Student Grants Program
Student Grants-in-Aid are awarded annually on a competitive basis to graduate or undergraduate students in support of research on wetlands.
SWS 2009 Student Grant Awardees
2009 Society of Wetland Scientists
Student Grant Competition
List of Winners
10 June 2009
Brescacin, Camille
Title: The role of feral hog (Sus scrofa) as a disturbance agent and seed disperser in wetlands.
University of Central Florida
4000 Central Florida Blvd.
Dept. Biology
Orlando, Florida 32816-2368
phone: 321-278-3674
email:Camillerose22@gmail.com
Advisor: Dr. David Jenkins dgjenkin@mail.ucf.edu
Brogan III, William
Title: Wetland security: Can submerged aquatic macrophytes increase community resistance to insecticide exposure?
University of Pittsburg
Dept. Biological Sciences/ Ecology and Evolution Program
101 Clapp Hall, 4249 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Phone: 412-624-4458
email:wrb5@pitt.edu
Advisor: Dr. Rick Relyea
Buck, Julia
Title: Synergistic effects of multiple stressors on amphibians in an agricultural landscape
Oregon State University
Zoology Dept.
3029 Cordley Hall,
Corvallis, OR 97331
phone: 305-282-8303
email:buckj@science.oregonstate.edu
Advisor: Dr. Andrew Blaustein blaustea@science.oregonstate.edu
Cohen, Jillian
Title: The ecological impacts of a widespread wetland invader: The roles of intraspecific variation and trophic complexity.
Dept. Natural Resources
122E Fernow Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
phone: 607-255-2606
email:jsc74@cornell.edu
Advisor: Dr. Bernd Blossey bb22@cornell.edu
Faulwetter, Jennifer
Title: The influence of microbial ecology on seasonal wetland nutrient cycling
Center for Biofilm Engineering
P.O. Box 173980
Montana St. University
Bozeman, MT 59717-3980
phone: 406-994-4837
email:jfaulwetter@biofilm.montana.edu
Advisor: Dr. Anne K. Camper anne_c@biofilm.montana.edu
Gervasi, Stephanie
Title: Understanding variation in host responses to an emerging pathogen of amphibians (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis): Why don't all species get sick?
Dept. Zoology
Oregon State University
3029 Cordley Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331-2914
phone: 610-451-1192
email:gervasis@science.oregonstate.edu
Advisor: Dr. Andrew Blaustein
Marion, Zachary
Title: Spatial mosaics, local adaptation, and environmental tradeoffs: the multifarious effects of hydroperiod and predation on chemical defenses in the eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens)
Georgia Institute of Technology
311 Ferst Drive
Atlanta, GA 30332
phone: 865-748-0088
email:zmarion3@gatech.edu
Advisor: Dr. Mark Hay mark.hay@biology.gatech.edu
Miller, Stephanie
Title: Linking ecological change to an emerging tropical disease: evaluation of the potential impacts of inorganic nutrient loading on a pathogen endemic to Ghanaian wetlands.
Michigan State University
Dept. of Zoology
203 Natural Science Building
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
phone: 517-648-9489
email:mill1571@msu.edu
Advisor: Dr. Jan Stevenson
Orlofske, Sarah
Title: Consequences of predation on the transmission of free-living parasites: Consideratiosn of Ribeiroia ondatrae in aquatic food webs.
Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Ramaley N122
Campus Box 334,
Univ. of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0334
phone: 303-492-8981
email:sarah.orlofske@colorado.edu
Advisor: Dr. Pieter Johnson Pieter.johnson@colorado.edu
Stoler, Aaron
Title: Turning over a new leaf: the effects of alloncthonous inputs on forested wetlands.
Univ. Pittsburg
Dept. of Biology
101 Clapp Hall
4249 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
phone; 410-365-7700
email:abs45@pitt.edu
Advisor: Dr. Rick Relyea
Wilson, Carol
Title: Tidal creek ecogeomorphic changes as a result of sea-level rise in mid-Atlantic saltmarshes.
Dept. Earth Sciences
Boston University
675 Commonwealth Avenue - Room 141
Boston, MA 02215
phone: 617-353-4086
email:cwilson2@bu.edu
Advisor: Dr. Duncan FitzGerald
Wu, Lin
Title: Denitrification and molecular detection in riparian buffer soils.
Dept. of Soil Science
North Carolina State University
1225A Williams Hall
Raleigh, NC 27695-7619
phone: 919-600-0947
email:lwu3@ncsu.edu
Adivsor: Dr. Owen Duckworth
SWS 2008 Student Grant Awardees
76 applicants
Submitted by Rebecca Schneider
Chair, SWS Student Grants Committee
Congratulations to all our Awardees for submitting excellent proposals!
Allgeier, Jake
Title: The effects of ecosystem fragmentation on nutrient cycling in Bahamian mangrove estuaries
Odum School of Ecology
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
Phone: 706-542-5881
jeallg@uga.edu
Advisor: Dr. Amy Rosemond
Moon, Jessica
Title: Impact of human disturbance on microbial heterogeneity in headwater wetlands and its linkages to the cycling of carbon and nitrogen.
PSU Cooperative Wetlands Center
Pennsylvania State University
302 Walker Bldg
University Park, PA 16802
Phone: 814-863-1596
Email: jbm162@psu.edu
Advisor: Dr. Denice Wardrop
Searle, Catherine
Amphibian disease and diversity: the effects of community structure on host-pathogen dynamics.
Dept. of Zoology
Oregon State University
Cordley Hall 3029
Corvallis OR 97330
Phone: 541-737-5357
Email: searlec@science.oregonstate.edu
Advisor: Dr. Andrew R. Blaustein
Gabler, Christopher
Title: towards predicting the resilience of invaded wetlands to ecological restoration: tests of a new theory of habitat interannual variation and ontogenetic niche shifts in invaders
Dept.Ecology and Evolutionary Biology - MS170
6100 Main Street
Houston, TX 77005
Rice University
Advisor: Dr. Evan Siemann
Phone: 713-348-2570
Email address: gabler@rice.edu
Ireland, Alex
Title: Anthropogenic and climatic drivers of quaking mire formation, expansion, and plant community dynamics.
Lehigh University - EES Dept.
31 Williams Drive
Bethlehem, PA 18015
Phone: 610-758-6580
Rkb205@lehigh.edu
Advisor: Dr. Robert K. Booth
Hrdlicka, Katherine
Title: Pesticides and amphibian limb deformities.
School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
Yale University
370 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Phone: 203-815-3097
Kathryn. Richards@yale.edu
Advisor: Dr. David K. Skelly
Thorsos, Eileen
Title: Effects of plant species and their functional traits on nitrous oxide fluxes from a North Carolina restored wetland.
Duke University
Box 90338
Biological Sciences Bldg.
Durham, NC 27708
Phone: 919-613-8214
Eileen.thorsos@duke.edu
Advisor: Dr. Robert B. Jackson
Wolf, Kristin
Title: The effects of hydrologic connectivity, soil properties and microtopography on nitrogen dynamics in created mitigation wetlands of the Piedmont region of Virginia, USA
George Mason University
Dept. of Environmental Science and Policy
4400 University Dr., MSN 5F2
Fairfax, VA 22030
Phone: 703-993-1757
Email: kwolf2@gmu.edu
Advisor: Dr. ``Changwoo Ahn
McCrackin, Michelle
Title: Denitrification in lake sediments across a gradient of nitrogen deposition
Arizona State University
School of Life Sciences
Box 874601
Tempe, AZ 85287-4601
Phone: 480-965-0058
Advisor: Dr. James Elser
Doctoral Research
Email address: mlmccrac@asu.edu
Distler, Matthew,
Title: Development and disturbance in medium fens of central New York: Typha encroachment and effects of the Lake Ontario hydrologic regime.
State Univ. of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry
401 Illick Hall
1 Forestry Drive
Syracuse, NY 13210
Phone: 315-470-4823
mtdistle@syr.edu
Advisor: Dr. Donald Leopold
Matthews, Liz
Title: Defining reference conditions for the alluvial vegetation of the North Carolina Piedmont: community composition, structure and variation across space.
University of North Carolina
217 Miller hall, CB#3275
UNC - Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3275
Phone: 919-962-6934
Email: erm@email.unc.edu
Advisor: Dr. Robert Peet
Pierce, Samuel
Title: An Integrated Approach to Modular Phenotypic Plasticity in Response to Flooding: Localized versus Whole-Plant Response
Dept. of Biology
University of Memphis
3700 Walker Avenue,
Memphis, TN 38152
Phone: 901-494-8502
Doctoral research
Advisor. Dr. S. Reza Pezeshki
Email address: spierce1@memphis.edu
Abstracts from previously funded studies: 2004, 2005, 2006
Annual reports to the SWS Board:
2001 
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2002 ,
2003 ,
2004 ,
2005,
2006
