ASEEES Announces Maya K. Peterson Dissertation Research Grant in Environmental Studies

Publishing Date: 
Saturday, November 20, 2021

ASEEES announces the new Maya K. Peterson Dissertation Research Grant in Environmental Studies. Please consider donating to the fund. Below is the appeal from ASEEES members Andy Bruno and Sarah Cameron.


On June 16, 2021, Dr. Maya Karin Peterson tragically died in childbirth.  Her newborn daughter, Priya Luna, died a day later.  At the time of her death, Dr. Peterson was Associate Professor of History at the University of California at Santa Cruz and a leading scholar in the environmental history of Central Asia, Russia and the Soviet Union. She was also known for her sharp intellect, thorough research, and love of travel and adventure.  Her scholarship inspired others, and she was an unfailingly generous mentor of graduate students and junior scholars.

Dr. Peterson's untimely death is an enormous loss to her family, to our profession and to her many colleagues and friends in the field of Russian, East European and Eurasian studies and beyond.

As a means of honoring this trailblazing scholar and promoting future research in the environmental studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia, the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) has established the Maya K. Peterson Dissertation Research Grant in Environmental Studies.  This grant has been made possible by a generous donation from Dr. Peterson's family.  But we need your help! In order to support this grant and offer it immediately in 2022, we need to raise additional funds.  Please consider donating to the Maya K. Peterson Dissertation Research Grant in Environmental Studies Fund in her memory. For non-ASEEES friends and colleagues, you may contribute to the ASEEES Fund. Please be sure to indicate "In Memory" of Maya Peterson and the donations will be allocated to the right program. If you would like to donate by phone, please email aseees@pitt.edu and the ASEEES office will give you a call; or send a check payable to "ASEEES" to:

ASEEES
203C Bellefield Hall
University of Pittsburgh 
Pittsburgh, PA 15260-6424.