Six of Stony Brook University’s top marine science undergraduates were recently awarded scholarships from the Evan Frankel Foundation to enhance their academic experiences with extracurricular marine science activities. While the awards may be used for travel, research, or internships, all six of the fall semester recipients opted to use their awards to participate in MSRC’s new winter session course to Jamaica, Tropical Marine Ecology. Led by MSRC Professors Chris Gobler and Brad Peterson, the students spent three weeks at Discovery Bay studying coral reefs and designing and executing their own research projects. Both professors were impressed by the high quality of the research conducted in only a few short weeks.
Yana Polikarpov, one of the scholarship recipients, conducted research on the grazing rates of herbivorous fish in sea grass beds around Jamaica. Polikarpov noted, “The experience at Discovery Bay Marine Lab was the door to my career in marine science through Stony Brook University. I experienced a beautiful tropical environment, leamed about amazing plants and animals, as well as environmental issues that face coral reef environments today.”
Justin Grimm-Greenblatt, another recipient, studied the covariation of fish populations and coral density on Jamaican coral reefs. He commented, “This trip gave me the opportunity to leam how to design and conduct an experiment in the field, which I believe is extremely valuable. I think the experience I got in Jamaica will serve me well in future research endeavors.”
The scholarships were awarded based on the student’s GPA, essay, letters of recommendation, and interview with a committee of five people from both the Foundation and MSRC. The other four awards went to: Alisa Politano who studied the role of sea urchins in regulating the growth of macro algae on Jamaican coral reefs; Ann-Marie Salvato who investigated sea grass beds as nurseries for coral reef fish; Arthina Seaman who characterized the diversity of algal assemblages associated with Stegastes sp. territories on Jamaican coral reefs; and, Kathryn Peltier who studied the distribution of sea fans on Jamaican coral reefs.
The Evan Frankel Foundation, headquartered in East Hampton, NY, supports higher education at colleges and universities all over the country, focusing on both the environment and the humanities. $40,000 was allocated for awards to SBU undergraduates this academic year and a second round of scholarships has just been announced for the spring. Full application details can be found on MSRC’ s web site through the link below. Applications are due Friday, April 21, 2006.
