STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) -- Recipients of the 1999 Theressa Hoover Community Service and Global Citizen Award are planning research projects on environmental contaminants and linguistics.

The recipients were announced Oct. 18 by the Women's Division of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, which gives the awards.

Phyllis Williams, 34, of Jackson, Miss., will examine contaminated groundwater in Midwestern communities and consider how the pollution sources affect women, children and the poor. She will use the data to develop an educational booklet and film that churches or communities can use to develop environmental strategies.

Williams is an environmental engineer in training with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, and she focuses on groundwater protection.

Sally Andrews, 23, of Lincoln, Neb., plans to travel to Israel to study Arabic and research how one group of people uses language to dominate another. She will examine situations in which Arabic or Hebrew is used and how the speakers control those situations.

Andrews is a volunteer in mission in Bolivia, working as an English teacher and with a church day care and community-based health care program.