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Herbarium Awards and Fellowships Available, 2017

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The EEB Collections Committee is pleased to announce the following three awards from the Hesler Fund to support and enhance herbarium-based research at UTK. Please share these award announcements with any students, colleagues, and collaborators who might be interested in applying.

Student Research Awards – http://tenn.bio.utk.edu/HeslerInternalFacultyAwards.pdf

Awards are available for research in the areas of systematics, ecology, biogeography, conservation, and biodiversity of plants and fungi to undergraduate and graduate (Masters and Ph.D.) students currently working under the supervision of a faculty member affiliated with the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee – Knoxville. Projects must be herbarium-based, either using or vouchering herbarium specimens or analyzing herbarium specimen data. This includes but not limited to, taxonomic revisions using herbarium specimens, phylogenetic analyses using data from herbarium specimens, ecological studies that will result in vouchers deposited in the TENN herbarium, and biogeographic studies using spatial data from herbarium specimens. A maximum of four Undergraduate (up to $1000 each) and six Graduate Student awards (up to $2000 each) will be given out in the 2018 competition.

Visiting Scholar Fellowships –  http://tenn.bio.utk.edu/HeslerVisitingResearcherAward.pdf

Visiting Scholar Fellowships provide opportunities for scientists to use the collections at the University of Tennessee Herbarium (TENN) to enhance and facilitate a biodiversity-focused research project in collaboration with an EEB-affiliated faculty sponsor. Graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, faculty, and independent researchers from any country are eligible to apply. Funds are for travel, housing, and other visit-related expenses while conducting research at the TENN Herbarium. A maximum of two awards ($3000-$5000 each) will be given out annually.

Internal Faculty Awards – http://tenn.bio.utk.edu/HeslerStudentAwards.pdf

Internal Faculty Awards are available to support activities that directly result in improvements to the TENN herbarium. Possible uses include funding of student workers to database specimens, costs associated with improving collections management, and validation of species designations using DNA or other procedures.  One to two awards will be granted annually for a period of one year for a maximum of $5000.

If you have any questions about these awards, including the fit of your proposal for the award, please contact Jessica Budke <jbudke@utk.edu>.

Teaching Resource Development Award for Poppenwimmer

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Tyler Poppenwimer (Gross & Bailey Labs) won an award to develop online teaching resources to enhance the teaching of Math 152 in spring 2018.

The award, offered by UT’s Office of Information Technology, is open to Graduate Teaching Associates (GTA). The grant is awarded for the enhancement of a course by utilizing OIT-supported technologies and innovative instructional strategies in the redesign of a course or course component to be delivered via the web.

More information about the grant can be found at https://oit.utk.edu/instructional/gtaoit/gtaoit-call/.

 

 

Milt (PhD 2015) Recognized by Conservation Biology

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Austin Milt (PhD 2015, now a postdoc at the University of Wisconsin) won third place in Conservation Biology’s ‘Rising Star’ award for his manuscript, “The Costs of Avoiding Environmental Impacts from Shale-Gas Surface Infrastructure.” The Rising Star award considers all student led papers published in Conservation Biology in 2016. This award is judged by a group of Senior Editors and aims to recognize outstanding student researchers and communicators.

Penley Fellowship for Bayliss

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Shannon Bayliss (Bailey Lab) has received a Penley Fellowship from the Graduate School at UT.  This award is quite new and was first bestowed in 2016.  Awardees are selected on the strength of the applicant’s ability to make a persuasive case for the importance of their project and evidence that the fellowship is necessary to carry out a crucial aspect of the project.

Congratulations, Shannon!

DoD Fellowship for Scott

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Shelby Scott (Gross Lab) has been awarded a three-year 2017 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship!  The NDSEG Fellowship is sponsored and funded by the Department of Defense (DoD). NDSEG selections are made by the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Office of Naval Research, and the Army Research Office. The American Society for Engineering Education administers the NDSEG Fellowship.

Congratulations, Shelby!

 

EEB Departmental Awards 2017

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Congratulations to all the graduate students, undergraduate students, and staff who received awards at the EEB Awards Ceremony on May 1.   To view more photos, please visit the EEB Facebook page.  For more information about any of the awards below, please visit the Departmental Awards and Scholarships page.

2017 EEB Outstanding Master’s Thesis
Alix Pfennigwerth (Schweitzer Lab)

2017 EEB Jim Tanner Outstanding Dissertation
Michael Van Nuland (Schweitzer Lab)

2017 EEB Best Progress Toward Dissertation
Sam Borstein (O’Meara Lab)

2017 EEB Sandy Echternacht Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Student
Tyson Paulson (Fordyce Lab)

2017 EEB Outstanding Publication by a Graduate Student
Rachel Wooliver (Schweitzer Lab)

2017 EEB Tom Hallam Appreciation Award
Angela Chuang (Riechert Lab)

2017 EEB Outstanding Outreach and Community Service by a Graduate Student
Alannie-Grace Grant (Kalisz Lab)

2017 Outstanding Undergraduate Poster Award
Sarah Ottinger (Classen Lab)

2017 EEB Outstanding Undergraduate
Patrick McKenzie (Armsworth Lab)

2017 EEB Outstanding Undergraduate Research
Hannah Anderson (Riechert Lab)

2017 EEB Undergraduate for Professional Promise
Katie Plant (Williams Lab)

2017 EEB Outstanding Outreach and Community Service by an Undergraduate Student
Heiler Meek (Schweitzer Lab)

2017 EEB Outstanding Administrative Service Award
Marva Anderson

Going Above and Beyond Award
Jess Welch (Simberloff & McCracken Labs)

Science Writing Award for Bush

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Graduate student Jordan Bush (Simberloff Lab) will receive the J. Paul Blakely Award of Excellence in the category of Science Writing, Graduate Division at an awards ceremony on May 4, 2017. This award from the East Tennessee Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC-ETC) recognizes students with an interest in technical/professional communication or science writing, from any accredited institution of higher education in East Tennessee.  Congratulations, Jordan!

2017 Chancellor’s Honors Awards for EEB

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Two members of EEB received awards at the Chancellor’s Honors Award Banquet on April 19, 2017: PhD candidate Cassie Dresser (Fitzpatrick Lab) & Associate Professor Beth Schussler

2017 Graduate Student Teaching Award
Cassie Dresser

Unlike many PhD candidates who focus solely on research, Cassie Dresser has wanted to teach since arriving in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2013. In fact, she’s been teaching throughout her academic career. As an undergraduate at Hartwick College in New York, she was a tutor. As a master’s student at Central Michigan University, she was a teaching assistant. Before starting her PhD, she worked as an environmental educator at a state park in Michigan. Here, she’s been a lecture assistant, a teaching assistant, and now head TA. She excelled when given the rare opportunity to be the sole instructor of a 200-level course, and she is one of the first graduate students to complete UT’s Certificate in College Teaching program. Dresser has not only sought to improve her own teaching but also enhanced the teaching of other TAs in her department by researching and sharing best practices and by developing research-based scientific literacy coursework.

2017 Excellence in Teaching
Elisabeth Schussler

Elizabeth Shussler, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, is described by her students as excited, enthusiastic, and committed to their success. “Beth must engage students at all levels, and she is wildly successful,” a colleague said. She finds ways to “really engage her students in learning how to do science, rather than just memorizing what science has already learned.” Schussler has been a pioneer in using active learning techniques—everything from clickers and Learning Catalytics to small-group discussions—to keep students engaged during large science lectures. She serves as director of teaching and learning for the Division of Biology and has been instrumental in improving biology courses at UT. She received the 2016 UT Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award and the 2012 College of Arts and Sciences Junior Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award.