The department extends its warmest congratulations to this year’s BGSA award and grant winners. A huge thanks goes to our faculty advisors, Karen Bjorndal and Jamie Gillooly, for their guidance in reviewing and ranking applications, as well as Marta Wayne and John Dew for their help organizing the funding for the awards/grants. Here are all of this year’s award and grant winners by category:
Department of Biology Graduate Student Mentoring Award – Lisa David and Anthony Melton
Department of Biology Graduate Student Paper Award – Ayush Saxena
Department of Biology Graduate Student Teaching Award – Kelsey Lewis
Department of Biology Graduate Student Service Award – Cody Howard
Carrie Lynn Yoder Scholarship for Plant Ecology and Conservation Research in Florida – Ayress Grinage, “Sabal palms of the Southeastern United States”
Carrie Lynn Yoder Scholarship for Plant Ecology and Conservation Research in Florida – Taliesin Kinser, “The structure and the past and current drivers of biodiversity in a global biodiversity hotspot (North American Coastal Plains)”
Davis Graduate Fellowship in Botany – Lindsey Riibe, “West Indian Polystichum (Dryopteridaceae): evolution in a Neotropical island system”
H. Jane Brockmann Graduate Research Award – Sarah Kurtis, “Experimentally testing the adaptive importance of crypsis in Eastern Screech-Owls”
Michael L. May Research Grants – Maria Cortez, “Elucidating the past floristic history of Brazil’s campos rupestres to help preserve its future”
Michael L. May Research Grants – Cody Howard, “The progression of aridity in Africa and its effects on plant evolution”
Michael L. May Research Grants – Anna Becker, “Phylogenomic investigation of endemic Hawaiian blueberries: An excellent opportunity to study evolutionary dynamics and impacts of climate change on island ecosystems”
Michael L. May Research Grants – Daniel Paluh, “Marsupial frogs as a model for understanding the mechanisms of life history transitions”
John Paul Olowo Memorial Fund Research Grants – Kelsey Lewis, “The effects of environmental endocrine disruptors vinclozolin and pyrifluquinazon on reproductive development”
Brian Riewald Memorial Fund Research Grants – Rachel Keeffe, “Comparative morphology and mechanics of the forelimb and pectoral girdle in burrowing frogs”
Brian Riewald Memorial Fund Research Grants – Scott Cinel, “Predation risk-induced neural plasticity in the brain of young adult cornearworm moths (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)”
Brian Riewald Memorial Fund Research Grants – Greg Jongsma, “Exploration into the drivers and maintenance of frog diversity in Central Africa”
Brian Riewald Memorial Fund Research Grants – Jessica Whelpley, “Phylogenomics of sea cucumbers: a model for understanding trait evolution in marine environments”
Dr. Michael May Graduate Student Fellowship in Biology – Caitlin Campbell, “Assessing the influence of animal migration on pathogen spread: the mechanisms of migratory tree-roosting bats as potential long-distance vectors of Pseudogymnoascus destructans”
Mildred Mason Griffith Botany Grant – Prabha Amarasinghe, “An integrated approach to understand diversity in South African Memecylon clade (Melastomataceae)”
Plant/Animal Interaction Award – Patrick Milligan, “Biodiversity or rare species? Ecological resilience in two distinct African savannas experiencing the same biological invasion”
Alligator Award – Mark Sandfoss, “Population structure among insular cottonmouth snakes in the Cedar Keys, Florida”