Lacawac Sanctuary Research Grants
Lacawac is committed to supporting primary scientific research. Thanks to the generosity of the Watres and Moeller families, we are able to offer research grants to faculty, post-docs, graduate students and undergraduate students. The Robert Estabrook Moeller Research Fellow Award and the Isabel and Arthur Watres Student Research Award funds scholars conducting research that incorporates Lacawac's natural resources.
Applications for both opportunities are accepted on a rolling basis. Review of applications begins April 15th of each year. See below for details, previous awardees, and to apply!
Applications for both opportunities are accepted on a rolling basis. Review of applications begins April 15th of each year. See below for details, previous awardees, and to apply!
Robert Estabrook Moeller Research Fellow Award
Lacawac is now accepting applications for the 2021 R. E. Moeller Research Fellow Award
Applicants can be graduate students, post docs, or faculty. Preference will be given to scholars who are new Lacawac users or are starting new projects, and who request funding to cover Lacawac lodging, lab, and/or boat fees. Awards are up to $5,000 but are generally ~$2,500.
2020 R. E. Moeller Fellows
Roger Thomas, The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
Freshwater Mussel Survey of Shallow-water Habitats within Lake Lacawac
Roger Thomas has been collecting and studying freshwater mussels throughout the United States for over 40 years. He and his colleagues at the Academy are currently working with researchers at the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary and the Philadelphia Water Department to propagate freshwater mussels and help to repopulate streams that, historically, contained a diverse freshwater mussel fauna. Mr. Thomas is the Project Support Section Leader of the Patrick Center of Environmental Research at the Academy as well as the Operations Manager of the Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science Department at Drexel University.
Freshwater Mussel Survey of Shallow-water Habitats within Lake Lacawac
Roger Thomas has been collecting and studying freshwater mussels throughout the United States for over 40 years. He and his colleagues at the Academy are currently working with researchers at the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary and the Philadelphia Water Department to propagate freshwater mussels and help to repopulate streams that, historically, contained a diverse freshwater mussel fauna. Mr. Thomas is the Project Support Section Leader of the Patrick Center of Environmental Research at the Academy as well as the Operations Manager of the Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science Department at Drexel University.
Jessica "JB" Moon, Murray State University
Assessing Watershed Health in Response to Deer Browsing and Recovery from Acid Rain
in a Hardwood Forest, Northeastern Pennsylvania
J.B. Moon has a Ph.D. in Ecology from The Pennsylvania State University, with a background in landscape ecology and wetland microbial biogeochemistry. She was a postdoc at the U.S. EPA’s Pacific Coast Ecology Branch and the University of Arkansas and is now an Assistant Professor in the Watershed Studies Institute and the Biological Sciences Department at Murray State University. She studies how landscapes affect fine-scale spatial variability in wetlands and alter their carbon and nitrogen cycles. In recent years, her research interests have expanded outside of wetlands. Last summer she was part of a team studying how carbon cycling changes across a land use gradient, from old-growth forests to abandoned rubber plantations in the montane rain forests of Borneo. She received a Franklin & Marshal COG Grant and the Moeller Award to begin studying the effects of deer browsing on soil microbial communities and their carbon cycling in the long-term deer enclosures at Lacawac.
Assessing Watershed Health in Response to Deer Browsing and Recovery from Acid Rain
in a Hardwood Forest, Northeastern Pennsylvania
J.B. Moon has a Ph.D. in Ecology from The Pennsylvania State University, with a background in landscape ecology and wetland microbial biogeochemistry. She was a postdoc at the U.S. EPA’s Pacific Coast Ecology Branch and the University of Arkansas and is now an Assistant Professor in the Watershed Studies Institute and the Biological Sciences Department at Murray State University. She studies how landscapes affect fine-scale spatial variability in wetlands and alter their carbon and nitrogen cycles. In recent years, her research interests have expanded outside of wetlands. Last summer she was part of a team studying how carbon cycling changes across a land use gradient, from old-growth forests to abandoned rubber plantations in the montane rain forests of Borneo. She received a Franklin & Marshal COG Grant and the Moeller Award to begin studying the effects of deer browsing on soil microbial communities and their carbon cycling in the long-term deer enclosures at Lacawac.
Robert Moeller, a friend to Lacawac...
Robert was born in Chicago in 1949 and grew up roaming the hills and fields of western Pennsylvania. He went to high school at Shadyside Academy in Fox Chapel PA and did his undergraduate work at Dartmouth College. He earned his PhD from Cornell University in Aquatic Ecology, followed by postdoctoral work in Paleolimnology at the University of Minnesota and in Aquatic Ecology at Michigan State. His career involved positions at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Lehigh University, and most recently Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Many years of his life were dedicated to work on Lake Lacawac and other lakes in the Poconos of northeastern Pennsylvania.
From his earliest childhood Robert spent each day in active pursuit of knowledge. His unquenchable and wide ranging curiosity about matters from reptiles and bugs to fossils and rocketry as a child, through nature, history, music, culture, politics, literature, languages, and geography made asking him a question its own reward. It is the intention of the Robert Estabrook Moeller Memorial Fund to support promising young scholars in limnology with bright, inquisitive minds who will perpetuate this search for knowledge. Robert’s generosity extended to his establishing an endowed fund which will support Robert Estabrook Moeller Research Fellow awards to college and university students and faculty to do limnological research on Lake Lacawac and other Pocono region lakes. |
Previous Recipients
2019: Dr. Jessica Moon, Murray State University Long-term deer herbivory effect carbon pools and fluxes in a temperate forest. 2019: Lauren Adkins Knose, Miami University of Ohio Investigating algal responses, including community assembly and toxin presence, to changes in nutrient, light and temperature difference, accelerated by increasing dissolved organic matter (DOM). 2018: Dr. Alyson Thibodeau, Dickinson College Investigation of Lead Isotopes as Chronostratigraphic Markers for Lake Sediments in Northeastern Pennsylvania 2018: Dr. James R. Dearworth, Jr. , Lafayette College Ecophysiological Evidence for the Ability of red-eared slider Turtles to Adapt to Hypoxic Environmenta 2017: Dr. Elise Heiss, King's College Nitorgen Cycling in Lake Lacawac: Investigating Environmental Controls on Water Column Nitrification 2017: Rachel Pilla, Miami University in Ohio Mapping the Metabolic Landscape for Threatened Zooplankton Taxa in Lakes 2016: Dr. Christopher Dempsey, Gannon University The role of photochemical reactions and microbial degradation in the oxidation of dissolved organic carbon in Lake Lacawac 2015: Jennifer Brentrup, Miami University of Ohio A comparison of the fate of terrestrial dissolved organic matter in temperate vs. sub-tropical lakes 2014: Dr. Robyn Smyth, Bard Center for Environmental Policy Understanding changes in lake thermal structure: preliminary physical analysis of Lakes Lacawac and Giles |
Isabel and Arthur Watres Student Research Award
Lacawac is now accepting applications for the 2021Isabel and Arthur Watres Student Research Fellows
Applicants can be undergraduate students at any stage of their degree program. Students must be advised by a faulty member, graduate student, or post-doc. Preference will be given to scholars who are new Lacawac users or are starting new projects, and who request funding to cover Lacawac lodging, lab, and/or boat fees. Awards are up to $500 but are generally ~$250.
2020 A. Watres Student Research Fellows
Doan Nguyen, Miami University of Ohio and Lacawac Sanctuary
Advisor: Craig Williamson, Miami University of Ohio
Visualizing High-Frequency Data at Lacawac Through Interactive Web Application
Doan first came to Lacawac Sanctuary as a Summer Scholar student from Miami University, and she absolutely loved the natural beauty of Lake Lacawac, its watershed and surrounding lands. As a Lacawac intern during the summer of 2020, Doan applied her Statistical college coursework to develop an interactive application that will display high-frequency data at the Sanctuary. This will serve towards the goal of increasing the visibility and accessibility of Lacawac's data. Her work will be helpful for future students, researchers, and educators at Lacawac and beyond.
Jakub Zegar, Drexel University
Advisor: Dane Ward, Drexel University
Revisiting Lacawac Sanctuary's Herpetofaunal Biodiversity, with Particular Focus on Salamanders (Urodela)
Jakub Zegar is a herpetologist and undergraduate senior at Drexel University. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Jakub’s exposure to wildlife and the natural sciences was minimal. While at Drexel University Jakub gained experience in field herpetology in Cameron, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Michigan while studying frogs, snakes, turtles, and salamanders. It was through these experiences that Jakub developed a deep passion for herpetofaunal disease ecology and conservation, which he hopes to pursue in graduate school. In addition to his scientific passions, Jakub is a gifted science communicator and STEM educator. Jakub’s career goal is to hone these skills to better conserve rare and threatened herpetofauna globally.
Advisor: Dane Ward, Drexel University
Revisiting Lacawac Sanctuary's Herpetofaunal Biodiversity, with Particular Focus on Salamanders (Urodela)
Jakub Zegar is a herpetologist and undergraduate senior at Drexel University. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Jakub’s exposure to wildlife and the natural sciences was minimal. While at Drexel University Jakub gained experience in field herpetology in Cameron, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Michigan while studying frogs, snakes, turtles, and salamanders. It was through these experiences that Jakub developed a deep passion for herpetofaunal disease ecology and conservation, which he hopes to pursue in graduate school. In addition to his scientific passions, Jakub is a gifted science communicator and STEM educator. Jakub’s career goal is to hone these skills to better conserve rare and threatened herpetofauna globally.
Lacawac Sanctuary exists because of L. Arthur Watres and his mother Isabel Reyburn Watres. The Watres family owned the land the Sanctuary now occupies since 1913. Both Arthur and Isabel were dedicated conservationists and formed the Lacawac Sanctuary Foundation in 1966. They wanted Lacawac to be a “living laboratory” where scientists could conduct research and train the next generation. To further this vision, Lacawac Sanctuary offers financial support for undergraduate research in the form of the Isabel & Arthur Watres Student Research Fund. |
Previous Recipients
2019: Mikaela Martiros, Bard College Assessing the DOM contribution of surface inflows into Lake Lacawac during summer storm events 2019: Mitchell Campbell, University of South Florida Survey at Lacawac Sanctuary: To help define the ecology of the red-eared slider turtles, Trachemys scripta elegans 2016: Ariek Norford, Franklin and Marshall College Changes in dissolved organic matter and impacts on dissolved oxygen and zooplankton 2016: Sarah Magyan, Gannon University The role of photochemical reactions and microbial degradation in the oxidation of terrestrially dervied dissolved organic carbon in temperate lakes 2015: Taylor Leach, Miami University of Ohio Living in a multidimensional world: Exploring the mechanisms that link vertical and horizontal habitat selection of zooplankton using acoustic techniques 2015: Tiffany Chin, Dickinson College Seasonal changes in the algal community of Lake Lacawac 2012: Jeffrey Babb, Miami University of Ohio 2007: Adam Heinze, Temple University Characterizing the mixotrophy of Dinobryon |
