Travel Grants and Scholarships Available for TWS-WS Members

Travel Grants

In pursuit of the objective to encourage high standards of professional achievement, the Western Section has established an honoraria fund to assist our members’ participation in professional meetings, conferences, symposia and other continuing education activities. For more information: http://tws-west.org/grants.php

Early Career Professional Scholarships

Note: We are no longer accepting applications for this scholarship. The application process closed on December 2, 2016. Results will be announced in January 2017.

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Early Career Professional Scholarships are available to attend the 2017 Annual Meeting in Reno, NV. Five scholarships valued at $500 each are available for Western Section members who have a relevant Bachelor’s Degree but are unemployed, underemployed, or employed outside of the wildlife profession. We know it’s hard to land that permanent full-time position, and we want to help you advance your career by joining us and the rest of your colleagues at the 2017 Annual Meeting! Registration, the Welcome Reception, the Student Professional Lunch (good networking for all of us!), and one Breakfast Roundtable are included in the scholarship. You have the freedom to use the remaining scholarship value to cover the costs that fit your needs, whether its travel, lodging, or attending other fee-based Annual Meeting events.

Congratulations to our 2017 Early Career Professional Scholarship Winners:

Meghan Wiebe – Bachelor’s Degree from University of Colorado Boulder – Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, summa cum laude; Environmental Studies with distinction. My main career goal is to pursue a PhD in computational biology. I want to develop a robust computational and statistical toolset in order to analyze large datasets and investigate ecological hypotheses. Having a strong field and theoretical understanding of ecology, combined with an understanding of computing resources will allow me to tackle complex wildlife issues. These skills will expose me to more opportunities in the wildlife profession and are also applicable to other fields. My intermediate goals are to successfully publish the paper I am working on, gain more experience in field work and data management, and take some introduction courses to computational biology before I commit to a longer, more intensive program. meghan.wiebe@colorado.edu

Maxwell Plichta – Bachelor’s Degree from University of Colorado Boulder. Attending graduate school is a top priority for myself. Ideally I will apply for schools in 2017 to attend in 2018. Attending grad school will be critical for myself to advance my career options. Before I attend grad school I would like to see my group’s work published in a scientific journal or at least have a draft submitted and under review. Finally, it is important to me that I continue to find work in new and unique environments so I can expand my experiences and find a study species that I want to continue to study through graduate school. MaxPlichta@Gmail.com

Maribel Lopez – BS Zoology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. My career goals are open right now. I am taking this time to talk to as many different people as I can to get different perspectives and hear other people’s experiences. I am between going into academia or staying in the field biology/consulting world. lopezmaribel92@yahoo.com

Hannah Fertel – B.S.Forestry and Natural Resources from UC Berkeley. Working in wildlife and natural resources since my graduation from college has solidified my desire to spend my career in this profession, especially in a way that would allow me to both engage with the public and participate actively in field work and research. I have greatly enjoyed working for two public agencies since graduation and hope to be able to have a career where I can continue to educate the public about the issues relevant to wildlife management. hannahfertel@gmail.com

Trinity Smith – Bachelor’s Degree in Wildlife Science from Utah State University. My career goals are to gain employment as a diversity biologist. Although I am interested in all sensitive species, I am specifically interested in researching small and mid-sized mammals within this realm. I particularly want to be employed in a job that allows the potential for research based management. I have a background working with small mammals, and I am specifically interested in serving as an asset to an agency by applying this background. trinitysmith10@gmail.com