Students selected for inaugural Earlham-Ullberg Prize

Two Earlham College students have been selected for the inaugural Earlham-Ullberg Prize for Environmental Innovation in 2025. Momoko Nakata and Jenny Yakarta Perez Alejandres will both receive $12,000 and use it to learn how to address inequities in food systems and the fashion industry in bold, innovative ways.

For Nakata, the opportunity is personal, and has ties back to her home country of Japan.

“I mostly have eaten food from our cafeteria, but one day I made traditional Japanese food for myself,” recalls Nakata. “This inspired me because it made me start thinking about how I’ve been influenced by Japanese food systems and culture. Food is necessary for our lives, but the culture behind it should be respected.”

Focusing on the history of colonialism in East Asian food culture, Nakata wants to upset the balance of power by looking to the past for inspiration. Honoring traditional cultural norms and rituals with food, she feels, is a way to both upset the chokehold that colonialism has on the international food industry, and also address pressing issues for current food systems, such as climate change. Nakata plans to travel to Taiwan and her home country to study East Asian food systems and learn how to combine her anticolonialist beliefs with her culture to combat food system inequities.

Jenny Alejandres plans to focus on the fashion industry with her prize, and for her, this all started with an ugly dress and a challenge.

“I was thrift shopping with a friend and we found this outrageous dress,” Alejandres explains. “My friend challenged me to take the dress and make her a prom dress out of it.” The pair had their fun, but this sparked for Alejandres not just a fun memory, but a passion for sustainable fashion.

Alejandres wants to travel to Colombia, Mexico, and Bolivia to talk with leading design brands that are pushing the envelope with biodegradable textiles. She already knows how she wants to expand her project to include her own clothing brand. Indigenous cultures from Mexico already know how to work with textiles to make beautiful pieces that honor the environment rather than harm it. Alejandres’s hope is to take the shared knowledge of her roots and ancestors and make it modern. This can be done through pattern influences or textile choices. She also wants to make sure that the clothing workers she works with are treated fairly and that their designs aren’t stolen for profit. Other places she plans to travel to study the fashion industry include the Netherlands and France.

Both students were inspired by career coaches at Earlham’s Center for Career Education to apply for the prize.

About the Prize

Recipients of the award will spend a minimum of eight continuous weeks traveling outside of the United States between May 16 and August 20, 2025. The Prize is open to all majors and undergraduates.

In addition to the $12,000 and the trip, students are expected to return to the United States with a presentation detailing their findings and plans for taking what they learned and applying to environmental issues.

The Earlham-Ullberg Prize was inspired by the Watson Fellowship and created by Rohin Ullberg ’87in honor of his father’s legacy. Formally created in 2024, the Prize is spearheaded by a partnership between Earlham’s Center for Environmental Leadership and the Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Creativity. Ullberg has been an active Earlhamite and donor and wanted to honor his father’s legacy in environmental impact, which included a lifelong legal career that enabled him to help the Smithsonian Museum purchase land for environmental research.

With a focus on social entrepreneurship – leveraging entrepreneurial strategies for the greater good — the Earlham-Ullberg Prize works as a springboard for students. It helps them to identify entrepreneurial areas in need of support and innovation, and empowers them to turn their experiences into actionable projects.

“We want to encourage creativity and leverage social entrepreneurship for the greater good to address existential issues,” says Ullberg.

Applicants had to submit a personal statement and project proposal. They were encouraged to be bold and push the envelope while still remaining pragmatic about what’s realistically achievable.

“We want to nurture the next generation of environmental leaders,” says Gene Hambrick, who pitched the Prize to Earlham students. “This prize is for students who are led to advocate for the environment, value the search for ideas and information, enjoy exploring new places and connections, and like to think outside the box.”

“Rohin was generous enough to sponsor two winners this year,” added Gail Connerley, assistant vice president for development and committee member for the Earlham-Ullberg prize. “We’re grateful for his generosity and are inspired by Momoko and Jenny’s ideas and can’t wait to see how they come to fruition.”

Written by Jay Kibble, writer/editor for Earlham College Office of Marketing and Communications

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About Earlham College 

Earlham College and Earlham School of Religion foster a collaborative learning community that inspires and motivates students with transformative opportunities and experiences so they can become catalysts for good in a changing world. Located in Richmond, Indiana, Earlham is one of U.S. News & World Report’s Top 100 national liberal arts colleges and offers one of the top 20 classroom experiences in the nation, according to the Princeton Review.