College Points of Pride

College Awards

• University of Idaho Awards for Excellence: Carrie Anderson, ECB; mentor – Frank Wilhelm. Mary Coyle, Fish and Wildlife Resources; mentor – Kerri Vierling. Thomas Rodhouse, Wildlife Resources; mentor – Kerri Vierling.

Student Awards

• Four CNR students have won Alumni Awards for Excellence for the 2012-2013 academic year. This year’s winners from CNR are: Jaz Ammon, a senior in Resource Recreation and Tourism; Rebecca Johnson, a senior double majoring in Ecology and Conservation Biology and Wildlife Resources; Zach Penney, a graduate student in Fisheries Resources; and Wade Tinkham, a graduate student in Natural Resources. Curious about the awards? Read the full story.
• CNR graduate student, Oscar Abelleira, has received a $15,000 Borlaug Fellowship.  Oscar is an IGERT PHD student in Fish and Wildlife Resources working in Hojancha, Costa Rica. He is co-advised by Sven Guenter at CATIE, and by Alex Fremie at U-Idaho. The title of Oscar's dissertation is "Water Use of Reforestation with Teak Plantations in Nicoya, Costa Rica: Implications for Droughts."
• Matthew Aghai, Forest Resources graduate student, and his team at the university's Pitkin Nursery won a $3,000 grant from the Sustainability Center that will fund the installation and maintenance of a major subirrigation system at the Forest Nursery. The system will increase water use efficiency by roughly 30 percent and reduce nutrient runoff.
• A Forest Resources student team competed in the semi finals in the Quiz Bowl event at the Society of American Foresters National Convention in Honolulu, Hawaii, Nov. 2-6. Team members included Tess Pinkney, Trevor DoBell-Carlsson, Jacob Vail and Elise Suronen, who competed against 23 forestry teams from across the U.S. Bill Sweeney, a Forest Resources undergraduate and a national officer in the student Society of American Foresters, helped organize and run the Quiz Bowl event.
• Ted Harris, Fisheries graduate student studying with Frank Wilhelm, was awarded an honorable mention for the Jody Connor Student Paper Award recognizing the paper he presented at the North American Lakes Management Society annual meeting in late Oct. in Spokane, Wash.
• Bryan Jones, a Fisheries master's degree candidate, received a $1,500 scholarship from Kelly Creek Flycasters recognizing his work that positively impacts fisheries research in the Pacific Northwest.
• Fire Ecology and Management graduate students Christine Droske and Kerry Kemp presented their graduate research at the Interior West Fire Ecology Conference held Nov. 14-17 in Snowbird, Utah. Both were awarded nationally competitive Travel, Research, and Educational Experience (TREE) awards by the Association for Fire Ecology that funded their travel and active participation. Additionally, seven undergraduate students in the Student Association for Fire Ecology volunteered at the conference, and helped host a U-Idaho alumni and friends event. They also presented a poster and raised funding for their service learning project planned for spring break 2012. Participants included Eric Molten, Katie Ward-Bryant, Liz Bauer, Chris Bernau, Bruce Brockett, Kyle White and Alex Irwin.

Faculty Awards

• Kerry Reese was awarded the Wildlife Society Northwest Section’s Arthur S. Einarsen Award during the joint Northwest Section/Montana Chapter meeting in Great Falls, MT, on March 12, 2012. The Einarsen Award recognizes outstanding service to the wildlife profession by individuals encompassed by the Northwest Section.
• Steve Bunting received the 2011 Harold Biswell Lifetime Achievement Award in Ecology from the Association for Fire Ecology, recognizing a lifetime of fire ecology and management achievement in the western U.S. >>Read more
• Gary Machlis recently was appointed by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar as co-leader of a specialized scientific group that will develop future scenarios and provide rapid, interdisciplinary scientific assessments during environmental crises or disasters affecting America’s natural resources.
• Penny Morgan achieved the status of Certified Senior Fire Ecologist. She was recognized by the Association for Fire Ecology under the Wildland Fire Certification Program as a leading scientist in the fire science profession whose has made substantial and lasting contributions to the field of fire ecology.
• Sandra Pinel was recognized in 2011 as a Fellow in the Society for Applied Anthropology for more than 20 years of scholarship and service.

CNR Awards for First Quarter of FY 2012