Worthington Essay
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About the Worthington Essay Contest
In 2002, Plan II alumnus Roger Worthington (’80) provided funding for an annual essay prize in Plan II. Originally a single prize, Plan II now awards 3 prizes each year, including a first-year student prize. The essay topics have ranged from hypothetical scenarios to real-world events and always challenge students to form an argument on one side of a legal, scientific, medical, or ethical debate and present it convincingly. All current Plan II students are eligible to enter, and Plan II faculty members select the winning essays from among the submissions.
Grand Prize: $5000
First-Year Prize: $3500 (best essay written by a first-year student)
Second Place Prize: $2500
2023 Prize Winning Submissions - Artificial Intelligence & Journalism
Grand Prize: Will Jackson, Class of 2024
First-Year Prize: Samantha Ho, Class of 2027
Second Prize (tie): Vijay Davis, Class of 2027, and Brianne Johnson, Class of 2027
- 2024 Essay Prompt: Climate Change Intervention and Ethical Considerations
Water management departments in several Western states currently divert a portion of their budgets to experimental “cloud seeding” projects in an effort to combat increasing megadrought conditions. Cloud seeding is the process by which silver iodide particles are pumped into storm clouds to generate snow. Although it is notoriously hard to test the efficacy of this practice, drought-impacted states are increasingly investing in cloud seeding in hopes of ensuring more snowpack. Critics of cloud seeding and similar practices worry about environmental impact, unforeseen consequences on weather patterns and local populations, border disputes between states with differing practices, among numerous other concerns. Regardless, many states are looking for grants from the federal government to shoulder the considerable costs of cloud seeding pilot programs and other experimental weather modifications.
Your EPA office has been tasked with developing an ethical framework that all would-be recipients of federal funding for such projects must consider. Please compile a list of the four most pressing ethical considerations that any large-scale weather modification projects must take into account in order to receive federal funding. Additionally, please delineate what an adequate methodological assessment of each of these considerations by prospective grantees might consist of. Then provide a rubric for how your office will evaluate each project’s own assessment of its possible human and environmental impacts. Your response should be 2500 words or fewer.
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2024 Entry Instructions
- Deadline: 11:59 P.M., Friday, November 1st, 2024
- Submit your essay via file upload here. NO LATE ENTRIES.
- At the top of your essay, please include your full name, eid, and class year
- Submit your entry as a PDF file using the following filename format:
lastname_firstname_eid
- Your response should be 2500 words or fewer
- Students who receive financial aid should check with the UT Office of Student Financial Services to find out if winning a prize will affect their aid package.
- Questions or difficulty submitting? Email planiischolarships@austin.utexas.edu
