-funded program for American students who represent some of the finest and brightest college graduates in the United States. It is named after former Secretary of State George C. Marshall, and was established as a gesture of gratitude to the people of the United States for the assistance the U.S. provided after WWII under the Marshall Plan.

While in the U.K., Butler hopes to study advanced chemical engineering and innovation, entrepreneurship, and management at Imperial College London, one of the world’s top engineering and scientific universities. His second choice is the University of Manchester. Butler will find out his destination in the spring.

Butler’s long-term goal is to develop sustainable, community-based water and energy technologies in order to supply clean water and renewable energies to people in developing countries while simultaneously creating job opportunities for those in critical need.

“I am deeply grateful for all the support I received from the University,” says Butler, whose mother is a UConn alum. “UConn is a place where you have a lot of opportunities. If you shoot for the stars, you get the support of this massive university behind you. I was able to do things I never imagined I would do.”

Butler maintained outstanding academic scholarship during his four years at UConn. A member of the Honors Program, Butler was named a University Scholar, UConn’s highest academic honor, in 2012, and was inducted into the University’s most prestigious leadership program, the Legacy Leadership Experience, the same year. In 2011, Butler received UConn’s Global Citizenship Award along with a Udall Scholarship, National Collegiate Honors Council Portz Fellowship, and Newman Civic Fellows award. He was a member of EcoHuskies, UConn’s Environmental Policy Advisory Committee, and Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honors society.

But it is Butler’s involvement in the UConn Chapter of Engineers Without Borders that will stand out as a large part of his UConn legacy. When Butler first arrived in Storrs in 2008, the chapter had little support and only a handful of members. By the time Butler finished his last year as chapter president, the chapter had developed field projects in Nicaragua and Ethiopia, raised more than $70,000, expanded to more than 40 members, and established a strong international support network of more than 50 non-profits, NGO’s, and government, academic, and business professionals.

“Building Engineers Without Borders, USA-UConn was a personally transformative experience for me,” Butler said in his scholarship application. “Not only did it call me to leadership, but also it exposed me to extreme poverty for the first time when I visited our partner-community in Nicaragua: La Prusia.”

During his first trip to Nicaragua, Butler said he went door-to-door speaking with residents living in the extremely difficult conditions. He saw how the community’s access to markets, jobs, schools, and other services was severely restricted due to the heavy flooding and erosion of a local road to nearby Granada. UConn’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders is currently working on rebuilding the mile-long road, a project that Butler hopes will be completed within the next two years.

In order to repair the road, Butler and his engineering team developed a novel soil stabilization technique and used a low-impact design to create an economical solution for La Prusia. During his work with Engineers Without Borders, Butler also founded the Humanitarian Water Purification Lab Group, which is dedicated to advancing sustainable water purification technologies for developing countries and emergency relief. Water purification technology is an area in which Butler has some experience. For his senior engineering capstone project, Butler designed and evaluated a water purification system for Bangladeshi waters contaminated with arsenic.

“Ethan made an indelible mark here as an innovator, researcher, and advocate for sustainable engineering solutions to some of the world’s most pressing environmental problems,” UConn President Susan Herbst said in a letter of endorsement submitted with Butler’s scholarship application. “Not only did he demonstrate the intellect and drive to master the scientific and technical knowledge he needed, but also he proved a remarkable leader, bringing together faculty, entrepreneurs, students, and community stakeholders to launch several international projects still ongoing today … He is fiercely smart, thoughtful, and pragmatic – a combination designed to make a tangible difference.”

Butler expects to begin his graduation experience overseas in fall 2013.