Awards

Student Research Awards

Deadline: 1 Feb annually
Download: Student grant application
Total Awarded Annually: Up to 3 awards, $1250
Number of Awards: Two ($500)  and 1 ($250: undergraduates only) awards will be presented annually.
Scope: Research that contributes to or uses herbarium resources in ways that augment the collections.

Research on any taxa typically accessioned in herbaria including all plant, fungal, lichen, and algal lineages is eligible. Supported activities could include, but are not limited to, fieldwork to generate vouchers for revisionary or floristic work, collecting morphological data from specimens, traveling to herbaria, or making and distributing physical specimens. Thus, students’ overarching research could include molecular approaches, but the merit of the proposal would be based on the ability of the work to contribute to building or improving herbarium resources. Additionally, meta-analysis of herbarium data would also be eligible, provided that a component of the research includes direct study of specimens.

Eligibility: Undergraduate and graduate student SHC members may apply. It is expected that only student research projects with the clear potential to lead to publication will be competitive. Both the student and the student’s research advisor, who should provide a letter of recommendation, must be members of SHC at the time of application.

To become a member or to renew a membership, please visit our Online Membership or mail a Membership Application to our Treasurer (address provided on form).

Application Materials:
1) a one-page application form (see file attachment above) listing student’s name, address, and SHC advisor’s name and proposal title;
2) a two-page project description, itemized budget justification (no indirect costs allowed), publication/dissemination plan and references cited (1 inch margins, US letter size paper (11.5 x 11 inches), 11-12 point font, proposals may be single spaced but only 2 pages long);
3) one letter of recommendation from the student’s Research Advisor, who also must be a SHC member at the time of application.

All materials should be sent electronically to the SHC Secretary at secretary@herbariumcurators.org. PDF format is preferred. The letter of recommendation may be sent separately from the student’s materials.

The deadline is Feb 1 annually.
_____________________________________________________________

The SHC grant committee is pleased to announce the awardees of the recent Student Research Awards. We received 27 proposals for our student awards last year. Each Undergraduate recipients receive a $250 award, and graduate students receives a $500 award to support research. Our recipient by year are:

Past Award Recipients

2024
Franchesca Austriaco, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
An Annotated List of Type Specimens in the Crop Evolution Laboratory (CEL) Herbarium.
Advisor:  Chance Riggins

Matthew Yamamoto, California Botanic Garden and Claremont Graduate University
A flora of the McGee Creek Watershed, Mono County, California.
Advisor:  Travis Columbus

Maurane Bourgouin, Université de Montréal
Systematics of the North Temperate Clade of Bidens (Asteraceae).
Advisor:  Étienne Léveillé-Bourret

2023
Xoliswa Swinky Nkosi, University of Johannesburg
The undocumented plant use records of Malvaceae species in the Minwater region (Oudtshoorn, South Africa); highlighting the value of collections.
Advisor:  Ashton Welcome

Mahima Dixit, CBG/Claremont Graduate University
Phylogeny and taxonomy of the Eriogonum deflexum complex (Polygonaceae).
Advisor: J. Travis Columbus

Zachary Muscavitch, University of Connecticut
Incorporating type specimens in a modern phylogenomic study.
Advisors: Louise Lewis and Bernard Goffinet

Susana Vega Betancur, Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia)
Review of Selaginella for Antioquia (Colombia): morphological studies of the types and specimens of interest in The New York Botanical Garden herbarium.
Advisor: Alejandra Vasco

2022
Tara Hall, West Carolina University
A Study of Morphological, Cytological, and Molecular Variation in the Eastern North American Flowering Plant, Micranthes virginiensis (Saxifragaceae).
Advisor: Kathy Mathews

Sierra Hubbard, Oklahoma State University
Addressing a Major Gap in Plant Occurrence Data in Stonewall County, Texas.
Advisor: Mark Fishbein

Richard Hull, Indiana University
Identifying Changes in the Vascular Plant Flora of the Wabash River Corridor.
Advisor: Eric Knox

Courtney Matzke, California Botanic Garden/Claremont Graduate University
A Vascular Floristic Study of the Piute Mountains.
Advisor: Travis Columbus

Jordan Nikkel, Iowa State University 
Taxonomic Evaluation of Leptoloma and the Tumbleweed Crabgrasses (Poaceae).
Advisor: Lynn Clark

Kimberly Schaefer, California Botanic Garden/Claremont Graduate University
A Vascular Flora of the Sacatar Trail Wilderness.
Advisor: Mare Nazaire

Juan David Tovar Duran, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas de Amazônia
Phylogenetic and Morphometric Explorations in the Geminata Clade (Solanum L.: Solanaceae).
Advisor: Leandro Lacerda Giacomin

Searrah Bierker, Chatham University – undergraduate
Archiving Population Variation: A New Collection Method for Herbaria.
Advisor: Mason Heberling 

Nehuén Russo, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata – undergraduate
Increasing the Representativeness of the Tandilia System’ Flora in Local Herbaria.
Advisor: Alicia López

2021
Ryan Schmidt, Rutgers University
“Ballast species: Using herbarium data to understand the impact of historical trade on the flora of New Jersey“
Advisor: Lena Struwe

Giovanna M. Bishop, Eastern Washington University
“Impacts of rock climbing on lichen and bryophyte cliff communities in the arid west“
Advisor: Jessica Allen

Jason M. Karakehian, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
“Toward a revision of Propolis (Fungi) and allied genera: morphological studies of type and authentic specimens in the Farlow Herbarium, Harvard University“
Advisor: Andrew Miller

Matthew Sheik, George Mason University
“A floristic checklist of Shenandoah River State Park, Warren County, Virginia“
Advisor: Andrea Weeks

2020
Nick Koenig, Eastern Kentucky University
“Vascular Flora Survey of the Miller Welch-Central Kentucky Wildlife Management Area, Madison County, Kentucky”
Advisor: Melanie Link-Perez

Breann Whitley (M.S.), Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
“Route towards a taxonomic revision: Evaluating species of Neotropical Trema through phylogenetics, morphometrics, and biogeography”
Advisor: Kurt Neubig

Michelle Gaynor (Ph.D.), University of Florida
“Building an herbarium collection of ploidal levels in the classic autopolyploid system, Galax urceolata”
Advisor: Pamela Soltis

2019
Andrea Appleton, Georgia Southern University
“Species Documentation, Floral Evolution, and Evolutionary Relationships of Paronychia Mill. (Caryophyllaceae)”
Advisor: John Schenk

Carolyn Mills (M.S.), Claremont Graduate University
“A Vascular Flora of the Nopah Range, Inyo County, California”
Advisor: Naomi Fraga

Johanna Jantzen (Ph.D.), University of Florida
“Diversification and niche evolution in Neotropical Tibouchina s.s. (Melastomataceae)”
Advisor: Pamela Soltis

2018
Calvin Andries, Eastern Kentucky University
“Vascular Flora and Wetland Assessment of Wetlands in the Red River Gorge Geological Area and Clifty Wilderness in Menifee and Powell Counties of Kentucky.“
Advisor: Brad Ruhfel

Daniel Koenemann, Howard University
“A Floristic Survey of Wheaton Regional Park, Montgomery County, Maryland.“
Advisor: Janelle Burke

Katherine Culatta, North Carolina State University 
“Taxonomy, Population Genetics, and Status Assessment of Nuphar sagittifolia (Nymphaeaceae).“
Advisor: Alexander Krings

2017
Conor Heffer, University of Vermont
“Morphometric Analysis of Northwest North American Polystichum species in Evaluating a Newly Encountered Herbarium Specimen of P. kwakiutlii“
Advisor: David Barrington

Nikolai Starzak, Oklahoma State University
“The Flora of Beaver County: High Plains Vascular Plants of the Oklahoma Panhandle“
Advisor: Mark Fishbein

Thomas McFadden, Eastern Kentucky University
“The Vascular Flora of the Red River Gorge, Kentucky“
Advisor: Brad Ruhfel

2016
Jennifer Ackerfield, Colorado State University
“Phylogeny and evolution of the genus Cirsium in North America“
Advisor: Mark Simmons

Amanda Malone, University of Colorado at Boulder
“Liverwort inventory & checklist of the Greater Comanche Grasslands: A region of neoendemism?” 
Advisor: Erin Tripp 

Alexandria Szakacs, North Carolina State University
“A guide to the phytolith assemblages produced by the vascular flora of Picture Creek Diabase Barrens (Granville Co., NC): A precursor for understanding vegetation history of a remnant piedmont prairie community“. 
Advisor: Alexander Krings

2015
Benjamin Cooper, Northwestern University/Chicago Botanic Garden
“Molecular Phylogeny of Oenothera sect. Calylophus (Onagraceae)“.
Advisor: Krissa Skogen.

Samuel Wershow, Western Washington University
“Assessing the Impacts of Climate Change on Endemic Wildflowers in the Pacific Northwest”.
Advisor: Eric DeChaine.

Nathan Howell, North Carolina State University
“The Vascular Flora of the Natural Lake Shoreline Community of Carolina Bays in the Carolina Flatwoods Ecoregion (Bladen and Columbus Counties, North Carolina).”
Advisor: Alexander Krings

2014
Marika Laurel Majack, University of Colorado, Denver
“The Distribution of Pondweeds (Potamogetonaceae) in Colorado.”
Advisor: Leo Bruederle