Mathias Award Winners for 2011–2012

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Math­ias Grant awards sup­port grad­u­ate stu­dent research con­ducted at NRS reserves. Here, 2009 Math­ias award win­ner Michelle Afkhami exam­ines her study plot at Quail Ridge Reserve. Image credit: Lob­sang Wangdu

Four­teen grad­u­ate stu­dents from seven dif­fer­ent Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia cam­puses have been awarded Mil­dred E. Math­ias Grad­u­ate Stu­dent Research Grants. Each will receive up to $3,000 to sup­port their field stud­ies. The research projects will be con­ducted at 15 dif­fer­ent NRS reserves across the state.

Math­ias grants are awarded to UC grad­u­ate stu­dents based on the aca­d­e­mic mer­its of their pro­pos­als and use of one or more NRS reserves to con­duct their research. Pref­er­ence is given to stu­dents at an early stage of their careers, as well as under­rep­re­sented fields of study.

The major­ity of awards sup­port projects in the bio­log­i­cal sci­ences. This is con­sis­tent with pre­vi­ous award cycles; to date, roughly 85 per­cent of Math­ias grant projects have been biology-based. Life sci­ence stud­ies funded this year include the phys­i­o­log­i­cal adap­ta­tions to cli­mate change in chip­munks; how the spread of conifers are chang­ing con­di­tions in Sierra Nevada mead­ows; using ele­phant seals as sen­tinels of toxic chem­i­cal pol­lu­tion in the ocean; and new meth­ods for approach­ing grass­land restora­tion in an era of cli­mate change.

North­ern ele­phant seals are among the sub­jects to be stud­ied with fund­ing from this year’s Math­ias Grant com­pe­ti­tion. Image credit: Kath­leen M. Wong

Funded pro­pos­als from other dis­ci­plines include recon­struct­ing Native Amer­i­can plant use on Santa Cruz Island dur­ing pre­his­toric times, and dat­ing the devel­op­ment of the Hilton Creek earth­quake fault in east­ern California.

The $38,000 awarded this year comes from the Ken­neth S. Nor­ris Endow­ment Fund for the Cal­i­for­nia Envi­ron­ment, pro­vided to the NRS by the David and Lucile Packard Foun­da­tion. The aver­age amount received by appli­cants was $2,714. Since its incep­tion in 1988, the grant pro­gram has awarded a total of $639,491 to 368 students.

Math­ias grant win­ners are invited to present their find­ings at a sym­po­sium held every other spring. Those who received grants in the 2009–2010 and 2010–2011 cycles have been invited to the next Math­ias Sym­po­sium, which will be held at Bodega Marine Reserve from March 2 to 4, 2012.

The grant pro­gram is named for UCLA botanist Mil­dred E. Math­ias. Known as the found­ing mother of the NRS, Math­ias chaired the NRS University-wide com­mit­tee for an unsur­passed 21 years.