Kathryn Harriss, recipient of the 2013 Solar NV Scholarship Award

Annual Scholarship Award

Every year, Solar NV awards a $2,500 scholarship for the next academic year to a University of Nevada – Las Vegas (UNLV) undergraduate or graduate student who is pursuing a future in the Solar / Renewable Energy Industry. See our online application form for full details.


Solar NV Scholarship Recipients

Congratulations to all of the Solar NV Scholarship Award winners! We wish them all the best and look forward to their ongoing contributions to the renewable energy transformation.

2012-2013 – Kathryn Weavil

Kathryn Weavil, recipient of the 2012-2013 Solar NV Scholarship AwardKathryn is a senior at UNLV studying Environmental Science with a minor in Solar and Renewable Energy. After completing her undergraduate training, she plans to attend the William S. Boyd School of Law.

2011-2012 – Derek Bernard

Derek Bernard, recipient of the 2011-2012 Solar NV Scholarship AwardFirst, I want to thank Solar NV for making such a generous scholarship available to Nevada students pursuing a future in the growing field of cleaner and renewable energy. Since being awarded the Solar NV annual scholarship, I have completed the Solar and Renewable Energy minor at UNLV.  I have also been given the amazing opportunity of interning with two great organizations: Clean Energy Project and Sellen Sustainability.  This scholarship has helped me in making my educational goals a reality as well as presenting me with prospective career opportunities. Thank you again Solar NV for providing this program and for your continued support of Nevada’s students.

2010-2011 – Caryn Wright

Caryn Wright, recipient of the 2010-2011 Solar NV Scholarship AwardFirst of all I’d like to express how grateful I am to have been chosen for the scholarship.  Attending college is challenging with a rigorous course load amplified by the financial anxiety of how to pay for it all.  The Solar NV scholarship relieved that financial burden so that I could focus primarily on my studies.  Beyond just the monetary factor, I had the pleasure of meeting several important people from the solar industry in southern Nevada at the awards ceremony – I would not have had that opportunity without the scholarship.

I majored in Environmental Studies with a minor in Solar and Renewable Energy.  Since graduation, I have been working for NV Energy on a 235-mile transmission line that will connect the northern and southern NV Energy territories and enable development of renewable energy projects throughout Nevada.  It’s exciting to be employed in an industry where I am able to use the knowledge and skills that I gained while earning my college degree.  I look forward to contributing to the solar energy industry in southern Nevada and hope one day I am able to help students achieve their academic goals as this scholarship has helped me.

2009-2010 – Joe Kopp

Joe Kopp, recipient of the 2009-2010 Solar NV Scholarship AwardASES’ Solar NV chapter has an excellent domain to promote a myriad of solar technologies and policies.  As a former recipient of the Solar NV Scholarship award, I am personally thankful for their dedication to increase the solar presence in and around Las Vegas.  The award supported my concentrating solar research efforts and complimented my graduate school research assistantship at UNLV’s Center for Energy Research.  In addition to developing solar technology, my foundation built at UNLV provided a keen awareness of the state of solar technologies, including technological advancements applicable for commercial deployment.

Presently I am a Pro2Serve solar energy consultant for the Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office (LPO).  This work has provided abundant opportunities to foster utility-scale solar energy projects.  The initial priority was technical due diligence of the LPO solar portfolio (e.g. Abengoa Solana, SolarReserve Tonopah, Cogentrix Alamosa, etc.) and advising the loan underwriting process for these commercially innovative concentrating solar projects.  Since projects achieved financial close, I continue to support their construction monitoring and performance during operations.  It is hoped increased diversification of solar generation technologies will provide robust evidence about how solar power can effectively contribute to regional power generation portfolios.