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Colorado Mountain Club Foundation 2024 Awards

The Colorado Mountain Club Foundation (CMCF) is pleased to announce their 2024 fellowship and grant awards. The CMCF’s mission is to raise, manage, and distribute funds to support the stewardship, conservation, education, and other programs of the Colorado Mountain Club and other similar organizations. Each year, the Foundation solicits applications from undergraduate and graduate students whose research is focused on the Rocky Mountain region and is consistent with the CMC mission.

This year CMCF received 23 applications and presented 11 awards. The top four outstanding applicants were awarded a named fellowship: other worthy applicants received grants of $500 to $1000.

• Anderson, Eva, MS student at Western Colorado University: An assessment of the macroinvertebrate community within the Burrows Creek fen complex before and after mining pollution mitigation in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, $2,000 Gerstle Fellowship
• Pierce, Samuel, PhD student at Stanford University: Beaver dam analog influence on floodplain hydro-biogeochemistry, $2,000 Ossinger Fellowship
• Ruef, Juliann, MS student at University of Colorado – Boulder: Defining rock glacier dynamics to probe Colorado’s Holocene climate, $2,000 Kindig Fellowship
• Tennenbaum, Stavi, PhD student at Princeton University: Snowpack as an eco-evolutionary driver in a hibernating mammal, $2,000 Gehres Fellowship
• Burgess, Emily, PhD student at Utah State University: Investigating plant adaptation to climate change through shifts in flower and seed microbiomes, $1,000
• Kuhn, Theodore, MA student at University of Colorado – Boulder: How streams are changing due to climate change across the western US, $500
• Lee, Erika, MS student at Colorado State University: The effects of wildfire on snowpack: tree char’s influence on snow accumulation and melt rates in montane forests, $500
• Nichter, Kim, MS student at Colorado State University: Ecological effects of stream restoration following wildfires in the Colorado Front Range, $500
• Slawson, Jake, PhD student at Colorado School of Mines; The early Paleogene: a glimpse of extreme warming, $500
• Tobin, Kelly, MS student at University of Denver: Impact and strength of top-down forces on the establishment of biocontrol beetles in the genus Diorhabda, $500
• Weinstock, Lauren, PhD student at Utah State University: The impacts of climate change on bee behavior across socio-ecological contexts, $500

2023 Fellowship Award Recipients

The list of 2023 Fellowship Award recipients is now available. To learn more about the students and their projects, please view the following press release which highlights their work in greater detail: 2023 CMCF Fellowship & Grant Awards

• Douglas Castro – PhD student, University of Colorado, Boulder
  Microplastics in Mountain Ecosystems of the Colorado Front Range
  Amount awarded: $2,000 (Ossinger Fellowship)

• Annapurna Post-Leon – PhD student, University of Utah
  Wildfire affects forest physiological responses to drought in montane southwestern Colorado
  Amount awarded: $2,000 (Gerstle Fellowship)

• Zachary Schwartz –  PhD student, University of Colorado, Boulder
  Examining the Effects of Rising Air Temperature on N Cycling and TraceGas Emissions in the Alpine
  Amount awarded: $2,000 (Kindig Fellowship)

• Casey Carroll – PhD student, University of Colorado, Boulder
  Assessing the effects of increased nest temperature on cavity dwelling bee fitness and phenology across an elevation gradient.
  Amount awarded: $1,000

• Laurent Duverglas – PhD student, University of South Carolina
  Has regulatory enemy release resulted in the persistence of an introduced butterfly population?
  Amount awarded: $1,000

• Melissa Ocampo – MS student, Murray State University
  Does Climate Change Promote Cannibalism?
  Amount awarded: $1,000

• Megan Zerger – MS student, Murray State University
  Assessing the interaction of stress physiology and Bd infection in Arizona tiger salamanders (Ambystoma mavortium nebulosum)
  Amount awarded: $1,000

2022 Fellowship Award Recipients

• Nick Bither –  MS student, University of Denver
  Role of Climate and Local Adaptation in Recruitment Failure in Rocky Mountain Forests; Amount awarded: $1,000 (Ossinger Fellowship)

• Elsa Godtfredsen – PhD student, Northwestern University and Chicago Botanic Gardens
  Early Snowmelt, Changing Phenology and Increased Drought: Consequences for Plant Survival and Reproduction of Four Subalpine Plant Species; Amount awarded: $1,000 (Kindig Fellowship)

• Hugh Marshall Worsham – PhD student, University of California, Berkeley
  Changes in Evapotranspiration as Early Warning Signals of Drought-Induced Mortality in Rocky Mountain Forests; Amount awarded: $1,000 (Gerstle Fellowship)

• Brynn Crosby – MS student, Colorado State University
  Subalpine Seed Dispersal Capacity: Understanding the influence of spatially independent disturbance interactions on post-fire and beetle regeneration; Amount awarded: $500

• Jacquelyn Fitzgerald – PhD student, Northwestern University and Chicago Botanic Gardens
  Body size variation and climate change vulnerability in Rocky Mountain bumble bees; Amount awarded: $500

• Edward Hill – PhD student, Colorado State University
  Drivers of juvenile tree recovery following canopy tree mortality in pinyon-juniper woodlands of the southern Rocky Mountains; Amount awarded: $500

• Scott Nordstrom – PhD student, University of Colorado, Boulder
  Light availability and its possible effects on inbreeding depression in a subalpine wildflower; Amount awarded: $500

• Melissa Ocampo – MS student, Murray State University
  Does Climate Change Promote Cannibalism?; Amount awarded: $500

• Wyatt Reis – MS student, Colorado State
  Integrating in situ observation and model sensitivity to evaluate wildfire impacts on high elevation snowpack processes, Cameron Pass, Colorado; Amount awarded: $500

2021 Fellowship Award Recipients

• Blyssalyn Bieber – MS student, University of Denver
  How does fire severity affect native bee communities in the Rocky Mountains?
  Amount awarded: $2,000 (Ossinger Fellowship)

• Erin Carroll – PhD student, University of California, Berkeley
  The mechanism and historical impact of polyploidy on drought response in quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides)
  Amount awarded: $2,000 (Gerstle Fellowship)

• Elsa Godtfredsen – PhD student, Northwestern University and Chicago Botanic Gardens
  Early snowmelt, changing phenology, and increased drought exposure: consequences for plant survival and reproduction of four subalpine plant species
  Amount awarded: $2,000 (Kindig Fellowship)

• Kathleen Arrowsmith – PhD student, University of Washington
  Effects of climate on plant-pollinator interaction patterns
  Amount awarded: $1,000

• Mairead Brogan – Undergraduate student, University of Colorado, Boulder
  The impact of Didymosphenia geminata on the community structure of invertebrates in western Colorado streams
  Amount awarded: $1,000

• Erika Sarro – PhD student, University of California, Riverside
  Bumble bee queen foraging behavior and nesting success in response to resource availability
  Amount awarded: $1,000

• Olivia Santiago– MS student, Colorado State University
  Is climate warming the culprit for western spruce budworm outbreaks in the northern Colorado Rocky Mountains?
  Amount awarded: $500

• Avery Tucker – PhD student, University of Memphis
  Beyond the pale: expanding research methods for snow microbiology studies
  Amount awarded: $1,000

• Eli Wildey – MS student, Colorado State University, Pueblo
  Does human disturbance redefine winners and losers in the wildlife community along a trail network in Salida, Colorado?
  Amount awarded: $1,000

• Megan Zerger– Undergraduate student, Murray State University
  Influence of cannibalism on Arizona tiger salamander (Ambystoma mavortium nebulosum) stress physiology
  Amount awarded: $500

2020 Fellowship Award Recipients

• Cori Butkiewicz – MS student, University of Wisconsin, Madison
  The relationship between growth rates and successful spruce beetle attack in Engelmann spruce
  Amount awarded: $1,000 (Kindig Fellowship)

• Heather Reineking – MS student, University of Wisconsin, Madison                                                                                                                
  Alpine Vegetation Restoration of Ben Butler Mine Site in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado
  Amount awarded: $1,000 (Ossinger Fellowship)

• Jesse Wooten – MS student, Colorado State University                                                                                                                
  Forest futures: post-fire recovery and transition
  Amount awarded: $1,000 (Gerstle Fellowship)

• Melissa Chen – PhD student, University of Colorado, Boulder
  A novel microbial microcosm system to help understand how symbiotic microbes can prevent further decline of a Rocky Mountain amphibian
  Amount awarded: $750

• Dylan Gomes – PhD student, Boise State University                                                                                                                
  Spider survival and reproduction in a noisy world
  Amount awarded: $750

• Amelia Litz– PhD student, Northwestern University
  Determining the abiotic drivers of solitary, ground-nesting bee phenology in the context of climate change
  Amount awarded: $750

• Niko Tutland – MS Student, University of Wisconsin, Madison
  Do overlapping bark beetle outbreaks increase tree mortality?
  Amount awarded: $750

2019 Fellowship Award Recipients

• Courtney Ray – PhD student, Arizona State University
  Demographic response to dispersal and species interactions in Rocky Mountain alpine
  Faculty Sponsor: Benjamin Blonder
  Amount awarded: $2,000 (Gerstle Fellowship)

• Isabel Schroeter – PhD Student, University of Colorado, Boulder
  The role of plant physiological threshholds and resource use strategies in riparian ecosystem recovery in Rocky Mountain National Park
  Faculty Sponsor: Katharine N. Suding
  Amount awarded: $2,000 (Ossinger Fellowship)

• Lydia Wong – MS student, University of Ottawa
  Impacts of drought on the reproductive success of solitary bees in a subalpine habitat
  Faculty Sponsor: Jessica Forrest
  Amount awarded: $2,000 (Kindig Fellowship)

• Jared Balik – PhD. student, North Carolina State University
  Climatic influences on the seasonal progression of nutrient uptake kinetics and primary productivity in snowmelt-driven headwater montane streams
  Faculty Sponsor: Brad Taylor
  Amount awarded: $2,000 (14er Fund)

• Alexandra Alexiev – PhD student, University of Colorado, Boulder
  Can symbiotic fungi from boreal toads inhibit the amphihbian chytrid fungal pathogen?
  Faculty Sponsor: Valerie McKenzie
  Amount awarded: $1000

• Paul Buckner – MS student, Colorado State University
  Persistent places and the archaeology of high elevation landscapes in the Medicine Bow Mountains, Colorado
  Faculty Sponsor: Jason LaBelle
  Amount awarded: $500

• Amal N. Acosta Carvajal – PhD student, University of California, Irvine
  Climate change effects on plant-herbivore-parasitoid interactions
  Faculty Sponsor: Kailen Mooney
  Amount awarded: $1,000

• Alexia Cooper – MS student, Western Colorado University
  Climate mitigation through soil carbon sequestration: increasing soil resilience and plant productivity on rangelands through compost application
  Faculty Sponsor: Jennie DeMarco
  Amount awarded: $750

• Alexander Goke – MS student, University of Denver
  Assessing anatomical and morphological drought tolerance characteristics of southern Rocky Mountain forest trees
  Faculty Sponsor: Patrick H. Martin
  Amount awarded: $1,000

• Amelia Litz – PhD student, Northwestern University, Chicago
  Nest site characteristics and timing of emergence in solitary ground-nesting bees
  Faculty Sponsor: Amy Iler
  Amount awarded: $500

• Anna Clare Monlezun – PhD student, Colorado State University
  Conserving Colorado’s foothills grasslands: a holistic investigation of grazing partnerships on public lands
  Faculty Sponsor: Stacy Lynn
  Amount awarded: $500

• Bryce Pulver – MS student, Colorado State University
  Trace metal export to streams after wildfire
  Faculty Sponsor: Stephanie K. Kampf
  Amount awarded: $750

• Robert Walker – MS student, University of Northern Colorado
  Comparing defense mechanisms of Douglas fir and lodgepole pine following bark beetle attack and blue-stain fungi infection
  Faculty Sponsor: Scott B. Franklin
  Amount awarded: $1,00