Curiosity and creativity around the globe

University of Delaware Plastino Scholars are taking their curiosity and creativity around the globe. In the 18 years since the program's inception, Plastino Scholars have studied energy access in Tanzania, investigated the resilience of Amazon's stingless bees, bicycled across the U.S. and launched a school lunch program for students in need. And that's just for starters.

The Plastino Scholars Program has enabled more than 75 undergraduates to design their own hands-on learning opportunities - each centered on a personal passion. The goal: to spark transformational change in both their academic journeys and their lives beyond the classroom.

The program was established through the generosity of UD alumnus David A. Plastino, who was inspired by a similar program that his daughter experienced at another university. Determined to "pay it forward," he created a program that would empower UD students to dream big, take risks and make a difference.

This year's cohort of Plastino Scholars continues the tradition of personal and academic exploration coupled with community impact. Their projects have taken them - or soon will - to Morocco, Hungary, Cambodia, India and South Korea.

Here's what they did and learned on their journeys:

Lauren Sorrentino

Environmental science major Lauren Sorrentino remembers listening to environmental biogeochemistry professor Deb Jasi lecture one day and being struck by a conundrum. Morocco holds 70% of the world's known phosphate reserves and is the world's largest supplier of phosphorous, which is a critical ingredient in fertilizers. But the country's own small farmers struggle to access adequate supplies of fertilizer.

"Phosphorus is the second most essential nutrient for plant growth after nitrogen," noted Sorrentino. "If you don't have enough phosphorous, you aren't going to have good crop yields."

She puzzled over this when she had spare time, digging up articles and learning more.

"My hypothesis was that local farmers must not be able to get their hands on fertilizer because they're exporting all of this phosphorus," she said.

With Jasi's support and encouragement, she applied to the Plastino program and spent a week in Morocco interviewing farmers in the Settat, Khemisset and Meknes regions. She received support from researchers at University Mohammed IV Polytechnic - a connection that UD professors made happen.

"These were semi-structured interviews, conducted in Arabic by a translator," she explained. "I looked at where these farmers are getting their fertilizers, what they think of the process, and what the barriers to obtaining phosphorous might be."

Much to Sorrentino's surprise, when she analyzed the data, a consistent trend appeared. Farmers believed - and empirical evidence confirmed - that drought was the major cause of poor crop yields.

"The problems with phosphorus were not because they couldn't get it; it was because there's been drought for the past seven years," she said. "And when there's drought, the phosphorus just isn't working as well in the soil."

Although Sorrentino has traveled internationally before, including a Winter Session study abroad to New Zealand, she said nothing compared to this self-directed, solo research project in Morocco.

"I was nervous in the beginning but it was amazing," she said. "I'm definitely proud of myself."

Alex Tóth

History education major Alex Tóth's desired career path is starting to look different after returning from a summer of academic research, most of it at libraries, archives and historical sites in Hungary. A Hungarian-American, Tóth conducted research on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution with the goal of developing not only a better understanding of this emotionally charged moment in Hungary's history, but also an understanding of how the interpretation of historical events can be subject to change over time.

Just to make things more interesting, Tóth said he "challenged myself linguistically by pursuing my academic research in the Hungarian language."

His research took him from the Hoover Institution Library and Archives at Stanford University in California to the National Grief Park at Kozma Street Cemetery in Budapest. It also brought about new personal and professional insights.

"I felt that this summer would provide a way to reconcile my Hungarian and American identities," Tóth said. "By engaging with Hungarian stories and the Hungarian language in an intellectual context and not a familial one, I had hoped that I could find some way to bridge the distance between my two selves. I don't know whether I did, and I don't know whether that would have been the best policy. I'm Hungarian and American at the same time, but I've decided it isn't necessary for me to be at peace with both."

On a professional level, Tóth said that this period of intensive research has him considering museum work as a possible career path.

"My journey with Hungarian public memory doesn't feel finished by any means, and my Plastino experience opened up quite a few doors for me. Now, it's my responsibility to walk through them," he said.

Kara Mey

This summer, cognitive science major Kara Mey traveled to Cambodia with her father, Danny Mey. For her, it was a first; for her father, it was a return to the country he had fled at age 14, after four years living under the Communist regime of the Khmer Rouge.

"This abrupt ending of my dad's childhood led to rusted ties with his relationship with his motherland," explained Mey, who is half Cambodian and half Filipino. "It has been my father's dream to travel back to his home country, and mine as well to rekindle that relationship with my cultural heritage."

On their three-week journey, father and daughter met with long-lost cousins, sampled the local cuisine and traveled widely, from capital city Phnom Penh, where Kara saw the house where her dad grew up, to archeological sites and waterfront towns. Most sobering was the day spent at the Killing Fields, where more than 1.3 million people were killed and buried during Khmer Rouge rule from 1975 to 1979. Two of Danny Mey's uncles were among those massacred.

Mey's time in Cambodia helped her learn to accept and even embrace uncertainty.

"I'm a very, very meticulous person, so when I prepared my program proposal I wrote down what I would be doing every hour. Like, if I would be taking a tuk-tuk versus a taxi; it was all planned out," she said.

But Mey's experience helped her realize that checking off the boxes on a pre-planned itinerary wasn't the goal.

"What was more significant was getting to know the cultural aspects and the people's worldview," she said.

"Everybody is connected by that one event. Everybody in the country went through it in some form, some capacity," noted Mey. "It seems like Cambodian people, after what they've been through, treat every person they meet as family."

After their travels together, Mey has even greater appreciation for her father.

"My dad has endured so much loss," she said. "Not just the genocide. He also lost his first son to cancer. And he experienced a lot as a New York police officer for 20 years. But, nonetheless, he has been able to move through life appreciating things. All he wants at the end of the day is for me and my siblings to be happy and healthy."

Alyson Hallowich

Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Alyson Hallowich will travel to the state of Assam in Northeast India during Winter Session to explore how conservation-based non-profit organizations are working with local and indigenous people. She will spend four weeks at several different locations in Northeast India, investigating how local communities may be a crucial part in finding solutions to the loss of biodiversity. Check back next winter for an update on her travels.

Sofia Antonia Vázquez

Finance major Antonia Vázquez will be traveling to South Korea during Winter Session to conduct a qualitative research study to examine the factors behind South Korea's low birth rates. Vázquez's goal is to understand the perceptions of South Korean women regarding gender discrimination and government policies impacting fertility decisions. Check back next winter for an update on her travels.

Interest meetings Sept. 30 and Oct. 13

The Plastino Scholars Program awards study grants up to $6,000 to selected undergraduate students who exhibit extraordinary talent, promise and imagination. These grants enable them to pursue a passionate interest to an otherwise impossible degree.

Find out what it takes to become a 2026 Plastino Scholar at interest meetings scheduled for Sept. 30 and Oct. 13. Both meetings are at 4:30 p.m. and in Room 205/206 McDowell Hall, 25 North College Avenue, Newark.

Current Plastino Scholars will discuss their program experiences and the application process. UD undergraduates who are enrolled for at least 12 semester hours and have not completed more than five semesters are eligible to apply. For more information on the program visit https://www.cas.udel.edu/plastino-scholars.