主要研究 今天

3名主要研究研究生和2名校友获得了荣誉 研究生研究奖学金(GRFP) 来自国家科学基金会. 授予攻读理学硕士和博士学位的学生, 技术, 工程与数学, 这项为期五年的奖学金包括三年的财政支持, 每年有助学金和学费津贴. Current student recipients are master’s students Alexis Eaton and Callyan Lacio and Ph.D. 学生其他Schlerman. 校友获奖者是23届的伊莱·达根, 目前就读于格拉斯哥斯特拉斯克莱德大学, Scotland; and 中曼彻斯特 graduate Nicole Gallien ’22.

亚历克西斯·伊顿，24岁 will be receiving her bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering and sustainability, 她将利用她的NSF GRFP在主要研究攻读硕士学位 土木与环境工程 明年. 她计划随后继续攻读博士学位.D. 环境生物化学或类似领域的专业.

Eaton’s proposal centered around the presence of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in septic systems.

“PFAS are a group of manmade emerging contaminants that have been widely used in commercial products because of their resistance to heat, 水和油,伊顿说。. “这些物质与各种形式的癌症有关, 生殖毒性和甲状腺功能低下.”

伊顿的研究, 由土木与环境工程教授Paula Mouser指导, 关注新出现的污染物的命运和运输. She says it is important to know where these chemicals end up in the environment, 以及它们产生的物质类型.

“Emerging contaminants are harmful to the environment and human health; we need to be able to determine what influences our exposure to these compounds and predict potential exposure pathways,伊顿说.

Callyan Lacio他目前是北京大学的一年级硕士研究生 综合生物学项目, is conducting acoustic research that monitors and studies animals' calls to estimate their population sizes and look at changes in breeding timing and behaviors. She also prioritizes integrating Indigenous knowledge and culture into her work.

她的指导老师是助理教授Laura Kloepper, 谁是生态声学和行为实验室的负责人. 她还参与了 声学研究与教育中心 他就职于联合国大学地球、海洋和太空研究所.

Lacio, who earned her bachelor’s degree in zoo science and conservation science at Friends University in Wichita, 堪萨斯, 采用被动声监测, a technique Lacio says has lower impacts on the animals than normal monitoring efforts. She is also helping the Mashpee Wampanoag Nation create culture-to-career connection materials relating to 阀杆 and her seal research in Cape Cod.

“The ‘culture-to-career’ connection focuses on taking what the Nation students are comfortable with, 比如他们的文化故事和习俗, and showing them how the knowledge and appreciation of their culture can be made into a career, for example culinary arts focusing on Indigenous foods or biology focusing on protecting Indigenous lands,她说。.

GRFP将支持Lacio进入主要研究的综合生物学博士学位.D. 程序. Her goal is to work for a non-profit or foundation focused on helping animal populations that are locally at risk. 作为一个切罗基公民, she also hopes to continue working with local Indigenous Nations and create culture-to-career connections for their students.

其他Schlerman wants to find ways that humans can live more harmoniously with the natural world, 特别是面对气候变化和大规模的栖息地丧失.  作为一名博士生 自然资源与地球系统科学 Ph.D. 程序, 她的研究重点是土壤储存碳的潜力, which speaks to her broad interest in ecologically informed climate change solutions. She is working with professor Stuart Grandy and associate professor Jessica Ernakovich in 主要研究’s 土壤生物地球化学与微生物生态学研究中心.

“Soils are the largest terrestrial pool of carbon – greater than the vegetation and atmosphere stocks combined,Schlerman说, who earned her bachelor’s degree in physics with a German minor from Wellesley College. “Ecosystem-based land management practices can improve the health of the soil and the environment while also removing carbon from the atmosphere. 通过我的研究, I hope to develop the basic research on the mechanisms of soil carbon storage that can inform agricultural and ecological management strategies.”

完成博士学位后, Schlerman plans to work as a scientist for an environmental conservation organization where she can apply the research she’s doing now to broader restoration and conservation efforts.

NSF今年颁发的GRFP奖项减少了500个, 使奖学金竞争特别激烈, 利·普拉特说, 主要研究的主任 国家研究金办公室. 普拉特和迈克尔·汤普森，导演 研究 & 大型中心发展, prepare 主要研究 candidates for success as co-teachers of the 主要研究 NSF GRFP class each fall (INCO 791 / 891年毕业生). The course prepares eligible seniors and first- and second-year graduate students to submit applications to the 程序. 因为主要研究在2019年开始提供GRFP准备, 在16名获得奖学金的学生中，有13人上了这门课.