Meaghan Conway Awarded Chase Distinguished Research Assistantship

Meaghan Conway was awarded one of this year’s Chase Distinguished Research Assistantships. These awards are granted on a competitive basis and involve nomination by the student’s department of study along with a submission of a research proposal delineating the research to be undertaken. Dr. Brian Olsen and Dr. Michael Kinnison enthusiastically recommended Meaghan for this prestigious award. Meaghan is a third year PhD student in the Ecology and Environmental Sciences program. As a graduate research assistant, she has coordinated and implemented a regional survey effort in tidal marshes across the northeastern United States as part of a collaborative research to determine status, trends, and effects of restoration on bird populations. She has also implemented independent research investigating ecological and evolutionary factors facilitating niche evolution across a specialization gradient. Meaghan has presented her own work at 7 different local, state, national and international meetings. She has also received the Peacock Scholarship which is a prestigious national scholarship in avian research. Her advisor Dr. Brian Olsen commented that “Meaghan’s strengths as a field logician, her publication success to date, her demonstrated intellectual capacity, and her uncanny work ethic together make me certain that she will produce high quality research output and advance the field. I could think of no better investment for this assistantship”.