news & opps

Read below for all the good green news that’s fit to print!

• Rosemary Ostfeld recently received a USDA award for her PlanEat startup. Read more at News@Wes!
• Helen Poulos is featured in a USGS “Eyes on Earth” podcast where she discusses wildfires and her remote sensing research data from ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS). Poulos and her collaborators studied the Arizona Pine Oak forest five years after a severe fire and learned that post-fire landscape had surprisingly high rates of water use.
• Congrats to Helen Poulos and her co-authors of three new published papers, including one with Michael Freiburger ’21:  Poulos, H. M., Freiburger, M. R., Barton, A. M., & Taylor, A. H. (2021). Mixed-Severity Wildfire as a Driver of Vegetation Change in an Arizona Madrean Sky Island System, USA. Fire, 4(4), 78; Briggs, M. K., Poulos, H. M., Renfrow, J., Ochoa‐Espinoza, J., Larson, D., Manning, P., … & Crawford, K. (2021). Choked out: Battling invasive giant cane along the Rio Grande/Bravo Borderlands. River Research and Applications; and Barton, A. M., & Poulos, H. (2021). Wildfire and topography drive woody plant diversity in a Sky Island mountain range in the Southwest USA. Ecology and Evolution, 00, 1– 18.
• Helen Poulos’s NASA-funded research on the 2011 Horseshoe II Fire in Arizona was highlighted on AZ Central. “In the face of increasing wildfire frequency, size and magnitude — due to both fire suppression and climate change — one of the key things we want to understand is how plants recover from fire, specifically high-severity wildfires,” said Poulos, a professor of environmental studies at Wesleyan University and the principal investigator of the study. “Understanding how plants use water is a really important step in understanding ecosystem recovery after a fire.” Read all about it @ NASA-Funded Study Uses International Space Station to Predict Wildfire Effects. 
• Congrats to our class of 2021 honors or high honors in environmental studies recipients: Sanya Bery (honors), Rebecca Lopez-Anido (high honors), Gabe Snashall (high honors), and Isabella Whiting (high honors)!
• Awardees have been announced for the 2021 Robert Schumann Distinguished Student Award. Established in 2007 by a gift from the Robert Schumann Foundation, the prize is awarded to an outstanding student or students who demonstrates academic accomplishment and excellence in environmental stewardship through work at Wesleyan or the greater Middletown community. This year’s honorees: Franny Lin, for her work at Long Lane Farm, and Cat Xi, for her work with the Sustainability Office and with the town of Middletown.
• Helen Poulos recently published a paper on Arizona wildfires. Read more about the project in this News@Wes article! 
• Congrats to the newest members of Wesleyan’s Gamma Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa: Lizzie Edwards (ENVS & ANTH), Cat Xi (CSS, ENVS), Franny Lin (ENVS, E&ES),  Maggie O’Hanlon (ENVS, GOVT) & Cameron Scharff (ENVS, PHIL)!

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Check out our ever-updating list of eco-friendly opportunities open to our coexist community. Have an opportunity to add? Email me at lkenney01@wesleyan.edu! Check out the latest opps, below!

Apply today! $4,400 COE 2022-23 Research Fellowships: Now accepting applications for our  COE summer 2022, fall 2022 and spring 2023 research fellowships! The College of the Environment (COE) Fellowship Program allows current Wesleyan undergraduate students to undertake research on environmental topics under the guidance of a faculty mentor during summer or fall or spring semesters. Fellowships are available to all current Wesleyan undergraduate students, regardless of class year or major, and may be undertaken at Wesleyan or off-campus. Check out the wide range of past COE research fellowship awardees, and their projects, here! Students must be current Wesleyan undergraduate students for the duration of their fellowship. All full COE summer fellowships carry a stipend of $4,400. Fall and spring semester amounts will vary based upon duration and hours per week spent on research.  Deadline to apply: February 14, 2022. 

Social impact and entrepreneurship opportunities now available from the Patricelli Center! Check out the many opps available to Wes undergrads through Wesleyan’s Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship, including $5k Seed Grants, Davis Projects for Peace, fellowships, courses, and more! Contact Makeala Kingsley, director, Patricelli Center, with any questions. Deadlines vary.

Yale Conservation Scholars – Early Leadership Initiative is now accepting applications! Led by Dr. Dorceta Taylor, Program Director and Principal Investigator, the Yale Conservation Scholars – Early Leadership Initiative (YCS- ELI) was formerly known as the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program at University of Michigan/Yale School of the Environment. YCS-ELI is a summer opportunity for undergraduates who are traditionally underrepresented in the conservation field and who are interested in careers in the sector.  Any questions can be directed to YCS-ELI@yale.edu. Rolling deadline through January 31.

Danta Field Courses in Tropical Biology is pleased to announce their 2021/2022 field courses in tropical biology. Courses are intended for undergraduates or early graduate level students who have a keen interest in tropical ecosystems and conservation, but have little or no experience of working in a tropical environment. Participants may enroll on either a credit or non-credit basis. For more information, email conservation@danta.email. For an alumni perspective on our programs, visit DANTAisms blog.

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