Two UW–Madison students awarded prestigious national Udall Scholarships

Two University of Wisconsin–Madison undergraduates have been awarded 2025 Udall Scholarships, a highly competitive national honor that identifies future leaders in environmental, Tribal public policy and health care fields.

Rising seniors Helena Bello and Alissa Choi each will receive up to $7,000 for academic expenses. They also will be eligible to participate in networking, critical-thinking and community-building activities with other Udall Scholars and alumni of the program.

Bello, of Washington, D.C., is double majoring in legal studies and environmental studies with certificates in criminal justice and public policy. Choi, of Brooklyn, New York, is double majoring in geology and chemistry.

Both Bello and Choi are part of UW–Madison’s Posse Program. The initiative identifies and awards full-tuition scholarships to high school students with extraordinary potential from cities across the country. UW–Madison is one of 65 partner colleges and universities that takes part in the national program.

“We at UW Posse are so incredibly proud of both Alissa and Helena on this incredible recognition,” says Marla Delgado-Guerrero, director of UW–Madison’s Posse Program. “They both work extremely hard, and we are so happy to see them selected for such a prestigious honor. Posse Scholars are selected to carry out their leadership potential, and this is absolutely one way they both demonstrate their leadership.”

The Udall Foundation awarded 55 scholarships this year, chosen from 381 eligible applicants nominated by their academic institutions. Another 55 students received honorable mentions, including UW–Madison rising senior Leo Strand. Strand, of Milton, Wisconsin, is double majoring in environmental studies and political science with certificates in history and public policy.

More about UW–Madison’s awardees:

Helena Bello

Bello aspires to become a lawyer specializing in environmental law, with a focus on advocating for the protection and conservation of the environment as well as for those who face environmental injustices. Bello developed a passion for the environment through birds and birding.

She currently is working with the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance as an environmental advocacy intern, researching issues directly related to birds and their habitats and collaborating with advocacy coalition members to address them.

As a volunteer with the Bird Collision Corps, she walks a designated route across the UW–Madison campus once a week, meticulously documenting instances of bird collisions with buildings. Bello notes the location, species involved, and other data contributing to these collisions. The research aims to identify patterns and hotspots where bird strikes are most frequent.

In 2022, she embarked on an initiative that transformed her home community. She chose as her high school senior project, “How Can Washington, D.C., Better Protect and Conserve Migratory Birds?” She analyzed data on bird collisions in the city and looked at the legislation of other cities that had already passed bird-safe building laws. Her research culminated in a legislative proposal advocating for bird-safe building designs. The effort garnered widespread attention, and the City Council of the District of Columbia ultimately introduced the Migratory Local Wildlife Protection Act of 2022, which became effective in March 2023.

She continued policy work on bird safe-building designs in college, writing a legislative proposal that she presented at the Wisconsin Ideas Conference in 2024 titled “Introducing a Bird-Safe Building Ordinance in the City of Milwaukee.”

Alissa Choi

Choi studies dust, greenhouse gases and ice microstructure in some of Earth’s oldest ice cores with the Center for Oldest Ice Exploration. This summer, she will intern at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Monitoring Lab, researching fluxes of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels in urban areas using radiocarbon measurements. As a documentary filmmaker, science communicator and educator, Choi aims to make climate science more accessible and inclusive.

She is deeply involved in the Department of Geoscience community, serving as president of the Association for Women Geoscientists this past academic year and as an undergraduate representative on the DEI committee and Paleobadger steering committee. Choi works with Inspiring Girls* Expeditions and Project Ice, introducing high school students to polar expeditions and research and leading ice core workshops for K-12 educators.

She has also created climate-focused short films featured in the U.S. Association of Polar Early Career Scientists Polar Film Festival and Scholastic Science World magazine. Choi is a 2025 Goldwater Scholar and a 2024-2026 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ernest F. Hollings Scholar.

A complete list of past UW–Madison Udall Scholarship winners and honorable mentions is available on the Undergraduate Academic Awards site.