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Departmental Awards and Scholarships

The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology recognizes our top staff and students, both graduate and undergraduate, in our departmental awards ceremony each year.

EEB Graduate Student Awards:

Students are nominated by faculty unless otherwise noted.

  • Outstanding Publication by a Graduate Student
    This award is given to a current or recently graduated MS or PhD student who has published an outstanding research paper within the last academic year.
  • Sandy Echternacht Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Student.
  • Outstanding Outreach & Community Service
  • Outstanding Master’s Thesis
  • Jim Tanner Outstanding Dissertation
  • Best Progress Towards Dissertation
  • Thomas G. Hallam Appreciation Award (Students are nominated and voted for by their peers)

EEB Undergraduate Student Awards:

  • Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award
  • Outstanding Undergraduate Poster Award
  • Undergraduate Award for Professional Promise
  • Outstanding Undergraduate Award
  • Dr. Clifford Amundsen Ecology Scholarship Endowment Support for undergraduate research and scholarship: Through the generosity of Ginny Dant, Kari Amundsen Apter and Margie Amundsen. Dr. Amundsen was a faculty member in the Department of Botany at UTK for 37 years. His research specialty was plant physiological ecology, with a special interest in wet refuge habitats.  He worked extensively in Alaska, Idaho, and the Southern Appalachian region.

EEB Staff Awards:

  • EEB Outstanding Administrative Service Award

EEB Collections Committee Awards:

  • Breedlove, Dennis Award. This award supports undergraduate and graduate student botanical field experiences and has a rolling deadline. Awards can be used by students for fieldwork, supplies, food/lodging in the field, travel, or other costs directly related to their proposed research. Funds cannot be used for salary or/and stipends. Alternatively, awards can be used by faculty/graduate students applying to help support supplies, lodging, etc. needed by an undergraduate student joining them on a botanically-based fieldtrip.  Awards from $750-$1500.
  • Lynne and Bob Davis Herbarium Award This annual award supports undergraduate students whose research focuses on plant natural history, taxonomy, and/or floristics. Awards may be up to $1000. This is generously supported by the Lynne and Bob Davis Herbarium Endowment.
  • Hesler Award. These annual awards are to support herbarium-based research or research that results in direct improvements to the TENN Herbarium. Awards range from $1000-$2000 for undergraduate and graduate students, up to $5000 for EEB faculty, and from $3000-$5000 for visiting researchers.
  • Hochman Research Award. This annual award supports undergraduate and graduate students conducting research in organismal biology in which the capture of primary genetic data is necessary for the project. Awards may be up to $1500. This is generously supported by the Benjamin Hochman Endowment.
  • Holton Plant Research Graduate Scholars Award. This annual award supports graduate students, with preference for applicants pursuing studies related to research on algae and studies of plants at the biochemical and cellular levels, although research in the areas of systematics, ecology, biogeography, conservation, and biodiversity of algae and plants will also be considered. Awards may be up to $1500. This is generously supported by the Ray and Linda Holton Plant Research Graduate Endowment.

Graduate School Awards:

  • Shipley-Swann Graduate School Fellowship.  This fellowship recognizes graduate students across campus who demonstrate academic excellence; it provides students with a stipend of $5,000 for the year.

Division of Biology Awards:

There are several awards available to graduate students in any of the three biology departments (EEB, Microbiology, and Biochemistry & Cellular and Molecular Biology (BCMB)) or the Graduate School of Genome Science and Technology.

  • The Alexander Hollaender Graduate Fellowship
    This fellowship is made possible through an endowment fund contributed by Dr. and Mrs. Alexander Hollaender. In 1944, Dr. Hollaender established the Division of Biology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and was its director until 1967. Hollaender had close ties to East Tennessee and expressed the wish that strong preference in awarding fellowships be given to students from this region. The Fellowship Committee will consider academic qualifications, geographical origin, and scientific/ professional promise. There will be one award each year in the amount of $6,000.
  • Timothy L. Cokkinias Award
    The Division of Biology sponsors one award each year to a graduate student, based on their record of scholarly achievements at the University of Tennessee. The awards are in the amount of $1,000. Recipients also have their names recorded on a plaque displaying each year’s awardees.
  • Carolyn W. Fite Award
    This $1000 award recognizes two outstanding graduate students who demonstrate professional promise through an excellent academic record and interest in research and scholarship. Recipients also have their names recorded on a plaque displaying each year’s awardees.
  • Biology Teaching Award
    The Division of Biology offers this award to recognize excellence in teaching by a graduate student at the University of Tennessee. There is one award each year in the amount of $1000.

To view current and past award recipients, please view the EEB blog links, below.

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