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Announcing our student awards

UCMP has been extremely fortunate to receive donations in the form of endowments from individuals dedicated to the support of graduate student training, research and fieldwork. Each year we use the earnings from these endowments to make research awards to our graduate students, and we are proud to announce the 2015-16 recipients and offer them congratulations!

From the Dorothy K. Palmer Fund:
Emily Orzechowski to support field work and isotopic analyses of molluscan assemblages in coastal units of southern California for temperature reconstructions during the last interglacial period.

Camilla Souto to visit the invertebrate zoology and paleobiology collections at the Natural History Museum in London to collect morphological data on echinoids.

From the Doris O. and Samuel P. Welles Fund:
Natalia Villavicencio to visit the Natural History Museum of Denmark and Natural History Museum in London to sample Quaternary megafaunal bone specimens for radiocarbon dating analyses.

From the Bill Berry Fund:
Caitlin Boas to support fieldwork in the Cretaceous Pierre Shale of South Dakota and geochemical analysis of morphologically diverse ammonite species.

From the Annie Alexander Fund:
Dori Contreras will receive a UCMP Fellowship to support her research on the Cretaceous flora of New Mexico's McRae Formation, focusing on analysis of trait characteristics and community structure and function.

UCMP Graduate Student Research Grants provide further support of the following students:
Caitlin Boas to support fieldwork in the Cretaceous Pierre Shale of South Dakota and geochemical analysis of morphologically diverse ammonite species.

Dori Contreras for field sampling and census projects in Cretaceous plant assemblages in the McRae Formation of New Mexico.

Camilla Souto to visit the invertebrate zoology and paleobiology collections at the Natural History Museum in London to collect morphological data on echinoids.

Shih-Yi (Winnie) Hsiung for pollen trap sample collecting in Clear Lake, CA, and laboratory analyses of plant communities across the last glacial maximum.

Rosemary Romero for laboratory experiments in temperature and salinity ranges of Ulva, a significant contributor to algal blooms in rocky intertidal zones.

Claire Englander Student Prize
The Claire Englander Student Prize is awarded annually to a student making outstanding contributions to UCMP in collections, archives, fossil preparation, outreach, or in other areas of service. This year's prize goes to graduate student Jeff Benca. Jeff helps immensely in many areas of the UCMP, from highlighting his own paleobotany research in public lectures to staffing tables at CalDay and other UCMP Friends and donor events. Jeff's service goes beyond UCMP, extending to the broader Berkeley Natural History Museum community. For example, he has presented his research at Botany Lunch and has given a Jepson Herbaria Workshop.