HICKCOX AWARD
The Hickcox Award represents an ENVS graduating senior who displays significant leadership, presence and service within the ENVS department and Emory community. The Hickcox Award is named in honor of ENVS distinguished Emeritus Professor (and Waffles King), C. Woodbridge Hickcox, or Woody as we know him. Every year it is a difficult decision to choose just ONE student, but it is our pleasure to announce that Sonya Doublee is the 2026 Hickcox Award winner.
WEGNER AWARD
The John Wegner Award is given annually in recognition of achievement by an ENVS student who has conducted applied research around themes of environmental conservation, campus sustainability or field ecology. The award recognizes an ENVS major who demonstrates academic excellence and completion of research coursework. The award is established in honor of Dr. John Wegner, a long-term, award-winning teaching Professor in ENVS. Dr. Wegner also was the first Chief Sustainability Officer of Emory, an active member of the Committee on the Environment, and in awarding funds to support undergraduate ENVS research. For 2026, we are pleased to recognize Madelyn Hill as the Wegner Award winner.
Sonya Doubledee C’26 is an ENVS major on the Social Science & Policy (SSP) track. Sonya is completing a second major in Political Science in Emory College. A Woodruff Debate Scholar, Sonya’s contributions have made an impact all over campus and in the department. As president of the Emory Environmental Report, Sonya edits monthly articles exploring environmental advocacy, scientific breakthroughs, local issues, and the Emory Climate Action Plan.
Sonya served as a fellow with the Center for Law and Social Sciences in the Emory Turner Law Center Clinic and worked in the Prokopec Lab, but she is most proud of her honors thesis research, Framing Disaster: The 2011 Joplin Tornado.
The 2011 Joplin tornado fundamentally transformed the region my father’s family calls home. Researching it meant meeting with several professors, sitting with community members, learning about the role of volunteers, of neighbors, of the federal government arriving and eventually leaving. I heard stories of extraordinary kindness; individuals who gave time, resources, and care in the immediate aftermath and long after the cameras were gone. Those conversations reshaped my understanding of what disaster recovery actually looks like.
Next up for Sonya is attending the University of Chicago as a Harris Social Impact Fellow and working with the Energy and Environment Lab. Congratulations to Sonya, we are thrilled to recognize her impact as the Hickcox Awardee for 2026!
Madelyn Hill C’26 is an ENVS major on the Environmental Health (EVH) track. Madelyn is a 4+1 student in the ENVS BS/MPH program in partnership with the Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health in Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health.
Madelyn’s research in the Gillespie Lab focuses on monitoring infectious disease prevalence in the chimpanzees of Tanzania’s Gombe National Park. Additionally, she is completing an independent project examining how coinfections of several pathogens may be associated with worse health outcomes.
Beyond Madelyn’s research, she has invested much of her time at Emory serving in leadership positions with Plastic Free Emory, currently serving as co-president and is the co-chair of Emory’s Break Free from Plastic Task Force. She has worked with Emory’s Office of Sustainability (OSI) as a general sustainability intern and currently works as a research assistant in the Environment, Culture, and Community Research Group (Professor Megan Mucioki).
Next year, Madelyn will complete the final year of her MPH in the Rollins School of Public Health. When asked about her fondest memory of her time at Emory, Madelyn wrote:
One of my favorite ENVS memories was getting the chance to travel to Peru over spring break to learn more about the ecology of the Amazon Rainforest! Overall, though, I will most miss how collaborative, interdisciplinary, and supportive the entire ENVS department is, both faculty and students.
Congratulations to Madelyn, she embodies the ideals of the Wegner award, and we are so proud to recognize her research and contributions to Emory and ENVS.
Department of Environmental Sciences 