National Park Service George Melendez Wright Climate Change Fellowship Program
2011 Fellowship Awards
Congratulations to the following recipients of a 2011 NPS George M. Wright Climate Change Fellowship Award. The goals of this student fellowship program are to support new and innovative research on climate change impacts to protected areas and to increase the use of scientific knowledge to further resource management in parks. Their proposals were chosen from a competitive pool of high quality proposals carefully reviewed by teams comprised of National Park Service and non-federal reviewers who are experts in the various proposed topic areas.
For Fellowship project descriptions and additional information on opportunities to work with the National Park Service, please see the NPS Internships and Research Opportunities webpage.
| Name | University | Research Location | Fellowship Award Amount | Project Title |
| Lukas Bell-Dereske | Rice University | Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore | $19,965 | How do microbial symbioses affect plant community and ecosystem responses to climate change? A test in the dunes of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore |
| Sarah Bisbing | Colorado State University | Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park | $19,200 |
Discrete populations? Examining the role of genetic variation and landscape heterogeneity in the phenotypic divergence of Pinus contorta |
| Kirsten Feifel | University of Washington | Olympic National Park | $18,908 | Harmful algal blooms and climate in Olympic National Park |
| Christopher Jury | University of Hawaii | Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, Kalaupapa National Historical Park, Haleakala National Park, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, National Park of American Samoa | $18,617 | Coral resilience and resistance in the National Parks of the Pacific Islands during times of global change |
| Kristen Kaczynski | Colorado State University | Rocky Mountain National Park | $19,684 | Linking climate drivers to the timing of willow (Salix spp.) decline in Rocky Mountain National Park |
| Lydia Kapsenberg | UC Santa Barbara | Channel Islands National Park | $19,987 | Assessment of ocean acidification in the Channel Islands National Park and its impact on local marine species |
| Caitlin McDonough | Boston University | Acadia National Park | $12,004 | Reconstructing past plant phenology in Acadia National Park: tracking climate change through herbarium specimens, written records, and historic photographs. |
| Lauren Oakes | Stanford University | Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve | $19,179 | Understanding human and ecological responses to yellow-cedar decline in southeast Alaska’s coastal rainforests: a case study looking at what climate-related changes in forest communities mean for conservation and management planning |
| Krista Slemmons | University of Maine | Glacier National Park | $12,372 | Investigating how climate induced changes in alpine glaciers alter phytoplankton communities and lake habitat |
| Jackson Webster | University of Colorado, Boulder | Mesa Verde National Park | $20,000 | The Effects of Fire and Fire Management Practices on Mercury Fate and Transport in Mesa Verde National Park |
| Kristie Wendelberger | Florida International University | Everglades National Park | $20,000 | Detecting long-term community shifts in response to sea level rise and Everglades’ restoration: Can remote sensing, competitive ability, and life stage be used in guiding conservation actions? |
Questions? If your question is not answered above, please contact us at gmwccfp@uw.edu
