Here, we highlight a couple of our students and their projects so that you can learn more about the research your donations support. More details are available on our Student Profiles page.


An Excellence Award enabled Sarah Vaccaro to work on tenrecs!

Thanks to your contributions to the Excellence Award, Sarah Vaccaro went to Madagascar and collected preliminary data on the elusive tenrecs!


A Slobodkin Award supports Sixto Taveras with his work on Long Island invasive species!


With his Slobodkin Award, Sixto Taveras, is using machine learning methods to detect the presence and assess distribution changes of the invasive Phragmites australis on the south shore.


Kate Blackwell will bring science to policymakers in Washington, D.C.

Kate Blackwell, whose research has been supported by and Excellence Award, is now a 2026 Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellow. This prestigious Fellowship matches highly qualified graduate students with “hosts” in the legislative and executive branches of government located in the Washington, D.C. area, and will enable Kate to bring science to policy for one year.

Alumni Spotlight

Anna Thonis won the Hanski Award!

Recent graduate, Anna Thonis, PhD '24, received the Hanski Prize, for the best student paper annually in all areas of animal ecology in honor of Professor Ilkka Hanski (1953–2016). Using experimental field manipulations of three Puerto Rican Anolis species, she demonstrated that competitive strength scales with ecological similarity, as predicted under coexistence theory.


Anusha Shankar won the Maxwell-Hanrahan Award!


Anusha Shankar, PhD '18, received the Maxwell-Hanrahan award in field biology for her research on how animals manage and balance their time and energy and how they respond to environmental in elevation, rural-urban gradients or warming temperatures resulting from climate change. 


Rosenberg, Verrelli, and Matzkin joined the celebration of Profs. Eanes and Levinton's careers!

Alumni (from left to right) Michael Rosenberg, PhD '00, Brian Verrelli, PhD '00, and Luciano Matzkin, PhD '03, were among the many graduates who joined us in celebrating the retirement of Professors Walt Eanes and Jeff Levinton.