Senior Bailey Cate, who is pursuing an environmental studies major and an urban studies minor at Rhodes, has been awarded The Steve and Riea Lainoff Crop Trust Fellowship in Honor of Cary Fowler. The fellowship is made possible through the generosity of Steve and Riea Lainoff, parents of Rhodes graduates Brian Lainoff ’11 and Mark Lainoff ’15.
As a fellow, Cate will join the Partnerships team of the Global Crop Diversity Trust in Bonn, Germany, in August, depending on travel conditions at that time. The 12-month fellowship provides the opportunity for a recent graduate to develop an understanding of the Crop Trust’s work and the issues associated with agricultural biodiversity conservation. Previous fellows have assisted in planning conferences and events, developing communications materials, and even accompanying deposits to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
Some of Cate’s responsibilities will include conducting research on potential new donors to the Crop Trust, as well as assisting in the preparation of communication materials for the Partnerships team.
“I am extremely honored and excited to receive this fellowship. Having the ability to study both urban and environmental issues over the past four years has led me to become increasingly interested in the ways environmental issues affect human populations,” says Cate. “More specifically, I’ve become passionate about the ways in which urban planning and environmental policy can help mitigate environmental issues such as global climate change, air pollution, food security, and so on.”
Cate is an intern for the Memphis River Parks Partnership this semester, after also serving as a 2019 summer intern for programming there, creating and implementing community education programs such as Nature Week and Full Moon Kayaking. She helped to introduce more than 900 diverse Memphians to Memphis River Parks, as well as engaged with community members to seek input and advice to increase public green space utilization.
Prior to working for the Memphis River Parks Partnership, Cate had completed environmental internships in Nashville—one in 2017 for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and one in 2018 for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. Also in 2018, Cate studied German through the Freie Universität Berlin European Studies Program in Berlin.
A resident of Brentwood, TN, Cate is a member of the Rhodes Sustainability Coalition. “By participating in this fellowship with the Global Crop Diversity Trust, I’m eager to not only be able to help conserve the physical environment through the preservation of crop diversity, but also enhance human life through the assurance of food security worldwide.”