Environmental Sciences Graduate Student Receives
Prestigious Scholarship
After graduating from the Louisiana School for
Math, Science, and the Arts, Baton Rouge native Tokesha
Collins went to Brown University and graduated with an engineering
degree. She came back to LSU to attend graduate school in
the School of the Coast & Environment’s Department
of Environmental Sciences (ENVS), where this spring she received
a master’s degree with a concentration in environmental
planning and management. This fall, she heads off to the
University of Maryland School of Law, where she will be
a prestigious Catherine Edwards Scholar in the Environmental
Law Program and work with internationally renowned environmental
law professor Robert Percival.
Collins master’s thesis, titled “An Analysis
of the Variables that Influence a Country’s Decision
to Ratify the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic
Pollutants,” was sparked by an article in the New
York Times about the pesticide DDT being used in a program
to prevent malaria in developing countries.
“I knew DDT was banned in the United States because
of its adverse environmental effects,” said Collins,
“and I wondered what factors weighed in the balance
between fighting malaria and the negative impacts of DDT
on people.” She found that although 90 countries had
ratified the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic
Pollutants, 100 had not ratified it. She wanted to know
what economic and social factors influenced a country’s
decision on treaty ratification.
“Poorer, autocratic countries with a malaria problem
have not ratified the treaty,” said Collins. “They
are too busy trying to deal with all the other problems
in their world.”
This research stoked her interest in international environmental
law.
Associate Professor Margaret Reams, Collins major professor
in ENVS, said, “Tokesha leaves the ENVS program well
situated to integrate environmental science, policy, and
law. Her undergraduate training in engineering and her graduate
studies in environmental planning and management have given
her a holistic orientation toward environmental challenges.
Her thesis addressed a complex and multi-disciplinary issue,
how do we fight malaria without using these very damaging
pesticides? This background gives Tokesha an excellent foundation
as she embarks on her training and eventual career in environmental
law.”
And what are Collins plans after she graduates from law
school? “I hope to become involved in environmental
justice issues. I want to be a voice for Louisiana in environmental
justice.”
