Holy Cross Junior Receives Prize for Thesis During Semester in D.C.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Patrick Grogan, a member of the College of the Holy Cross class of 2011, has been selected by the College’s Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies as the 2009-10 fall semester’s Maurizio Vannicelli Washington Semester Away program award winner. He will present his thesis, “America’s shale gas: an economic and environmental analysis” on Wednesday, April 7 at 4 p.m. in the Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross.  The event is free and open to the public.

During his semester in Washington, D.C., Grogan interned at The Wilderness Society; an environmental organization that lobbies for land conservation, creates national parks and works to protect valuable ecological areas.  Grogan worked specifically on research related to state regulation of hydraulic fracturing, a technique used to increase the rate at which fluids, such as natural gas, can be produced from a reservoir.

“My thesis examines the different economic, environmental, and political considerations related to hydraulic fracturing and highlights what I believe to be the problems associated with the process,” says Grogan.  “Hydraulic fracturing is a topic of debate in the environmental community; many question its safety and its potential for contaminating drinking water as America transitions from conventional sources of energy, like coal and oil, to renewable sources, such as wind and solar power.  It will not happen overnight, but energy producers are interested in using hydraulic fracturing to drill for natural gas to ease this transition.”

Grogan, from Hudson, Mass., is an environmental studies major and was a member of Holy Cross’ track and field and cross country teams.

The Vannicelli Prize is awarded each semester in honor of the late Holy Cross political science professor and Washington Semester director, Maurizio Vannicelli, for the best research paper produced in the Washington Semester Away program. The recipient of the prize is accorded the opportunity to give a public lecture at the College on his or her thesis. In addition, the recipient receives a bound copy of the thesis and is presented the book award during commencement exercises.