Research Fellowships

Boyd Evison Graduate Research Fellowship Awards

2008 CALL/APPLICATION
Deadline was February 29, 2008

In 2005, Grand Teton National Park and the Grand Teton Natural History Association collaborated to initiate a new graduate research fellowship in memory of Boyd Evison, who died in October 2002. Evison retired in 1994 from an exemplary 42-year career with the National Park Service in which he rose from a park ranger and resource manager to superintendent and regional director in parks from Alaska to the Rocky Mountain Region. After retiring from government service, he became executive director of the park’s primary interpretive and educational partner, the Grand Teton Natural History Association (GTNHA).

The NHA launched the Evison Fellowship to encourage scientific and conservation-related research in the ecosystem, providing up to $10,000 in support for a graduate study leading to completion of a master’s or Ph.D. degree in the biosciences, geosciences, or social sciences. The park’s chief of science and resource management developed and distributed the announcement inviting interested candidates to submit proposals, which were evaluated by a technical panel of three Ph.D. scientists outside Grand Teton National Park who submitted a short list of finalists; the final decision on the grant was made by a committee representing the park and the NHA.

Executive director Jan Lynch awarded the inaugural Evison Fellowship, in spring 2005, to Florence Gardipee, a master’s degree candidate at the University of Montana. Gardipee’s research planned to test non-invasive techniques in gathering DNA samples and data gathered from bison feces to document the genetic diversity of bison in the Yellowstone and Jackson herds, and to investigate how genetic diversity or lack thereof affects the animals’ susceptibility to infectious diseases such as brucellosis.

In 2006, the NHA granted a second fellowship to Ericka Pilcher, a graduate student at Colorado State University. Pilcher planned to identify natural sounds heard by Grand Teton park visitors in various locations, evaluate visitors’ reactions to natural and human-caused sounds, and develop indicators to set standards for managing soundscapes in the park. The 2007 award went to Lyman Persico, a Ph.D. student in hydrology at the University of New Mexico, whose research focuses on long-term variability of beaver effects on streams in Yellowstone and Grand Teton.

Gardipee and Pilcher completed their theses in 2007, and Pilcher was subsequently hired as an acoustic technician for the NPS Natural Sounds Program. Persico’s study was still underway at the end of 2007.