The 2024 Nomination period is now over. Finalists will be announced Dec 13th.   See below for eligibility and nomination instructions.

This award is made possible by the generosity of donors to the Division of Life Sciences.

When MCDB graduate Kristen Hanson passed away in 2012 at the age of 33, her friends Courtney Cochran, Sarah Wagman Ellenbogen, and Jennifer Cohen Bogan raised $25,000 to dedicate a bench at the UCLA Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden in her honor.

That experience inspired further philanthropy and the group then raised $100,000 to endow the Kristen Hanson Memorial Scholarship, which further extended Hanson’s legacy by awarding a scholarship to a Life Sciences student each year, chosen by a committee of faculty.

Trip to Miami 2008. Left to right: Kristen, Jennifer, Courtney and Sarah

“She was disarming, funny, stylish and sincere, but most impressive was her intellect,” says Courtney. “Kristen always had the courage to tackle subjects dominated by men: science, math, finance. And she did so without ever apologizing for being a woman or for being feminine.”

This award honors an undergraduate who exemplifies the many positive traits that Kristen embodied:

• academic accomplishment and a passion for science
• well-rounded interests
• leadership
• originality
• commitment to engage with the world