Abigail Matheny and her grandmother celebrate ARCS scholarship

When Abigail Matheny got news that she had received an ARCS scholarship, the first person she called was her grandmother.

Matheny, an environmental graduate student advised by Bill Arnold, was of course thrilled to receive the impressive scholarship from the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation. The two-year award totals $10,000 and can be spent as Matheny chooses, a rare situation in graduate funding. In addition to the monetary award, Matheny will benefit from opportunities in mentoring and networking.

While a honor for any student, the scholarship holds additional significance for Abigail Matheny. Her grandmother, Thea Stover, was a founding member of the ARCS chapter in Pittsburgh which was chartered in 2003. Matheny grew up in Pittsburgh and is close to her grandmother. She has fond memories of sleepovers with chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and trips to the science museum. Matheny’s grandmother often talked to her about ARCS and the young scholars they sponsored. So, Matheny knew what an honor it was to be an ARCS Scholar. “That connection makes this award especially meaningful to me,” said Matheny.

ARCS is an organization started and run by women. They give unrestricted funding to top STEM scholars. ARCS Foundation chapters support nearly 700 programs and departments at 50 leading research universities across the United States. Matheny and five other UMN graduate students were honored at the ARCS Scholar Award ceremony November 3, 2025, at the Cargill Building on the St. Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota.

Matheny thinks that in another time, her grandmother might have pursued scientific research. Matheny describes her grandmother as very smart, outgoing, involved and curious. Thea Stover put those characteristics to good use in her career as an elementary school teacher. She always supported her granddaughter in scientific pursuits. And Matheny says, “I love talking to my grandma, she asks insightful questions. She really understands and cares about what I am doing.” Thea was so very happy and proud to hear that her own granddaughter had been nominated for this scholarship. She sent Abigail a vintage ARCS scarf to mark the occasion.

Matheny’s passion for environmental protection grew as she began to understand Pittsburgh’s long history of pollution. “I developed a strong interest in its consequences,” explains Matheny, “and a strong desire to mitigate such contamination for the health of both the human and natural worlds.” Prior to beginning her research at UMN, Matheny spent nine months studying and researching water quality and pollution in Peru on a Fulbright Research award by the Fulbright U.S. Student Program which provides scholarships for American postgraduate students to study or perform research in a different country. 

Now at the University of Minnesota, Matheny studies cyanobacteria, which are present in all aquatic environments and have been on earth for billions of years. In particular conditions, cyanobacteria can experience considerable growth and give rise to harmful algal blooms. These blooms are expected to increase with climate change, leading to changes in the composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in natural waters. She notes that few studies have investigated how a future increase in these cyanobacterial algal blooms would change the way that pollutants or toxins degrade in water. The main objectives of her research project build on understanding both cyanobacteria and how environments are changing. “If we can quantitatively express future trends in surfacewater photochemistry,” says Matheny, “we can increase the accuracy of our models and facilitate robust decision making in the face of a rapidly changing climate. My research outcomes will provide evidence to support emerging environmental regulations and remediation strategies for the treatment of water contaminated with cyanobacteria and the harmful cyanotoxins they produce.” Understanding how harmful algal blooms affect our natural waters is important for the protection of all waters and water users.

And wouldn’t anybody’s grandmother be proud of that!