{"id":9973,"date":"2010-09-23T10:36:26","date_gmt":"2010-09-23T17:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=9973"},"modified":"2013-01-09T12:22:54","modified_gmt":"2013-01-09T19:22:54","slug":"nau-graduate-students-get-funding-to-become-environmental-leaders-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/nau-graduate-students-get-funding-to-become-environmental-leaders-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NAU graduate students get funding to become environmental leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five future environmental science and conservation policy makers from Northern Arizona University\u2019s School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability have jump-started their careers by earning fellowships and scholarships from two prestigious national programs.<\/p>\n

\"Doris<\/a>
Doris Duke 2010 Conservation Fellows Cristina Gonzalez-Maddux, Rajani Maharjan and Spencer Plumb<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe are really excited for the students and for our program,\u201d said\u00a0Tom Sisk<\/strong>, professor and coordinator of the interdisciplinary graduate program. \u201cThe Doris Duke Conservation Fellows have put NAU on the map internationally, and that helps us attract a great bunch of scholars.\u201dCristina Gonzalez-Maddux<\/strong>,\u00a0Rajani Maharjan<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Spencer Plumb<\/strong>\u00a0were awarded Doris Duke Charitable Foundation 2010 Conservation Fellowships\u2014an honor that provides tuition funding, a paid internship and access to a network of collaborative opportunities with other researchers.\u00a0As part of their fellowship, the students will travel to the National Conservation Training Center this fall for professional development training with other Conservation Fellows from around the nation.<\/p>\n

The students are part of NAU\u2019s graduate program in Environmental Sciences and Policy, a curriculum linking natural and social sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Doris Duke Conservation Fellows<\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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The Doris Duke Conservation Fellows program has been in place nationally since 1997 and has been supporting NAU students in the Environmental Sciences and Policy program for the past four years. Graduates of the NAU program whose studies were supported by the Doris Duke program have gone on to pursue careers with the Grand Canyon Trust, National Park Service, tribal resource agencies and other public and private institutions committed to the conservation of biological and cultural diversity. For information about the program and the Doris Duke Conservation Fellowships, contact\u00a0Thomas.Sisk@nau.edu<\/a>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u201cAs a Doris Duke fellow, I am grateful to have not only the support of this exceptional foundation, but also the opportunity to forward the foundation\u2019s mission through my graduate research,\u201d Gonzalez-Maddux said.<\/p>\n

Her thesis examines wind-blown transport of uranium and other toxic metals from abandoned uranium mine sites on the Navajo Nation. Gonzalez-Maddux plans to pursue a future in public policy analysis focusing on the impacts of mining and toxic exposure on vulnerable populations.<\/p>\n

Maharjan\u2019s thesis focuses on the effects of river diversion on the physical, chemical and biological aspects of the Verde River. \u201cFrom this research I hope to gain better understanding of restoration and protection of our scarce water resources,\u201d she said. After she completes her degree, Maharjan will return to Nepal, where she plans to continue her work in river conservation.<\/p>\n

Plumb\u2019s work includes surveys in indigenous communities, collecting information about the role of forests and agricultural systems in subsistence living, and identifying drivers of deforestation that come from colonists moving into indigenous territory. \u201cThanks in part to funding from the Doris Duke Conservation Fellowship, I had the unique opportunity to work in the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve of La Moskitia, Honduras, this past summer,\u201d Plumb said. He intends to continue working to develop social standards and criteria necessary to engage local communities in all aspects of developing and implementing forest carbon and related conservation projects.<\/p>\n

Environmental Sciences and Policy majors\u00a0Cerissa Hoglander<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Evan Reimondo<\/strong>\u00a0are sharing the limelight with the other three for receiving the 2010\u00a0Wyss Scholars for Conservation of the American West<\/a>\u00a0award.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Wyss<\/a>
2010 Wyss Scholars Evan Reimondo and Cerissa Hoglander<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe support of the Wyss Foundation allows me to gain great experience while working on fascinating\u2014if complicated\u2014conservation issues,\u201d Reimondo said. \u201cI hope to use this generous support and my Wyss experience to pursue a career in addressing the difficult and controversial issues of Western conservation.\u201dThe Wyss program provides scholarships for graduate students pursuing careers in land conservation and management in the Intermountain West.\u00a0 Hoglander and Reimondo each will receive about $30,000, including a $5,000 summer internship so they can continue their work throughout the year, and post-graduate payments to help them get a strong start in the professional world after graduation.<\/p>\n

Reimondo is studying the ecological impacts and management implications of an introduced herd of bison on the Kaibab Plateau. Hoglander is researching developing landscape models of water and habitat use by desert bighorn sheep in the areas of the Yuma Proving Ground and the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Arizona.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis scholarship supports and encourages my current and future efforts in conservation science and policy,\u201d Hoglander said. \u201cThis will help me strengthen my science skills and apply lessons from my interdisciplinary education to real-world conservation challenges in Western lands. It\u2019s certainly an honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoglander and Reimondo completed summer internships as part of their work as Conservation Scholars. Reimondo worked with Grand Canyon National Park on research related to his thesis project, and Hoglander worked with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, assisting with research on the effects of ponderosa pine forest treatments on the habitat use by tassel-eared squirrels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five future environmental science and conservation policy makers from Northern Arizona University\u2019s School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability have jump-started their careers by earning fellowships and scholarships from two prestigious national programs. \u201cWe are really excited for the students and for our program,\u201d said\u00a0Tom Sisk, professor and coordinator of the interdisciplinary graduate program. \u201cThe…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9973\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}