Environment

What’s in the Soil? Student Heads to IsoCamp to Learn New Skills for Analyzing Forests

Sarah Dwyer

Anna Wade

Anna Wade, a Ph.D. student at the Nicholas School of the Environment, was among 18 Duke University students who received Graduate Student Training Enhancement Grants (GSTEG) in 2017-18 from the Office of the Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies for training beyond their core disciplines. Her faculty mentor is Daniel Richter. She shared an update:

With support from GSTEG, I’ll attend a two-week intensive training workshop on stable isotopes this June at the University of Utah. The program, called IsoCamp, trains Ph.D. students and postdocs how to use stable isotopes to model environmental and ecological processes. Jim Ehleringer at the University of Utah is a leading researcher in applications of stable isotopes, and has run the program for over 20 years.

I’ll be trained on how to use a ThermoElectron isotope ratio mass spectrometer (pictured below), how to collect and prepare environmental samples, and how to use isotope-mixing models to interpret the results. This workshop draws in various experts in the field, and will give me a network of professionals to support me in my work on stable isotopes.

ThermoElectron isotope ratio mass spectrometer

The workshop will further my dissertation research on lead (Pb) in southeastern forest soils. Because of this training experience, I’ll have a much better grasp of how to use stable isotopes of Pb to delineate between natural and contaminant sources of lead. The tools and connections I make at IsoCamp will provide solid groundwork for my isotopic research at Duke.

About GSTEG

This internal funding mechanism from the Office of the Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies encourages doctoral and master’s students to step away from their core research and training to acquire skills, knowledge, or co-curricular experiences that will give them new perspectives on their research agendas. Graduate Student Training Enhancement Grants are intended to deepen preparation for academic positions and other career trajectories.

  • Proposals for 2018-19 were due on February 16; those grantees will be announced shortly.

With New Skills in Genetic Analysis, Ph.D. Student Enhances Study of Forest Elephants

Sarah Dwyer

Amelia Meier

As a Ph.D. student at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, Amelia Meier is focusing her research on forest elephants in Gabon. Recently she set out to learn how to conduct genetic analysis to help identify individual elephants, which will inform her dissertation.

Mentored by John Poulsen, Meier was among 18 Duke University students who received Graduate Student Training Enhancement Grants (GSTEG) in 2017-18 from the Office of the Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies for training beyond their core disciplines. She shared an update:

Photo courtesy of Amelia MeierThrough the kind support of the Graduate Student Training Enhancement Grant I was able to receive one-on-one training in genetic analysis at the Institute for Research in Tropical Ecology (IRET) in Gabon. Over fourteen days of training I worked directly with the scientist who developed the Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) panel necessary to identify individual elephants from their dung. After learning the theory behind SNP genotyping, I was trained on how to use and interpret results from DNA sequencing equipment such as a Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine. These skills are critical to my dissertation.

This training has proved SNP analysis a viable method for answering my research questions, which I will now use throughout the rest of my dissertation. Because of the competency I achieved during this training I will be able to conduct all the genetic analyses in country, supporting local capacity, and negating the risk of losing my samples during exportation.

During the training I presented my research to the other scientists at IRET. I was exposed to a wide variety of research being conducted in Gabon by local and international scientists. Hopefully these newly made contacts will evolve into future collaborations.

Poulsen and Meier are among the coauthors on a new paper, “Ecological Consequences of Forest Elephant Declines for Afrotropical Forests,” in Conservation Biology.

About GSTEG

This internal funding mechanism from the Office of the Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies encourages doctoral and master’s students to step away from their core research and training to acquire skills, knowledge, or co-curricular experiences that will give them new perspectives on their research agendas. Graduate Student Training Enhancement Grants are intended to deepen preparation for academic positions and other career trajectories.

Workshops Lead to Unexpected Opportunities for Doctoral Student

Sarah Dwyer

Brenna Forester

Last fall Brenna Forester (Ph.D. in Environment, Nicholas School of the Environment) participated in two workshops hosted by the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) in Knoxville to inform her dissertation research in the emerging field of landscape genomics.

She was among 19 Duke students who received Graduate Student Training Enhancement Grants (GSTEG) in 2016-17 for training beyond their core disciplines. Her faculty mentor was Dean Urban. She shared some reflections on her experience:

With funding from GSTEG I first attended a workshop on quantitative genetics at NIMBioS, where I learned skills that have allowed me to be a more effective collaborator, and have better prepared me for the postdoctoral position I have just started at Colorado State University.

I then attended a second NIMBioS workshop on Next Generation Genetic Monitoring. This was an excellent opportunity for me to work closely with many of the leaders in the fields of conservation genetics and molecular ecology. The group I worked with is about to submit a manuscript to a special issue of the peer-reviewed journal Evolutionary Applications. The manuscript provides practical advice and a guide to help conservation managers work effectively with genomics experts on genomic assessment and monitoring programs for species of conservation concern. I am a co-first author on that paper.

Finally, I traveled to a third workshop, ConsGen-2 [on conservation genomics], in Montana. This was a pivotal workshop for me. I received one-on-one assistance from experts in my field on my dissertation data, feedback that was instrumental in improving my dissertation. I met a recent Ph.D. graduate, whose Ph.D. advisor is now my current postdoctoral advisor (Chris Funk). It is unlikely I would have known about the position in his lab without having met his former student at ConsGen-2. Finally, I have just been asked to return this fall to be an instructor at the 2017 ConsGen!

Overall, the funds from GSTEG were put to very good use in terms of expanding the scope of my graduate training while helping me build a network of research collaborators.

This internal funding mechanism from the Office of the Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies encourages graduate students to step away from their core research and training to acquire skills, knowledge or co-curricular experiences that will give them new perspectives on their research agendas. Graduate Student Training Enhancement Grants are intended to deepen preparation for academic positions and other career trajectories.

See who received these grants for 2017-18, and read about other 2016-17 recipients’ experiences:

NanoEarth Training Gets Doctoral Student Deeper into Water Research

Sarah Dwyer

Mark River

Mark River is a Ph.D. candidate at the Nicholas School of the Environment working in the Duke University Wetland Center. For his dissertation research on how phosphorus is transported by particles in stormwater, he wanted to tap into the resources at Virginia Tech’s National Center for Earth and Environmental Nanotechnology Infrastructure (NanoEarth).

River was among 19 Duke students who received Graduate Student Training Enhancement Grants (GSTEG) in 2016-17 for training beyond their core disciplines. His faculty mentor was Curtis J. Richardson. He shared a quick update on his experience:

I traveled to Virginia Tech and learned hands-on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) on two different instruments: elemental analysis using Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS); and High Angle Annular Dark Field (HAADF) and Electron Energy Loss Spectrometry (EELS). I learned a lot about these high-tech tools, which I had no exposure to previously. Using the data I obtained in the two full days at Virginia Tech, I am working towards a nice publication that I would not otherwise have the data for.

Last month River and Duke alumnus Scott Winton published a study in Water Research on the transport of phosphorus and nitrogen into surface waters from seagulls at landfills.

Graduate Student Training Enhancement Grants are intended to deepen preparation for academic positions and other career trajectories. This internal funding mechanism from the Office of the Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies encourages graduate students to step away from their core research and training to acquire skills, knowledge or co-curricular experiences that will give them new perspectives on their research agendas.

See who received these grants for 2017-18, and read about other 2016-17 recipients’ experiences:

Image: Mark River and examples of data stemming from his Virginia Tech training

DGHI Offers Support for Environmental Health Pilot Projects

Samayra Siddiqui

DGHI logo CORRECT ONEDeadline: November 2, 2016

The Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI) has released a request for proposals for pilot projects in global environmental health, one of our seven research priority areas.

DGHI periodically provides pilot funds to stimulate interdisciplinary research across its research priority areas, with the goal of enabling investigators to leverage preliminary findings and data to obtain further external funding. All Duke faculty are eligible to apply for the pilot grants.

Leaders in the DGHI’s global environmental health initiative are interested in receiving proposals that address the effect of various aspects of vulnerability—such as age, economic status, or genetics—on the relationship between environmental factors and health. Examples of relevant research themes include effects of climate change on emerging infectious disease; effects of urbanization on air pollution and human health; and access to safe drinking water.

Applicants may apply for up to $25,000 for projects lasting up to one year; smaller proposals for shorter periods are also encouraged. Applications must propose work in low and middle income countries, and applicants are encouraged to identify collaborating in-country investigators.

Special emphasis and consideration will be given for:

  • Collaborative and interdisciplinary proposals
  • Proposals that plan to leverage existing studies, population cohorts or data sets to address a novel global environmental health problem
  • Investigators new to global environmental health research
  • Projects proposed for collaboration in DGHI’s Priority Partnership Locations