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Department of Environmental Biology
Graduate Study in EFB

Your decision to enter graduate study is a major step, and you owe it to yourself to do it right. Here we explain the key steps for applying to the graduate program in the Department of Environmental Biology.

The graduate program in environmental and forest biology is organized in areas of study designed to provide a strong background within specific interest areas. Faculty with nationally and internationally recognized expertise define the scope of subject matter within each study area, recommend acceptance of students, and guide them through a course of study appropriate to student goals and aspirations. Most students develop a degree of depth and specialization in at least one large taxonomic group, such as plants, fungi, vertebrates, or insects.

Areas of Study

M.S., M.P.S. or Ph.D. degrees may be earned in several areas:

Additional information on each of these areas of study is available by telephone, email or written request to any of the professors listed. Programs that bridge two or more areas may be developed by the student and steering committee.

Funding Opportunities

In addition to graduate assistantships, various awards are available to graduate students in environmental and forest biology. These include the Alexander Wetlands Award, the Betty Moore Chamberlaine Award, Henrietta and John Simeone Fellowship in Forest Entomology, the Robert L. Burgess Graduate Scholarship in Ecology, the Josiah L. Lowe – Hugh Wilcox Graduate Fellowship, the Leroy C. Stegeman Award, and the Robert Zabel Award. These awards are decided upon by a department committee selection process.

Graduate Awards & News

  • Michael Zarfos Whalen (Ph.D. student)
    • Robert L. Burgess Outstanding Doctoral Scholar Award - "Burgess Scholar" - SUNY ESF EFB. $800. 2020.
    • Grant supporting open access publication in Plant and Soil. New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. $3,760. 2019.
  • Hajar Faal-Mohammad-Ali
    • Gerald N. Lanier Memorial Award in Forest Entomology and Chemical Ecology ($450). 2020.
    • ESF Graduate Student Travel Grant ($400) Service Award, NY State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation FORCES program. 2019.
    • Alumni Association Student Grant ($250). ESF Graduate Student Travel Grant ($100). The Edna Bailey Sussman Foundation Internship ($7350) + Exceptional Merit Award ($2650). 2018.
    • Alumni Association Student Grant ($500). Gerald N. Lanier Memorial Award in Forest Entomology and Chemical Ecology ($550). ESF Graduate Student Travel Grant ($400). Graduate Student Association Spring 2017 Research Grant ($490). 2017.
    • Savel B. Silverborg Memorial Scholarship Award in forest pathology ($1140). ESF Graduate Student Travel Grant ($500). 2016.
  • Jordon Tourville
    • Received the Botanical Society of America Graduate Student Research Award as well as the New York Flora Association Annual Research Award. 2019.
  • Teresa Rose Osborne (Ph.D. student, R. Rundell, mp)
    • Attended the annual national meeting of the American Malacological Society (held virtually this year). She earned an Honorable Mention in the Constance Boone student presentation competition, which comes with a $500 award.
    • Wilford A. Dence Fellow, EFB Dept. fellowship. 01/2020.
    • LeRoy C. Stegeman Endowment in Invertebrate Ecology Award Winner, EFB Dept. award. 05/2019.
    • Graduate Student Travel Grant for travel expenses to participate in the Evolution 2019 meeting of American Society of Naturalists, Society for the Study of Evolution, and Society of Systematic Biologists. 04/2019 - 06/2019.
    • Nominee, Graduate Student Association Excellence in Teaching Award. 04/2019.
    • Office of Instruction and Graduate Studies Graduate Student Travel Grant for travel expenses to participate in the Evolution 2019 meeting of American Society of Naturalists, Society for the Study of Evolution, and Society of Systematic Biologists. 02/2019 - 06/2019.
    • Graduate Student Association Senate Research Grant for equipment required for dissertation fieldwork expenses in Belau (Republic of Palau, Oceania). 04/2018 - 09/2018.
    • Alumni Association Grant for travel between islands of Belau (Republic of Palau, Oceania). 12/2016 - 08/2018.
    • Graduate Student Travel Grant for travel expenses to participate in the International Biogeographic Society 8th Biennial Conference. 10/2016.
    • Conchologists of America Academic Grant for dissertation fieldwork expenses in Belau (Republic of Palau, Oceania). 05/2016 - 08/2018.
  • Toby Liss, (Ph.D. student, D. Leopold, mp)
    • Received the Phipps Botany in Action Fellowship in both 03/2018 and 03/2019, $5,000 each time, to fund research expenses.
    • Has been advised she is this year's recipient of the Philadelphia Botanical Society's Bayard Long Award for $1000.00 to support her doctoral research. Congratulations to Toby. 1/23/18.
  • Hadis Miraly, (PhD student, R.Razavi and K, Limburg, mp) was awarded the Carl Sullivan Travel Award from the International Fisheries Section of the American Fisheries Society. The grant, $500, will help to defray her costs of attending the 6th International Otolith Symposium in Keelung, Taiwan, this April. Congratulations to Hadis! 12/29/17.
  • Teresa Rose Osborne (Ph.D. student, R. Rundell, mp) recently placed 1st at the GSA Presentation Competition on 11/30/17. Congratulations also to Vernon Coffey, (M.S. student, W. Powell, mp) who placed 3rd. 12/1/17.
  • Chellby Kilheffer (Ph.D. student, B. Underwood, mp) recently was awarded an ESF Alumni Association Student Travel Grant to support her travel to the Virginia Sea Grant Graduate Symposium - February 2nd to 8th, 2018 in Glen Allen, VA. Chellby will be reporting on her doctoral dissertation research that was partially supported by her Virginia Sea Grant/NOAA Mid-Atlantic Coastal Storms Graduate Research Fellowship. Congratulations Chellby. 11/27/17.
  • Adam Bleau (M.S. student, J. Cohen and M. Schummer, co-advisors) has recently won second place in the Best Student Poster category at The Wildlife Society annual meeting in Albuquerque, N.M. Congratulations Adam. 10/27/17.
  • Lisanne Petracca (Ph.D. student, J. Frair, mp) recently published one of her dissertation chapters ("Robust inference on large-scale species habitat use with interview data: The status of jaguars outside protected areas in Central America") in the Journal of Applied Ecology to much fanfare. It appears that this paper is EFB's "most read" paper last month on ResearchGate. She also was invited by the journal editor to submit a blog post on the article in "The Applied Ecologist's Blog". Congratulations to Lisanne for publishing this paper in such a prestigious outlet and for the attention her paper has already received. 10/27/17.
  • Teresa Rose Osborne (Ph.D. student, R. Rundell, mp) was just selected as recipient for the 2017 Melbourne R. Carriker Student Research Awards in Malacology for her proposal: "Impacts of microhabitat on land snail body size evolution." The award is for $965.00 This is the latest of numerous College and National Awards earned by Teresa Rose during her Ph.D. program here. Congratulations to Teresa Rose for her ongoing success in her graduate program. 10/13/17.
  • Patty Kaishian (Ph.D. student, A. Weir, mp) recently returned from IX Latin American Mycological Congress (IX Congress Latinoamericano de Micologia) held in Lima, Peru where she presented a poster entitled "New Species of Prolixandromyces (Laboulbeniales) from South America". Her poster was one of eight chosen (out of approximately 200) for "best poster" at the meeting. Congratulations to Patty on receiving this recognition. 9/7/17.
  • Dr. Sara Turner (Ph.D. graduate, K. Limburg, mp) has just won the American Fisheries Society's Emerging Leaders Award at AFS's annual national meeting, this year in Tampa, FL. Sara was selected as an early career professional who the AFS has identified as someone who will be an important leader within the society in the future. 8/23/17.
  • Teresa Rose Osborne (Ph.D. student, R. Rundell, mp) was just awarded a highly competitive $5,000.00 grant from the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research (American Philosophical Society. This grant will support Rose's research on the evolution of body size in Belau land snails. Congratulations to Rose for this national distinction! 5/25/17.
  • Dr. Allison Oakes - post-doc with Dr. Bill Powell on the American Chestnut was recognized as at AT&T STEM Women of the Year for her Chestnut Revitalization Project and expertise in genetically engineered horticulture that helps solve problems associated with the environment. She was nominated by the Partners for Education & Business, Inc. in Syracuse, NY. Allison was also noted as a champion of promoting her projects through community outreach and involvement with schools/students. Allison will be formally recognized at an awards event on June 7th. 5/24/17.
  • Joanna Isadora Lumbsden-Pinto (Ph.D. student - J. Gibbs, mp)
    • has been awarded the ESF Tropical Social Forestry Scholarship. This scholarship, $2000.00 this year, provides support to ESF graduate students who are working in research or service projects focusing on the use and management of tropical and subtropical forests, forest ecosystems, and associated natural resources for the benefit of local people and their communities. Joanna's successful proposal is for forest restoration monitoring work in the Azuero peninsula of Panama. 5/16/17.
    • Joanna Lumbsden-Pinto receives NY Flora Research Award ($750) to study vegetation changes in Long Island Pine Barrens.
  • Tomasz Falkowski (Ph.D. student - S. Diemont, mp) has been selected to receive the Bristol-Myers Squibb Sustainability Fellowship to work with the Lacandon Maya of Chiapas, Mexico, to develop an agroforestry plan for the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, the topic of his dissertation. Tomasz will receive a $15,000.00 stipend to help fund his final year of Ph.D. study. 5/16/17.
  • Toby Liss (Ph.D. student - D. Leopold, mp) received notification of being named the 2017 Paula Sculley Scholar from the Garden Club of Allegheny County for her doctoral plant-focused research. 5/8/17.
  • Alison Kocek (Ph.D. student - J. Cohen, mp) has been selected for the Roy W. Glahn Memorial Scholarship award. She will receive a check for $750.00 to support her doctoral research on marsh species. 4/5/17.
  • 2017 Sussman Awards were presented to the following students: Mariano Arias (M. Dovciak), Maureen Durkin (J. Cohen), Megan Gallagher (S. Farrell), Aimee Hudon (T. Horton), Colin Mettey (G. McGee), Jim Molloy (D. Leopold), Alex Petzke (D. Leopold), Brian Radcliffe (M. Collins/R. Kimmerer) and Yang Yang (R. Yanai/D. Parry). MP's. and co-mp's are in parentheses. Each student will be awarded the full $7350.00 for their summer internships. 3/28/17.
  • Tomasz Falkowski (Ph.D. student - S. Diemont, mp) has been awarded the 2017 Garden Club of America's Fellowship in Ecological Restoration for his doctoral research. The award for this national competition this year is $8000.00. Tomasz's research is "Assessing the Potential of Lacandon Maya Agroforestry for Ecosystem Service Restoration in the Lacandon Rainforest of Chiapas, Mexico." 3/21/17.
  • Toby Liss (Ph.D. student - D. Leopold, mp) was awarded The Botany in Action Fellowship at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh, PA. This fellowship program is intended to support emerging plant-focused scientists through research grants and science communication training. The award of $5000.00 was based on Toby's winning proposal titled: The Role of Plant Assemblage Diversity in Evaportranspiration: A Novel Application to Enhance Green Roof Function. 3/20/17.
  • Colin Mettey (M.S. student - Gregory McGee, mp) was awarded $1000.00 by the ESF Alumni Association to support his research thesis. 12/1/16.
  • Theresa Rose Osborne (PhD student - Rebecca Rundell, mp) was awarded a $500.00 ESF Alumni Association grant to help support her doctoral research. 11/30/16.
  • Leah Nagel (M.S. student - J. Gibbs, mp) Is one of five recipients this year for The Garden Club of America Fellowship in Ecological Restoration. Leah is working with the NY Natural Heritage Program and NYS DEC to develop rapid-assessment protocols to assess vernal pool quality in natural and restored systems. This work will help to evaluate the effectiveness of wetland mitigation efforts and prioritize vernal pools for conservation. The fellowship is $8000. 11/1/16.
  • Teresa Rose Osborne (PhD student - Rebecca Rundell, mp) was awarded Best Speed Talk at the American Museum of Natural History Student Conference in Conservation Science (New York City 2016) for her work on land snail habitat selection and physiology. 10/24/16.
  • Giuseppe Tumminello (M.S student - Melissa Fierke, Tim Volk, co-mps) won second place for his oral presentation (Agricultural and Forest Entomology: Pollinators" session) on Pollinators on Willows at the International Congress of Entomology held recently in Orlando FL in October. There were 30+ in attendance at the session and over 6000 people at the meeting. 10/17/16.
  • Sam Peterson (MS student - J. Frair, mp) has received a $2000 grant from the American Wildlife Conservation Foundation for his study entitled “Assessing habitat quality to estimate carrying capacity of moose in the Adirondack Park.” 9/15/16.
  • Melvin Samson, (PhD student - K. Limburg, mp), was awarded the Best Student Poster by the Water Quality Section of the American Fisheries Society yesterday during the 146th annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society in Kansas City. Melvin's poster is titled, "Tracking Hypoxia Exposure in Yellow Perch with Otolith Chemistry: Spatial Variation in Lake Erie." Karin was his co-author. 8/24/16.
  • Michelle Peach, (PhD student - J. Cohen/J. Frair co-mps), recently won the Cooper Ornithological Society Board of Directors Student Paper Award for her presentation at the North American Ornithological Conference held last week in Washington, DC. This conference, held every four years, had 2,000 in attendance with 14 concurrent sessions. Michelle’s talk was entitled, “Single-visit dynamic occupancy models: An approach to account for imperfect detection with Atlas data”. 8/24/16.
  • Andy Newhouse, (PhD student. W. Powell, mp), recently won the best poster award at the joint Schatz Tree Genetics Colloquium and annual meeting of The American Chestnut Foundation. The title of his presentation was "Blight resistant transgenic American chestnut: On the starting blocks for government regulatory hurdles." 11/03/15.
  • Amanda Pachomski (MS student, McNulty, mp) won a $500 Graduate Travel Award from the Spatial Ecology & Telemetry Working Group to attend the 2015 Wildlife Science conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba in October. Her application to present her research on Rusty Blackbirds was ranked "outstanding". She will author an article for the working group's newsletter. 9/16/15.
  • Chris Nack (Ph.D student - K. Limburg, mp - ) has been awarded The Hudson River Foundation's $16,000 Mark Bain Graduate Fellowship, for his proposal “Evaluating the impacts of large storm events on the early life stages of American shad”.This award adds to Chris' recent success in obtaining a WRI grant ($10 K) for his dissertation research. As a MS student, also under Karin's direction, Chris received $40 K from NOAA, and with Karin received $110 K from Riverkeeper and the DEC's Hudson River Estuary Program. 6/16/15.
  • "Historical and Projected Changes in Spawning Phenologies of American Shad and Striped Bass in the Hudson River Estuary," was chosen to receive the award for Best Paper in Marine and Coastal Fisheries for 2019.
  • C.J. Robinson (MS student) was awarded a Theodore Gordon Flyfishers Founders Fund scholarship for $3,500 from the Hudson River Environmental Consortium of Colleges & Universities. CJ's project is titled "Role of Recreation in the Distribution and Prevalence of Amphibian Chytrid Fungus (Bd) in Adirondack Mountains of New York." He'll present his work at the consortium's fall meeting. The scholarship is offered to a single recipient who has demonstrated excellence and outstanding dedication in an area of study that falls within an environmental field of a school or department. 6/1/2015.
  • Jesse Czekanski-Moir (PhD student) has been accepted into the MBL Woods Hole Molecular Evolution Workshop for this summer, the premiere program of its kind in the world. Jesse has also been offered the opportunity to train in a genomics lab this coming Fall semester in genomics and bioinformatics techniques in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at University of Arizona in Tucson. 5/2015.
  • Camille Warner (PhD student) has been given a $1000 Student Grant Award from the Society of Wetland Scientists. This funding will be used for a portion of Camille’s doctoral research, Harnessing the Interaction of Plants and Bacteria in Wetland Systems to Remediate Trichloroethylene Contaminated Groundwater. 5/2015.
  • Chellby Kilheffer (PhD student) was awarded $2000 from the American Wildlife Conservation Foundation for her study of deer and Hurricane Sandy impacts to beach vegetation recovery on Fire Island National Seashore. 5/2015.
  • Grete Bader (MS student) was awarded $500 from the NYS Wetlands Forum and $2000 from the American Orchid Society to help cover her thesis research expenses. She is studying a significant population of numerous species of terrestrial orchids on the Benson mine tailings near Star Lake. 4/2015.
  • Geoff Griffiths (PhD student) was awarded the Garden Club of America (GCA) 2015 Fellowship in Ecological Restoration for his doctoral research "Engaging citizen scientists in restoration of understory vascular plant and pollinator assemblages. This nationally-competitive fellowship includes a check for $8000.00. 3/2015.
  • Amanda Cheeseman (PhD student) received a $550.00 travel grant from the World Lagomorph Society to assist her in attending the International Wildlife Management Congress in Sapporo, Japan, where she will present her invited talk. This is part of a symposium on lagomorph ecology. 3/2015.
  • Melissa Althouse (MS student) was accepted for her oral presentation and received a travel award of $200 from the Waterbird Society Annual Conference in La Paz, Mexico in November 2014. 9/2014.
  • Allison Kocek (MS student) was accepted for her oral presentation and received a travel award of $200 from the Waterbird Society Annual Conference in La Paz, Mexico in November 2014. 9/2014.
  • Maureen Durkin (PhD student) was accepted for her oral presentation and received a travel award of $250 from the Waterbird Society Annual Conference in La Paz, Mexico in November 2014. 9/2014.
  • Michelle Stantial (MS student)
    • 43rd Annual Meeting, Waterbird Society, Best Student Paper in Conservation Award Princess Anne. 11/2019.
    • 2019 Wilford A. Dence Fellowship Award. 4/2019.
    • 2019 Burgess Outstanding Doctoral Scholar. 4/2019.
    • Office of Instruction and Graduate Studies (OIGS) Travel Award. 1/2019.
    • Was accepted for her oral presentation and received a travel award of $200 from the Waterbird Society Annual Conference in La Paz, Mexico in November 2014. 9/2014.
  • Tom Evans (PhD student) was awarded a Mark B. Bain Graduate Fellowship by the Hudson River Foundation. His proposal titled "Understanding Ammocoete Movement and Population Ecology" won him this prestigious fellowship of a $15000.00 stipend and $1000.00 worth of expenses. 8/2014.
  • Dan Gurdak (PhD student) was awarded an EPA STAR Fellowship. He has been working on the conservation of the giant arapaima in the Amazon. 8/2014.
  • Grete Bader (MS Student) received $500.00 from the Phi Kappa Honor Society to use toward soil analyses for her M.S. thesis research, "Plant functional traits and mycorrhizal interactions along a stress gradient on iron mine tailings in Star Lake, NY" 7/2014.
  • Andrea Thomen (MS Student) was awarded a scholarship of $2578.00 from the Smithsonian Mason School of Conservation toward attendance of their course, "The Ecology and Conservation of Migratory Birds", starting in September, 2014. 7/2014.
  • Katrina Alger (MS Student) is the recipient of the Donald H. Rusch Memorial Game Bird Research Scholarship - $2000, for her work on wild turkey disease "Diagnosis and Surveillance of Lymphoproliferative Disease Virus (LPDV) in Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) in New York State". 6/2014.
  • Kristen Haynes, (PhD Student) who in collaboration with the Beyond Ktaadn, Inc. Organization will receive $5000 from the ADK Highpeaks Foundation for her dissertation research to examine the conservation genetics of the federally-listed Boots rattlesnake root in the alpine of the Northeast. 6/2014.
  • Amanda Cheeseman (MS Student) was awarded Best Poster at the American Society of Mammalogists meeting for her poster, "Survival and home range of New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis) in response to hunting, competition and habitate composition." 6/2014.
  • Tess Youker (MS Student) was awarded a research grant from the ESF Graduate Student Association. 5/2014.
  • Amanda Pachomski (MP Student) was awarded a research grant from the ESF Graduate Student Association. 5/2014.
  • Chris Foelker (MP Student) has his presentation recognized at the annual Entomological Society Meeting in Austin, TX. Chris received 1st place among students for his oral presentation: Spatial colonization patterns of the European woodwasp, Sirex noctillo, at a pine plantation in the Adirondacks - (Foelker, Parry, Whipps, Fierke). This meeting is attended by 3000 entomologists from around the country as well as internationally. 11/2013.
  • Georgia Keene (MP Student) received 2nd place for her poster at the annual Entomological Society Meeting in Austin, TX. : Spatial ecology, phenology and dispersal of the threatened barrens buck moth, Hemileuca maia (Drury), in a fragmented pine-oak barren - (Keen, Parry, Underwood and Gifford). This meeting is attended by 3000 entomologists from around the country as well as internationally. 11/2013.
  • Andrea Thomen (MS Student) has been awarded $1500 by the Neotropical Bird Club to pursue her project, "Evaluating avian assemblages in Dominican cacao farms: Implications for management and conservation". 11/2013.
  • Becky Fuda (PhD Student) has been awarded $400 by Idea Wild towards research costs on her project, "Large Carnivore Conservation in Murchison Falls Conservation Area, Uganda: Assessing Human Impacts and Attitudes". 11/2013.
  • Jon Cale (PhD student) won the award for the best graduate student presentation at the 73rd annual meeting of the Northeastern Division of the American Phytopathological Society on October 24th, 2013; his oral presentation was "A proposed new model for beech bark disease development in aftermath forests". This prize included $1000 award to attend the next national meeting of the parent society in Minneapolis - Summer 2014, a beautiful wooden plaque and a free subscription to one of the society's journals. 10/2013.
  • Jill Mandel (MS student) was awarded a $600 grant from the Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research program for her research "A historical survey of the chemical ecology of great blue herons (Ardea herodias) in the northeastern United States." 4/2013.

  • Stephanie Smith (MPS student) received a Rosen Fellowship that will grant her the opportunity to conduct a medical ethnobotany study in Panama.  Specifically Stephanie will be conducting research with women from the Ngobe and the Guna tribes of Panama, exploring indigenous health systems from a female perspective in an attempt to conserve and preserve local customs, while transcending gender bias in research.  4/2013.

  • Michelle Avis (MS student) was awarded the Frances M. Peacock Scholarship from the Garden Club of America for her proposal, “Automated Telemetry for Tracking Breeding Piping Plovers.” 4/2013.

  • Derek Crane (PhD student) received notification from the Niagara Greenway Ecological Standing Committee that his proposal, “Quantifying relationships between fish assemblages and nearshore habitat characteristics of the Niagara River,” co-written with EFB Adjunct Faculty Dr. Kevin Kapuscinski, will be funded for $801,436. 3/2013.
  • Patrick Raney (PhD student) received a $1200 award from the A.V. Stout Fund administered by The Norcross Wildlife Foundation. This award is to be used to help support the portion of Patrick’s dissertation research that is examining stands of balsam fir and eastern white pine in fens relative to climate change. 3/2013.
  • Elaina Burns (MS student) was recently awarded $5000 for her research on translocating otters in the Finger Lakes region, through SUNY Potsdam’s Walker Fellowship Program. 3/2013.
  • Silvia Saldivar Bellassai (MS student) received a conservation grant ($1000) from the Sequoia Park Zoo in support of her upcoming field research on the Chacoan peccary in Paraguay. 3/2013.
  • Michelle Avis (MS student) was awarded a $1,500 equipment grant for her proposal “Automated Telemetry for Tracking Piping Plover Movements” from The Goldenrod Foundation, a conservation nonprofit in Massachusetts. 2/2013.
  • Eric Bauer (MS student) was awarded an ESF Graduate Student Travel Grant ($300) to participate in the ASP Conference, being held June 2013, in Quebec, Canada. 2/2013.
  • Andrew Brainard (PhD student) was awarded an ESF Graduate Student Travel Grant ($400) to participate in the ESA Conference, being held August 2013, in Minneapolis, MN. 2/2013.
  • Elaina Burns (MS student) received an ESF Graduate Student Travel Grant ($250) to participate in the NFW Conference, being held April 2013, in Saratoga Springs, NY. 2/2013.
  • Anna Calderon (MS student) received an ESF Graduate Student Travel Grant ($400) to participate in the EOAW Workshop, being held April 2013, in Front Royal, VA. 2/2013.
  • Derek Crane (PhD student) received an ESF Graduate Student Travel Grant ($400) to participate in the AFS Conference, being held September 2013, in Little Rock, AR. 2/2013.
  • Maureen Durkin (MS student) was awarded an ESF Graduate Student Travel Grant ($500) to participate in the WS Conference, being held September 2013, in Wilhelmshaven, Germany. 2/2013.
  • Will Helenbrook (PhD student) was awarded an ESF Graduate Student Travel Grant ($300) to participate in the ASP Conference, being held in June in Quebec, Canada. 2/2013.
  • Emily Ogburn (MS student) received an ESF Graduate Student Travel Grant ($300) to participate in the ASP Conference, being held in June in Quebec, Canada. 2/2013.
  • Silvia Saldivar (MS student) was awarded an ESF Graduate Student Travel Grant ($500) to participate in the DPM-BCP Conference, being held in August in Asuncion, Paraguay. 2/2013.
  • Chris Foelker (PhD student) received a Fall 2013 GSA Travel Grant award. 2/2013.
  • Shannon Buckley (MS student) received a Fall 2013 GSA Travel Grant award. 2/2013.
  • Juan Carlos Alvarez (Ph.D. student) received an all expense paid invitation to a three day workshop entitled "Next Generation of Sonoran Desert Research" to be held at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson this April 18-20. The purpose of the workshop is to develop collaborative relationships among scientists, especially young investigators, working in the Sonora region. 2/2012.
  • Geof Eckerlin (Ph.D. student) and Christina Killouhy (MS student) received recognition at the annual NYS American Fisheries Society Meeting in Lake Placid last week. Geof was invited to speak and sat on a panal American bass experts and sat on a panal with three top North American bass experts. Christina won the Best Student Paper Award for her presentation "Does nest site selection and habitat affinity mediate egg predation risk for sympatric sunfishes?". 2/2012.
  • Kevin Kapuscinski (post-doc) and Derek Crane (Ph.D student) were awarded a grant for $519,246 to study fish habitat restoration in the Buffalo Harbor and Niagara River. Funding is from the Habitat Enhancement and Restoration Fund associated with the Niagara Power Project relicensing. 2/2012.
  • Patrick Raney (Ph.D. student) received one of the professional enhancement awards ($700) supported by NASA and Michagan State University to assist him in attending the Annual Symposium of the US Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology in Newport, Rhode Island from April 8-12, 2012. Patrick will present "Deployment Considerations for Micrologger Networks in Regions of High Topographic Complexity: Insights from Northeastern and Southern Appalachian Mountains" (J. Fridley and D. Leoplod, co-authors). 2/2012.
  • Anna Stewart (PhD student) was awarded an Alumni Association Memorial Scholarship ($1000 award) based on her outstanding achievements, commitment to extracurricular activities, and outstanding character.
  • Marvin Montefrio (PhD student) was awarded an Alumni Association Memorial Scholarship ($1000 award) based on his outstanding achievements, commitment to extracurricular activities, and outstanding character.
  • Jacob Gillette (PhD student) was awarded a National Science Foundation Doctoral Improvement Grant for $15,000 to help him finish his dissertation research. Congratulations to Jake for earning this significant recognition. 3/2011.

  • Sara Hansen (MS student) was awarded the "Outstanding Graduate Student" award by the New York chapter of The Wildlife Society at their annual meeting. Sara's research focuses on producing a statewide population estimate for coyotes in New York State using a combination of vocalization surveys and distance sampling. 3/2011.

  • Joie Matillano (MS student) received a grant from the Rufford Small Grants Foundation to support his studies on freshwater fishes of Palawan in the Philippines. He will receive $9,486 to help wrap up his thesis research, Biodiversity of Cyprinid Fishes of Northern Palawan. 1/2011.

  • Chengjun Zhu (PhD student) tied for second place in the recent Eastman Chemical Company award competition. Chengjun received an award of $750. 11/2010.

  • Anna Stewart (PhD student) was selected as one of the International Center of Syracuse’s CNY International Citizen Award Honorees of 2010. Anna is being recognized with the International Student Leadership Award for her outstanding leadership as an exemplary citizen diplomat. 11/2010.
  • Joie Matillano (MS student) received an award at the Student Conference on Conservation Science held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City for being among the best talks. His talk was entitled "Conservation Status of Cyprinids from Palawan Philippines”. Given that acceptance into the meeting was quite competitive and that the meeting involved a large and talented pool of graduate students, recent post-doctoral fellows, as well as early-career professionals, that our M.S. students received these honors is quite significant. 11/2010.
  • Meredith Atwood (MS student) received an award at the Student Conference on Conservation Science held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City for being among the best posters for her poster: “Bottom-Up Influences on Vernal Pools and Anuran Development.” Given that acceptance into the meeting was quite competitive and that the meeting involved a large and talented pool of graduate students, recent post-doctoral fellows, as well as early-career professionals, that our M.S. students received these honors is quite significant. 11/2010.
  • Jonathan Cale (MS student) was awarded 3rd place at the recent annual Society of American Foresters Student Poster Contest in Albuquerque, NM. Congratulations to Jonathan and his co-authors. The poster title was: “Beech thickets impact northern hardwood forest biodiversity.” Jon's poster will be printed in the Journal of Forestry. 11/2010.
  • Caitlin Snyder (MS student) was awarded a 2010 Walker Fellowship from SUNY Potsdam's Center for Lifelong Education and Recreation for her proposal "Nonnative earthworm impacts on woodland salamanders and their native prey: Implications for Adirondack forest health". The award enables Cait to acquire a specialized digital microscope and equipment to compare the invertebrates eaten by salamanders using a non-harmful diet sampling technique called lavage. 10/2010
  • Caitlin Snyder (MS student) received a Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Grant from the American Museum of Natural History (a fitting connection to ESF). Cait will use the grant to study the influence of a calcium gradient on the diet, habitat, and abundance of woodland salamanders. 10/2010
  • Kevin Jablonski (MS student) published a paper in the December 2010 issue of The Wilson Journal of Ornithology titled "A Digital Spot-mapping Method for Avian Field Studies." Kevin completed the manuscript during his graduate program studying Adirondack boreal bird and habitat associations with coauthors Stacy McNulty of EFB and Matthew Schlesinger of the New York Natural Heritage Program. 09/2010
  • Daniel Gurdak (Ph.D. student) has been awarded a National Geographic Society Young Explorers grant for $5,000 to support a portion of his dissertation research "Nesting habit of Arapaima in the Amazonian floodplains of the Santarem region of Brazil." 09/2010.
  • Jason Townsend (Ph.D. student) won best student oral presentation at the Association of Field Ornithologists Annual Meeting. The title of his presentation was "Catharus thrushes as bioindicators of mercury hotpots: from the Catskills to the Caribbean." 08/2010.
  • Lauren Goldmann (PhD student) was the presentor of one of the 18 winning posters (out of 1142) at the International Mycological Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland. The poster was entitled "Position specificity of Laboulbeniales: a molecular approach to resolution of a century old debate." 08/2010.
  • Yazmin Rivera (Ph.D. student) was recently awarded a tuition scholarship and stipend to attend a workshop on population genetics at the University of Washington. The workshop will give her additional tools to conduct her research on the population genetics of fungi.
  • Meredith Atwood (MS student) recently received two awards: a research grant ($1,000) from the Society of Wetland Scientists for her work, "Evaluating the influence of leaf litter and soil type on vernal pool trophic systems and larval wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) development" and a scholarship ($750) from the Central New York Air and Waste Management Association, based on demonstrated commitment to the environment, involvement, and academics.
  • Jason Townsend (Ph.D. student) was selected to receive the Lynds Jones Award for best poster presentation at the Wilson Ornithological Society’s recent annual meeting. Jason’s presentation was titled: "Mercury bioaccumulation in Catharus thrushes along an elevational gradient."
  • Chengjun Zhu (MS graduate student) was recently awarded a travel grant by the American Society of Microbiology to attend the Society’s national meeting in San Diego, CA. The award was based on the quality and caliber of a submitted abstract.
  • Katie Haase (Brian Underwood, MP) has been awarded a "newcomers" travel grant to the North American Moose conference in Int'l Falls, Minnesota in June. Katie will be presenting her thesis work and will have a paper (with Brian) published in Alces, the journal for the society. The manuscript was part of the application process, so with some tweaking, she'll have her first paper published before she receives a copy of her bound thesis, a rare accomplishment for a MS student in our program.
  • Brooke Reeve (Ph.D. student) was recently notified that her proposal to Sigmi Xi's Grants-in-Aid of Research program has been funded to support her graduate research. Only about 20% of proposals submitted were funded.
  • Anna Stewart (Ph.D. student) was recently notified that her proposal to Sigmi Xi's Grants-in-Aid of Research program has been funded to support her graduate research. Only about 20% of proposals submitted were funded.
  • Anna Stewart (Ph.D. student) has just received a Fulbright llE Fellowship for this coming academic year. This fellowship will provide Anna with full funding for 10 months of work in Ecuador. Congratulations to Anna for receiving this national recognition.
  • Juan Carlos Alvarez Yepiz (Ph.D. student) awarded PLACA (Program on Latin America and the Caribbean) Summer Research Grants. Juan Carlos will use this grant to include stable isotope techniques in his dissertation research on ecology and conservation of a rare cycad species, Dioon sonorense, in Mexico.
  • Anna Stewart (Ph.D. student) was awarded PLACA (Program on Latin America and the Caribbean) Summer Research Grants. Funding to Anna will assist her dissertation research in Ecuador.
  • Patrick Raney (Ph.D. student) has been awarded a $5,000 grant from the National Geographic Society's Young Explorers program in support of his dissertation research "Climatic buffering in temperate zone fens, implications for climate change."
  • Patrick Eager (M.S. student) has been awarded second place in the Phylogenetics I Division (Student Competition for the President's Prize) at the annual Entomological Society of America meeting held in November 2009 in Indianapolis for his oral presentation "Investigating the Sirex noctilio parasitoid complex in New York State."
  • Kathleen Pitcher (M.S. student) won the best poster award at this year’s Mycological Society of America annual meeting (2009) in Snowbird, Utah, for her work on the population structure of the ectomycorrhizal fungus Suillus spraguei.
  • Jake Wickham (Ph.D. student) has been awarded a NSF International Research Fellowship in the amount of $200,000 to support his continued research in China. The award is for two years, effective January 1, 2010.
  • Anna Stewart (Ph.D. student) has received one of the two American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) Emerging Public Policy Leader Awards. Anna was chosen for her past accomplishments, dissertation and professional goals, and promise for continued leadership at the interface of science and public policy.