Two scholars who are conducting research that could lead to a greater understanding of how climate change affects insects and what role soil carbon plays in the reduction of greenhouse gases are this year's recipients of the Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship for Diversity and Equity at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
C茅sar Nufio, curator adjoint of entomology at the CU-Boulder Museum of Natural History, and Catherine Stewart, a geosciences researcher at Colorado State University's National Resource Ecology Laboratory, will begin their fellowships in the 2007 fall semester. Each will receive $40,000 plus benefits, which are renewable for a second year based on academic progress.
The program offers postdoctoral research fellowships to members of underrepresented groups on faculties of U.S. universities who show promise for tenure-track appointments on the CU-Boulder campus.
"These fellowships recognize top researchers and support their scientific and academic career development goals," said Christine Yoshinaga-Itano, vice provost and associate vice chancellor of diversity and equity. "The selection committee was very impressed with their potential for success."
The ecology and evolutionary biology department and the CU Museum of Natural History will sponsor Nufio's fellowship. Nufio will work under the mentorship of Deane Bowers, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and the museum's curator of entomology. The duo, whose work is being sponsored by the National Science Foundation, is conducting a multiyear study to examine how climate change has affected Colorado grasshopper populations. Their work also could help them and other scientists gain insights into how global climate change is affecting other insects, including beetles and butterflies.
Bowers and Nufio will build on research conducted by the late CU-Boulder biology Professor Gordon Alexander, who collected data on tens of thousands of grasshoppers from the Front Range nearly half a century ago.
Nufio, who was born in Guatemala and raised in California, received a bachelor's degree with honors in biology and environmental studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz and a doctorate of insect sciences at the University of Arizona at Tucson.
"This fellowship is an amazing opportunity that will allow me to focus on my research in hopes of establishing myself in the field," Nufio said. "I particularly look forward to working with students in the coming years."
Stewart's mentors will be geological sciences professors Jason Neff and Alexis Templeton, and the geological sciences department will sponsor her fellowship. Stewart will use high-tech instruments to study the chemical composition of carbon in soils. Her work will expand scientific discussions on how to stabilize soil carbon and reduce greenhouse gases that are causing global warming.
A native of Lakewood, Colo., Stewart received a bachelor's degree in biology from Colorado College in Colorado Springs before heading to CSU to complete a doctoral program in ecology. Her doctoral dissertation focused on determining if there is an upper limit to carbon storage in soil, which could ultimately determine the effectiveness of agricultural soil as a CO2 reduction strategy.
Stewart said less invasive planting practices, such as dropping seeds into drilled holes, could help farmers on Colorado's Eastern Plains region increase carbon storage and preserve much-needed moisture.
Of her fellowship award Stewart said, "It is an amazing opportunity to be able to have the freedom and the time to really research what really fascinates me. The opportunity to work with successful, young CU faculty is really exciting. They will provide a valuable mentorship role, and I'll be able to learn a lot from them."
For more information about the Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship for Diversity and Equity, go to .