UW-AAUW STEM Research Grant Recipient Report
Saturday, January 31, 2026
10:00AM - 11:30AM
Online: Free on Zoom. You do not have to be a member to attend.
UW-AAUW STEM Research Grant: Allison Clonch reporting on her research into the Mental Health of Women Mariners. Plus, our AAUW Mini-grant recipient and a brief report from the college students we sent to NCCWSL.
Since grants have become scarce, AAUW Seattle has stepped up developing several grants to support groups and individuals with their important projects that also support the AAUW mission. We are pleased to learn more about these grant recipients and the important work they are doing.
Allison Clonch, PhD candidate in the UW Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and recipient of the first AAUW Seattle Stem Research Grant, will present her research on the mental health of women mariners.
Her inspiration to pursue environmental and occupational health was borne from her feelings of both a moral and practical duty to protect those who bear the disproportionate burden of environmental harms, including vulnerable communities, the working class, and nature itself.
Her dissertation research and broader scholarly work have addressed various topics in environmental and occupational health, such as mental health of maritime workers, farmworker exposure to heat and wildfire smoke, and childhood lead exposure in drinking water. Her research objective is to provide robust scientific evidence in support of advancing policy and practice for environmental justice and worker protection.
Her dissertation research focuses broadly on factors influencing occupational mental health and wellbeing. She has been working on a couple of related projects simultaneously. The first project has been a cross-sectional survey of United States mariners to quantify self-reported mental health, workplace support, experiences of bullying and/or harassment, and other factors. This study serves as an important assessment of the challenges and opportunities facing mariners.
She also has been working on an analysis of national secondary data to examine how self-reported discrimination and vigilance vary by individual and occupation-level characteristics (such as occupational sex composition). This study provides novel insights which may inform future interventions to improve worker mental health and wellbeing.
Our first Mini Grant recipient is the Freedom Education Project of Puget Sound (FEPPS). Alyssa Knight is a co-founder and will talk about how FEPPS provides an accredited college program for all people at the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW) and creates pathways to higher education after students are released from prison.
NCCWSL (Nick-Whistle) stands for National Conference for College Women Student Leaders. This program unites college women from across the nation for a transformative experience in leadership development, networking, and inspiration. We were able to send three students to experience this wonderful program and they’ll tell us about their experiences and take-aways.