Two students receive KU Field Station Student Research Awards for 2021


LAWRENCE — Like all research activity, field studies have required adaptation during the past year. University of Kansas student researchers have welcomed the chance to work outdoors but have made adjustments with social distancing, driving separate vehicles and implementing other changes. One of the ways the Kansas Biological Survey provides support for student research is through its annual awards to help cover costs associated with KU students’ field experiments connected with the KU Field Station.

Ligia Souza with adviser Sharon Billings at the KU Field Station’s Baldwin Woods Forest Preserve.The Biological Survey, a KU designated research center, manages the Field Station. It has presented two doctoral students with its 2021 KU Field Station Student Research Awards. Each award provides $1,200 in support of the students’ research. During the 2021-2022 academic year, each student will present their research during one of the Biological Survey’s Friday Ecology Seminars, which went online during the past year.

“We have two outstanding award recipients this year and are excited to see the results of their research,” said Bryan Foster, KU Field Station director. Foster is a KU professor of ecology & evolutionary biology and a senior scientist at the Kansas Biological Survey.

The KU Field Station Student Awards recipients:

Atefeh Hosseini, doctoral student in environmental engineering from Stuttgart, Germany, for her project, “Impact of climate change on harmful algal bloom.” Her adviser is Joshua Roundy, assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering.

Ligia Souza, doctoral student in ecology & evolutionary biology, from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, for her project titled “Changes in future nutrient availability may depend on the temperature sensitivity of soil extracellular enzymes.” Her adviser is Sharon Billings, Dean’s Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and a senior scientist at the Kansas Biological Survey.

The KU Field Station Student Research Awards are funded through KU Endowment, the independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU.

The Kansas Biological Survey was established at KU in 1911. It houses a diverse group of ecological research and remote sensing/GIS programs. The survey also manages the 3,700-acre KU Field Station, established in 1947; it offers sites for faculty and student study in the sciences, arts, humanities and professional schools.

Photos: (Top) Ligia Souza with adviser Sharon Billings at the KU Field Station’s Baldwin Woods Forest Preserve. (Above) Atefeh Hosseini conducting field work at Marion Reservoir in the Flint Hills of Kansas.

Thu, 04/29/2021

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Kirsten Bosnak

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Kirsten Bosnak

Kansas Biological Survey

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