Five Graduate Students in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department Received National Awards for Research Efforts.
The Graduate Program in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (Dr. Christine Boake, Professor and Head) is among the strongest graduate programs in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. During the 2006-2007 academic year, five of their forty graduate students received six awards. All six awards are nationally competitive awards which are funded by major federal agencies (National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC-Canada).
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Mackenzie Taylor
"Reproductive Mechanisms within the Basal Angiosperm Cabomba (Nymphaeales)."
The duration of my award is 3 years of support over a 5 year period starting in Fall 2006.
EPA STAR Fellowship For Graduate Environmental Study (2006)
Amy Turmelle
“Rabies Disease Ecology in the Brazilian Free-Tailed Bat (Tadarida brasiliensis)”
Project Period: August 1, 2006 through May 1, 2009
NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada) Postgraduate Scholarship
Jean-Phillipe Lessard
“On the relative importance of phylogeny, regional abiotic processes, and behavioral interactions in determining ant community structure and success of biological invasions.”
Dates: May 2007-2008
This award is very rarely made to students outside Canada. It will make him very competitive for a 3-year award from the same agency.
NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grants (DDIGs)
Martin Nuñez
“Dissertation Research: Experiments on multiple factors affecting Pinaceae invasions on Isla Victoria, Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina.”
Dates: July 2007-June 2008
Colleen Iversen
“Dissertation Research: Will CO2-mediated increases in fine-root litter progressively decrease forest N availability by increasing N immobilization in soil organic matter?”
Dates: June 1, 2007 to May 31, 2009
Colleen Iversen was also recently named the Marvin L. Wesely Distinguished Graduate Research Fellow. This provides a supplement to the 3-year Global Change Education Program (GCEP), Graduate Research Environmental Fellowship (GREF) that she received from the Department of Energy in the fall of 2005 for a proposal entitled "CO2-mediated effects on N availability and potential N limitation of forest productivity and long-term carbon storage".