Awards and Accolades
Congratulations to students, faculty, and staff in EEB who have won grants, awards, and recognitions since our last newsletter. We published a majority of these on our website throughout the year, but wanted to provide a quick recap for this edition of our newsletter:
Kenna Rewcastle, a 2015 graduate of the College Scholars program, was awarded a Fulbright US Student Program Grant for 2016–17.
Postdoc J. Mason Heberling (Kalisz Lab) has been awarded a two-year National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship.
Michael Van Nuland (Schweitzer Lab) received a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant from the National Science Foundation.
Grad student Jessica Welch (McCracken and Simberloff Labs) was one of just six recipients of the “Graduate Student Policy Award” from the Ecological Society of America.
Current graduate students Michael Van Nuland, Rachel Wooliver, Ian Ware, Alix Pfennigwerth, Liam Mueller, and recent graduate Quentin Read (’16) had an article on the cover of Functional Ecology Special Feature on Plant Soil Feedback in June 2016.
Graduate student Brian Looney (Matheny Lab) had one of his Russula mushroom photos from Thailand on the cover of the January 2016 issue of Molecular Ecology.
Alumna Sara Kuebbing (’14), now a postdoc at Yale, was awarded a Smith Fellowship from the Society of Conservation Biology.
Rachel Wooliver (Schweitzer Lab) won the 2016 Francis and Evelyn Clark Soil Biology Scholarship from the Soil Science Society of America (one of two awarded every year).
Graduate student Alix Pfennigwerth (Schweitzer Lab) won a scholarship to support her travel, lodging, and registration to attend the Natural Areas Conference. While there, she received the award for Best Student Oral Presentation.
Ian Ware (Bailey Lab) received a $5,000 grant from the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research, and a $9,500 Center for Tree Science Graduate Research Fellowship with the Morton Arboretum.
Professor Susan Riechert received the 2016 SEC Faculty Achievement Award.
Rachel Fovargue (Armsworth Lab) received a 2016-2017 Yates Dissertation Fellowship.
Kim Bush (’73), who received his degree in Zoology, was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus at the Alumni Board Awards dinner for his lifetime devotion to the advancement of global health.
Associate Professor Beth Schussler received an Alumni Outstanding Teacher Award at the Chancellor’s Honors Banquet in April.
Justin Hendy (Small Lab) received an award for Outstanding Graduate Teaching during Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week at UT.
Jim Fordyce was promoted from associate to full professor.
EEB Graduate Student Awards:
- Outstanding Publication by a Graduate Student – Zach Marion (Fitzpatrick Lab)
- Sandy Echternacht Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Student – Ian Ware (Bailey Lab)
- Outstanding Outreach & Community Service – Rachel Fovargue (Armsworth Lab)
- Outstanding Master’s Thesis – Nate Sutton (Armsworth Lab)
- Jim Tanner Outstanding Dissertation – Austin Milt (Armsworth Lab)
- Best Progress Towards Dissertation – Michael Van Nuland (Schweitzer Lab)
- Thomas G. Hallam Appreciation Award – Zach Marion (Fitzpatrick Lab)
EEB Undergraduate Student Awards:
- Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award – Christian Yarber (O’Meara Lab)
- Outstanding Undergraduate Poster Award – Christian Yarber (O’Meara Lab)
- Undergraduate Award for Professional Promise – Patrick McKenzie (Armsworth Lab)
- Outstanding Undergraduate Award – Jacob Wessels (Kwit Lab)
EEB Staff Awards:
- EEB Outstanding Administrative Service Award 2016 – Janice Harper