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Veronica Richmond got her first taste of field research in middle school.

She was at a biology club meeting in her hometown of Boise, Idaho, when advisor David Whitacre released his pet corn snake next to a tree, and the students watched as it ascended the tree. After slithering down the trunk, the snake had tree sap on it, so the animal lifted its coils up in a strange maneuver to remove the sap. Realizing the unique moment, the club members recorded the behavior. It was the first time anyone had documented this conduct in the species, Whitacre told them.

Richmond’s interest in biology and animal behavior hasn’t tired since.

“Those meetings were an opportunity to look at the world around us in a very different way,” she said, adding that future meetings introduced her to bird watching. “It was really magical.”

Later, during her freshman year at the University of Miami, Richmond was enjoying the classes for her biology major but was itching to use her more creative side. After learning and practicing graphic design through Two Birds, a student-run agency in Boise, she soon added a second major—creative advertising. 

She began to recognize how to meld these two interests after working on the University’s , said Richmond, who is currently a junior . Now, Richmond hopes to work as a science communicator after college, and her passion for sharing science with others—through graphics, writing, and education—recently earned her a , one of the most distinguished and selective awards for college students. 

“We are so incredibly proud and happy for Veronica because this is such an accomplishment,” said Erika Green Liberus, director of  in the University’s Office of Academic Enhancement (OAE). “She has a unique focus to combine two seemingly different areas of interest, and she is merging those in ways that are of significant interest to her, but she also has the potential to impact the public in pretty significant ways, too.”

The  helps support aspiring leaders who are committed to public service and provides funds for graduate school as well as a summer institute experience. Richmond is just the third student in the University’s history to earn the honor. She is one of just 54  chosen this year from 49 colleges and universities across the nation.

Yet Richmond did not always know she wanted to become a science communicator. She did have a lifelong penchant for science and spent her middle and high school years walking or commuting to the Treasure Valley Math and Science Center to take accelerated STEM courses for half the day. 

Once she started college, however, Richmond learned about the epidemic of science illiteracy in the United States. This is the idea that most Americans cannot understand scientific writing, such as The New York Times science section, a fact exposed in a 2007 study from . Richmond said these “alarming gaps in public knowledge have widespread consequences,” and misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic led to even more death because of ignorance about the risks of the virus. Richmond wants to use her skills and knowledge to help reverse these trends.

“Without science literacy, we cannot hope to survive pandemics, stop climate change, and make informed decisions as a country,” said Richmond. “I hope to reform communication within the scientific community and to promote science literacy among the public, making critical knowledge more accessible, relevant, trustworthy, and digestible.”

She has done that at the University by working on assignments in her advertising courses to debunk complex health care topics, as well as writing, editing, and designing feature articles for Scientifica Magazine, and by helping biology professor  create an outreach proposal for his research on the three-dimensional structure of bacteriophage viruses. Their work earned him funding from the National Science Foundation.

But Richmond also has a strong interest in serving the public, gleaned through weekends volunteering with her family. That led her to get involved in the  at the University, where Richmond has attended and served as a site leader for the Alternative Breaks Program. True to her interest in science, Richmond led service projects to help restore the marshes  and to remove more than 1,000 pounds of trash off of local beaches in Key West. She also serves as a peer educator at the University’s Counseling Center.

“No matter how big or how small the project at hand, Veronica’s dedication and heart for service has created relationships with countless community organizations and fostered so much positive change in the community,” said Lindsey Goldstein, associate director of the Butler Center.

Meanwhile, Richmond is still engaged in hands-on biology research as well. This semester, she is in Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands, studying at Universidad San Francisco de Quito and observing the nests of endangered Galápagos petrels, while also educating the public about these rare seabirds. Next fall, she will be working in the lab of , the James A. Kushlan Chair in Waterbird Biology and Conservation at the University’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Last summer, Richmond conducted burrowing owl demography research at Boise State University and wrote about it for . This summer, she will be surveying American goshawks in California’s Sierra Nevada.

All of these activities fuel her desire to translate complex science for the public. Eventually, Richmond hopes to use her scholarship for a graduate program in science communication. 

“The work I aim to do in tackling this degree of scientific illiteracy is unprecedented, particularly on the governmental level, which means I will be blazing my own trail,” she said, adding that after finishing her education, she is open to policy work, research, educating future college students, nonprofit work, or even running for office. “What I do know for certain is I want to apply my unique skills to help solve this root issue on a larger scale.” 

Her University mentors believe she will stick to her word. Molly Lockwood Ho, associate director and programs manager for Prestigious Awards and Fellowships in OAE, said Richmond will excel at anything because she is so dynamic and committed. Christopher Doell, OAE executive director and a scholarship advisor to Richmond, agreed.

“One rare thing about Veronica is the sincerity of her interests,” Doell added. “It’s impossible to deny her passion and authenticity.”