NSF Graduate Fellowships - Updated (again)

Five Six current or incoming EEB students were awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships or honorable mentions:

Awards:

• Rachel Fovargue (Armsworth lab)
• Lauren Breza (Classen lab)
• Angela Chuang (incoming Riechert lab)

Honorable mentions:

• Brian Looney (Matheny)
• Katie Massana (Schilling & O'Meara)
• Quentin Read (Sanders)

Update: Also note that Kelly Rooker, a graduate student in math who is in EEB faculty member Sergey Gavrilets' lab, was also awarded an NSF fellowship.

Update 2: Angela Chuang has decided to enter EEB in the fall; numbers have been updated to reflect this.

In the areas of ecology and systematics, EEB tied for 12th 9th place out of all universities in awards and honorable mentions (note that UTK EEB is the only department broken out; all other numbers were summed across all departments in other universities). In these areas EEB had more students honored than Harvard, Duke, Stanford, Yale, and many other universities with strong equivalent departments. Below is a table of EEB and all other institutions with any awards or honorable mentions ecology or systematics. Across all areas and departments, UTK got 12 awards and honorable mentions in total.

Institution	Awards + Honorable Mentions
University of California-Davis	16
University of Washington	13
University of California-Berkeley	9
University of California-Santa Cruz	9
Cornell University	8
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	8
Princeton University	7
Texas A & M University Main Campus	7
University of Tennessee Knoxville, all departments	7
University of Tennessee Knoxville, EEB only	6
Colorado State University	6
Michigan State University	6
University of Florida	6
University of Arizona	5
University of Colorado at Boulder	5
University of Georgia	5
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	5
Utah State University	5
Indiana University	4
Oregon State University	4
University of California-Santa Barbara	4
University of Chicago	4
University of Michigan Ann Arbor	4
University of Wisconsin-Madison	4
Pennsylvania State Univ University Park	3
Stanford University	3
University of California-Los Angeles	3
University of California-San Diego	3
University of Montana	3
University of South Florida	3
Yale University	3
Arizona State University	2
Harvard University	2
Montana State University	2
Oklahoma State University	2
Purdue University	2
SUNY at Stony Brook	2
University of California-Irvine	2
University of Hawaii	2
University of Idaho	2
University of Illinois at Chicago	2
University of Kansas Main Campus	2
University of Missouri-Columbia	2
University of Notre Dame	2
University of Pittsburgh	2
University of Texas at Austin	2
University of Utah	2
University of Vermont &amp State Agricultural College	2
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	2
American Museum Natural History	1
Boise State University	1
Boston University	1
Central Michigan University	1
College of William and Mary	1
Dartmouth College	1
Emory University	1
Florida Gulf Coast University	1
Florida International University	1
Florida State University	1
Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology - University of Hawaii Manoa	1
Humboldt State University	1
Humboldt State University Foundation	1
Kent State University	1
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	1
Miami University	1
Missouri State University	1
North Carolina State University	1
North Dakota State University Fargo	1
Old Dominion University	1
Portland State University	1
Rutgers University New Brunswick	1
Salisbury University	1
San Francisco State University	1
San Jose State University	1
Syracuse University	1
Texas State University - San Marcos	1
Trustees of Boston University	1
Tufts University	1
University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus	1
University of California-Riverside	1
University of Central Florida	1
University of Connecticut	1
University of Maine	1
University of Massachusetts Amherst	1
University of Nevada Reno	1
University of New Hampshire	1
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	1
University of North Carolina at Charlotte	1
University of Oklahoma Norman Campus	1
University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras	1
University of Virginia Main Campus	1
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution	1

Institutions with no awards or honorable mentions not listed.

Note that for this table, ecology and systematics correspond to NSF categories "Life Sciences - Ecology", "Life Sciences - Systematic Biology".

PNAS paper on dispersal and coexistence

A recent paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Michael Bode, Lance Bode, and UTK EEB assistant professor Paul Armsworth examines a novel mechanism that maintains diversity in patchy habitats. Abstract is below. See the full paper here. 


Abstract: The coexistence of multiple species on a smaller number of limiting resources is an enduring ecological paradox. The mechanisms that maintain such biodiversity are of great interest to ecology and of central importance to conservation. We describe and prove a unique and robust mechanism for coexistence: Species that differ only in their dispersal abilities can coexist, if habitat patches are distributed at irregular distances. This mechanism is straightforward and ecologically intuitive, but can nevertheless create complex coexistence patterns that are robust to substantial environmental stochasticity. The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is noted for its diversity of reef fish species and its complex arrangement of reef habitat. We demonstrate that this mechanism can allow fish species with different pelagic larval durations to stably coexist in the GBR. Further, coexisting species on the GBR often dominate different subregions, defined primarily by cross-shelf position. Interspecific differences in dispersal ability generate similar coexistence patterns when dispersal is influenced by larval behavior and variable oceanographic conditions. Many marine and terrestrial ecosystems are characterized by patchy habitat distributions and contain coexisting species that have different dispersal abilities. This coexistence mechanism is therefore likely to have ecological relevance beyond reef fish.

Paul Ehrlich addresses UT

Famed ecologist Paul Ehrlich addressed an audience at UT as part of the Baker Center Interdisciplinary Group on Energy and Environmental Policy series. For more information, see this article in UTK's student newspaper, The Daily Beacon.

Postdoc in biodiversity conservation with Armsworth

A postdoctoral position is available in Paul Armsworth’s research group at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (web.utk.edu/~parmswor).

The post-doc will participate in an ongoing, interdisciplinary research project that aims to determine the relative effectiveness of different conservation investment strategies in contrasting ecological and socioeconomic contexts. The post-doc will help collate and analyze spatial data on conservation investment patterns in the US. This work involves extensive interactions with conservation practitioners and will provide the individual with experience of a range of interdisciplinary techniques and approaches relevant to conservation science.

Our research group is part of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at UT-Knoxville that is a highly interactive and integrative group of faculty, post-docs and fellows and students (http://eeb.bio.utk.edu). UT-Knoxville is a vibrant campus located in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains and has recently become the home to the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (http://www.nimbios.org) with which our research group has a close association.

Applicants for the position should have a PhD in a relevant discipline, strong quantitative skills, and proficiency in English. In addition, experience with GIS and analysis of spatial ecological data would be advantageous. Funds are available to support this position for one year. The position is immediately available and the search will continue until the position is filled. To apply, please submit by email a CV, a brief covering letter, one or two exemplars of your research (e.g. papers, manuscripts or thesis chapters), and the names and contact information for two references to Paul Armsworth (p.armsworth@utk.edu).