Whittell Forest Graduate Research Grant
Deadline for submission: Wednesday, June 5, 2024 by 5 p.m.
In support of research on the University’s Whittell Forest & Wildlife Area, Research & Innovation is pleased to offer two graduate research grants for the 2024-2025 year. A total of $15,000 (two $7,500 awards or three $5,000 awards) is available to support graduate students enrolled in any academic program at 性爱五色天, Reno or the 性爱五色天, Las Vegas who are able to leverage Whittell to advance their graduate work.
Grants will be awarded on the basis of:
- Merits of proposed research, including problem importance, originality and study design.
- The feasibility of successfully completing the proposed work.
- Preference given to students lacking funding and from underrepresented disciplines.
Eligibility
- Applicants must be graduate students enrolled in a Master’s or Ph.D. program at either the 性爱五色天, Reno or the 性爱五色天, Las Vegas.
- Applicants must use Whittell Forest & Wildlife Area as a core research site.
- Students from all departments and disciplines are eligible and encouraged to apply.
Allowable expenses
- Salaries and stipends
- Travel to/from the field site
- Field, lab or computing supplies
- Funds may be applied to the 2024 or 2025 field seasons to support field-based activities in Whittell
- Professional development trainings are not an approved cost and the panel may approve/reject purchases that do not directly support project or thesis/dissertation advancement
Application procedure
- A complete application contains the following:
- Cover letter (not to exceed one page) detailing personal motivations for research as well as rationale for a $7,500 or a $5,000 grant
- Project description (not to exceed three pages in length), including the following:
- Significance of research
- Study objectives and/or research questions
- Brief review of relevant literature
- Study design
- Timeline
- Itemized budget based on a $7,500 or $5,000 award
- Curriculum vitae
- Letter of recommendation from supervising faculty advisor indicating support of proposed research and addressing the merits for funding this research
- Copies of appropriate collecting permits, where applicable.
- Compile all application materials into a single PDF and email to sbisbing@unr.edu.
- Applications will be reviewed by a subcommittee, including the Whittell Forest Advisory Committee.
- Awards are available for the 2024-2025 academic year, with extension of spending through summer 2025, as needed, to support field-based activities at Whittell.
- Funding support requires periodic reporting to Research & Innovation, including a brief presentation to the Advisory Committee during the 2024-2024 academic year as well as a final report of progress, spending, and preliminary results by the end of the summer 2025 field season (September 1, 2025).
Projects funded through the research grant
Name | Date | Degree | Project |
---|---|---|---|
Hanna Grock | 2023 | M.S., Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences | Effects of anthropogenic disturbance on diet selection and stress levels of black bears in the wildland versus wildland-urban interface |
Bobby Lee | 2023 | M.F.A. | Whittell Forest photography |
Johanne Albrigtsen | 2023 | Ph.D., Hydrologic Sciences | Quantifying the role of forest litter in controlling the forest soil-water balance |
Pamela Pearce | 2022 | M.S., Anthropology | Honing sustainable practices for heritage management in the Whittell Management and Wildlife Area |
Kenneth Hickenbottom | 2022 | Ph.D., Environmental Engineering | Wildfire effects on drinking water supplies |
Johanne Albrigtsen | 2022 | Ph.D., Hydrologic Sciences | Quantifying the role of forest litter in controlling the forest soil-water balance |
Kerri Minatre | 2021 | Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology; Hydrology | Reconstructing charring intensity using infrared imaging microscopy of charcoal materials |
Chanchanok (Saw) Sudta | 2021 | Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology | Expanding a time series for understanding fire effects on plant-arthropod networks in the Whittell Forest |
Madeline Fontaine | 2020 | M.S., Hydrology | Where has the water gone? Results from a watershed model with dendroclimatic inputs |
Kelly Loria | 2020 | Ph.D., Environmental Science | Expectations for montane stream metabolism given climate driven shifts in hydrologic regimes |
Jane Dell | 2016 | Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology | The return of fire to the ecosystem: Quantifying arthropod diversity after 150 years of fire exclusion |
Jacob Francis | 2016 | Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology | Do nectary plants make good neighbors? Facilitation and competition between Lupinus and co-flowering communities |
Devin Picklum | 2016 | Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology | Is pollination facilitated by mulit-trait floral similarity in two alpine plant species? |
Alexandra Urza | 2016 | Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology | Effects of prescribed fire on plant communities and tree survival in Little Valley meadows and forests. |
Zachary Carter | 2015 | M.S., Hydrology | The Role of Charcoal in Nutrient Cycling Following Prescribed Fire |
Kira Hefty | 2015 | M.S., Biology | Assessing the Behavioral Conflict of a Larder-Hoarding Rodent |
Jacob William Dittell | 2013 | Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology | Investigating community level resource trade-offs and reciprocal pilfering of four Little Valley rodent species |
Meredith Lieurance | 2013 | M.S., Biology | Story of a structure: the evolution and ecological impacts of the rodent cheek pouch |
Britt Johnson | 2011 | Ph.D., Hydrology | Simulated Climate Change Effects on Snowpack Duration, Litter Decomposition and Water Quality in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern Nevada |
Britt Johnson | 2010 | Ph.D., Hydrology | Simulated Climate Change Effects on Snowpack Duration, Litter Decomposition and Water Quality in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern Nevada |
Mark Ender | 2008 | M.S., Biology | Secondary dispersal of fleshy-fruited plants by seed-caching rodents and ants |
Julie Koop | 2008 | M.S., Biology | Documenting male killing of pseudoscorpions by Wolbachia, an endosymbiont bacteria, and the phylogeny of two different Wolbachia strains |
Cynthia Downs | 2006 | Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology | How rodents use landmarks in the field to locate buried food |
Robert Monnar | 2006 | M.S., Geography | Daily Cycles of Leaf Water Stable Isotopes in Two Pine Species |
Will Richardson | 2006 | Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology | Chipmunk Vagility in Aspen Versus Pine |
Jennifer Gworek | 2004 | M.S., Biology | Effects of Climate Change on Plant-Animal Interactions along an Elevation Gradient in the Carson Range western Nevada |
Elaine Hager | 2004 | M.S., Biology | The Effects of Nurse Plants on Emergence and Establishment of Sugar Pine (Pirrus lambertiana) and Jeffrey Pine (Pirrus jeffreyi) Seedlings |
Jennifer Hollander | 2004 | Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology | Differences in the ability of rodents to detect caches made with native vs. non-native seeds using olfaction |
Kellie Kuhn | 2004 | M.S., Biology | Patterns of time allocation & winter hoarder provisioning of yellow pine chipmunks |
Jennifer Gworek | 2003 | M.S., Biology | Effects of Climate Change on Plant-Animal Interactions along an Elevation Gradient in the Carson Range western Nevada |
Elaine Hager | 2003 | M.S., Biology | The Effects of Nurse Plants on Emergence and Establishment of Sugar Pine and Jeffrey Pine Seedling |
Kellie Kuhn | 2003 | M.S., Biology | Patterns of time allocation & winter hoarder provisioning of yellow pine chipmunks |
Chad Stein | 2003 | M.S., Hydrologic Sciences | Effects of post-fire vegetation on soil fertility and water quality |
John Tull | 2003 | Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology | Determining the Effects of Seed Moisture on Rodent Capture Rates |
Jenny Briggs | 2002 | Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology | Comparative study of the food-caching behavior of 4 species of rodents |
Christopher Lopez | 2002 | M.S., Geology | Document and describe the faults and Quaternary features in Little Valley |
Elizabeth Peacock/Helen Neville | 2001 | Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology | Quantification of cache pilfering rates in yellow pine chipmunks |
Julie Roth | 2000 | M.S., Biology | Dispersal of sierra chinquapin by scatter hoarding animals |
Christine Wilcox | 2000 | Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology | Conservation genetics & ecology of sub-alpine riparian obligate, the western jumping mouse, in Nevada |
Lisa Crampton | 1999 | Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology | Influence of inter-and intraspecific interactions on food hoarding behavior of yellow pine and golden-mantled ground squirrels |
Jen Hodge | 1999 | Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology | The effects of natural disturbance & patch dynamics on the dispersal of Jeffrey pine by rodents |
Julie Roth | 1999 | M.S., Biology | Dispersal of sierra chinquapin by scatter hoarding animals |
Ted Thayer | 1999 | Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology | Dispersal of Sugar Pine by Steller’s Jays & Yellow Pine Chipmunks: A Comparison of Effectiveness |
Kyle Comanor | 1997 | M.S. , Hydrologic Sciences | Comparison of riparian bank storage flux rates and solute transport in grazed and un-grazed areas |