From winning national competitions, to receiving prestigious awards and scholarships, Natural Resources' students are outstanding achievers!

Below is a list of Natural Resources' undergraduate and graduate student awards and accomplishments for 2006.

Alyssa Novak, Ph.D. Student, Wins NOAA Scholarship

Alyssa Novak, a second year doctoral student with Dr. Fred Short in the NRESS Ph.D. program, has been named by NOAA as a Dr. Nancy Foster Scholar.  The award provides four years of scholarship funding to an outstanding female student in marine sciences.  Dr. Nancy Foster worked at NOAA and was known for her lead role in addressing coastal issues.  Foster was a supporter of mentoring and diversity in the workplace.  The award is designed to continue Dr. Foster’s legacy by encouraging ocean conservation as well as mentoring of women and minorities in the sciences.  Alyssa is working on seagrasses and specifically is investigating the causes and possible effects of UV-B impacts to seagrass plants and the implications for global climate change.  Alyssa will be traveling to Myanmar in late 2006, assessing seagrasses and training marine researchers there in seagrass assessment techniques.

Heather Moulton, Wildlife Management Undergraduate, Receives URC Student Award of Excellence

Heather Moulton, senior in the Wildlife Management undergraduate program, received the Student Award for Excellence at the 15th Annual College of Life Sciences and Agriculture Undergraduate Research Conference (COLSA URC). Heather presented “Using Site Occupancy to Assess Population Health of Hochstetter’s Frogs (Leiopelma hochstetteri) in the Kokako Management Area” (Advisor: Kim Babbitt).

Through the generosity of the office of the Vice President for Student and Academic Services, Heather will receive a $750 tuition waiver award.

The event is organized like a professional scientific conference, with both oral and poster presentations. All students who have conducted research during the previous year are invited to participate.

Congratulations Heather!

Chelsea Vario, Environmental Sciences Undergraduate, Receives NOAA 2006 Hollings Scholarship

Chelsea Vario, a sophomore in the Environmenal Sciences undergraduate program, received a 2006 Hollings Scholarship from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The scholarship, approximately $29,000, provides academic assistance for her junior and senior years, a 10-week internship for summer 2007 at a research site of her choosing anywhere in the country, housing subsidy, and travel expenses to/from the scholarship program orientation and conference.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ernest F. Hollings (Hollings) scholarship program is designed to:

1. increase undergraduate training in oceanic and atmospheric science, research, technology, and education and foster multidisciplinary training opportunities;
2. increase public understanding and support for stewardship of the ocean and atmosphere and improve environmental literacy;
3. recruit and prepare students for public service careers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other natural resource and science agencies at the federal, state and local levels of government; and
4. recruit and prepare students for careers as teachers and educators in oceanic and atmospheric science and to improve scientific and environmental education in the United States.

Congratulations Chelsea!

Congratulations to All Our Students! Below Are the Student Accomplishments and Awards Announced at the Annual Barbecue

• Jake Borgeson (Wildlife Management) received a UROP award for summer 2006 to do bear research in northern New Hampshire

• Alexandra Contosta (Ph.D., NRESS) received a graduate research fellowship from the Northeastern States Research Cooperative

• Dan Coons (M.S., NR: Water Resources) received a research and outreach grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation

• Bill Errickson (M.S., NR: Soil Science) received the following awards:
  • Agent of Change Award (UNH)
  • Joe Parks Scholarship (Durham Garden Club)
  • New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs Scholarship (NHFGC)
  • Festival of Trees Scholarship (Portsmouth Garden Club)

  Bill also helped to write a successful $15,000 grant to the UNH parent’s association for the Organic Garden Club and Students Without Borders to fund a permaculture design course that will take place in May.

• Rich MacLean (M.S., NR: General) was awarded a New Hampshire NASA Space Grant Fellowship for 2006-2007

• Heather Moulton (Wildlife Management) received a SURF last year and conducted research on Hochstetter’s frog in New Zealand with Dr. Kim Babbitt and Dr. Matt Baber at EcoQuest. (Read "Small Treasures: Rare Frogs of the New Zealand Rainforests"). The effort turned into the largest survey for this species ever conducted. She is the co-author on an upcoming publication in the New Zealand Journal of Ecology based partially on work she did for her EcoQuest Directed Research Project. She was just awarded another SURF to work with Dr. Babbitt on wood frogs in Maine.

• Luci Nascimento (Ph.D., NRESS) received the AAUW International Doctoral Dissertation Year Fellowship

• David Scarpitti (M.S., NR: Wildlife) received the Outdoor Writers Scholarship

• Whitney Taylor (Environmental Conservation Studies) received a National Science Foundation REU (Research Education for Undergraduates) and will be accompanying Dr. Jacqui Aitkenhead-Peterson and a faculty member from Allegheny College in PA to Sikfokut Forest in Hungary in May to collect soils under different treatments and will analyze the soils in the Ecosystem Analysis Lab this summer under Jacqui’s direction.

• Sarah Andrews (M.S., NR: General) was awarded a Summer TA Fellowship

• Difei Zhang (Ph.D., NRESS) received the 2005 Distinguished Lecturer for US-Russia and US-Latvia Peace Program Awarded by the US Department of Defense and CMEP (Pentagon, Washington D.C.) for Partners for Peace

• Dan Badger (M.S., NR: General) received third best poster at the Graduate Student Research Conference in April 2006

• Brianna Heath (Wildlife Management) gave a poster presentation at the North East Fish and Wildlife Conference in Burlington, VT in April 2006. The title of her poster was “Depredation and Disease Concerns of Winter Congregations of Wild Turkeys on Dairy Farms.”

• Katie (Hughes) Jacques' (M.S., NR: EC) thesis was accepted for the ESRI International User Conference in San Diego. She will present it at the conference this August 2006.

• Ethan Pierce (Forestry) presented with Dr. Barry Rock at the Interdisciplinary Science poster display Wednesday, April 26, 2006.

DNR Undergraduates Who Presented at the COLSA Undergraduate Research Conference (URC) on April 29, 2006:

• Heather Moulton (Wildlife Management) presented “Using Site Occupancy to Assess Population Health of Hochstetter’s Frogs (Leiopelma hochstetteri) in the Kokako Management Area” (Advisor: Kim Babbitt)
• Brianna Heath (Wildlife Management) presented “Home Range Establishment and Dispersal of Yearling Moose in Northern New Hampshire.”
• Paul Pepler (Environmental Sciences) presented “Forest Canopy Recovery After Reduced Impact Logging in Amazonia” (Advisor: Michael Keller)
• Lindsay Scott (Environmental Conservation) presented “Effects of Long Term Soil Warming on Soil Respiration” at the Interdisciplinary Science & Engineering Symposium and also at the COLSA URC (Adviser: Serita Frey)
• Joseph Shannon (Forestry) presented “Effect of Forest Species in a Watershed on Stream Chemistry at Bartlett Forest” (Advisor: Jacqueline Aitkenhead-Peterson)

Alyson Eberhardt, Natural Resources Graduate Student, was Selected as a PROBE Fellow to Aid in High School Science Teaching

Alyson Eberhardt, Natural Resources graduate student, was chosen as a PROBE graduate Fellow to advance inquiry-based instructional practices in high school science teaching.

PROBE, or Partnerships for Research Opportunities to Benefit Education, will place UNH graduate students from the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in nine high schools throughout southern New Hampshire. PROBE graduate Fellows and a lead teacher from one of the partnership high schools form a team; the team works with the high school to implement instructional habits that nurture inquiry behaviors by teachers and students.

It is the first major grant initiative for the Leitzel Center for Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Education, and is funded by a $1.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s GK-12 initiative.

Ethan Pierce, Forestry senior, was chosen as the 2006 "Student of the Year" by the Society of American Foresters

Past Student Accomplishments & Awards

Choose a year below to read previous years' student accomplishments and awards.

• 2005
• 2004