Fledgling Program Claims Five Top National Awardees Among Its Students

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A doctoral program at the University of Arkansas is the only one in the country able to claim a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow, a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Fellow, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Doctoral Fellow, a Canon National Parks Science Scholar and a Baldwin Fellow of the Leakey Foundation among its students this year.

The doctoral program in environmental dynamics, which was started in 1998, is an interdisciplinary research program that studies the complex interactions between natural systems and human activity.

Among the approximately 4,000 doctoral programs in all disciplines at U.S. universities, the UA program in environmental dynamics is the only individual program with active students who have earned these prestigious fellowships.

"Given the very competitive nature of the doctoral degree industry in the United States, I think these are remarkable achievements for a program in only its eighth year of operation," said Stephen Boss, director of the program.

There are currently 40 students in the program, and they are all very confident in themselves and their abilities, Boss said.

"They are not afraid to step outside their knowledge base to learn new things," he said.

"The reason why ENDY (environmental dynamics) is suitable for me is because it embraces a broad spectrum of sciences and subsciences," said Philip Tanimoto, one of the students in environmental dynamics. "My work goes beyond what is normally considered in a biology program. ENDY encourages the focus to be on broad-scale issues."

Tanimoto, who began environmental dynamics in January 2003, completed a Fulbright Fellowship in Costa Rica in August.

He studies the geographic distributions of tropical mountain-dwelling birds and land use in Central America and Mexico. He uses climate data and satellite imagery to map the birds’ habitats, and the impacts of human encroachment on those habitats.

"Building these habitat distribution models can give us an idea of the quality and the configurations of existing and potential habitats. This information is useful for conservation and sustainability planning," Tanimoto said.

The faculty and students make a conscious effort to link human behavior with science, Boss said.

"Having both a strong physical science and a strong social science element is a very difficult thing to achieve," he said. "Our program seems to fit a niche that doesn’t exist anywhere else."

"The ENDY faculty members are open to diverse perspectives and academic approaches," Tanimoto said. "The flexibility within ENDY has allowed me to unite my academic preparation with some important academic questions."

Boss attributes the success of environmental dynamics to the hard work and cooperative effort of everyone in the program.

"A high standard was set in the beginning," Boss said, "and we’ve been moving that way for eight years."

"When you begin, you don’t know how these things are going to turn out," Boss said, "but everyone is very pleased with the outcome to date."

"I’m excited that the program is strong and growing," Tanimoto said, "and that it’s an avenue for investigating many of the problems we’re facing regarding sustainability of the Earth’s biosphere."

Other fellows in environmental dynamics include Peter Njuguna, National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow, who is conducting research in Kenya; Jason Patton, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Doctoral Fellow, who is conducting research on Beaver Lake; Barbara Pickup, Canon National Parks Science Scholar, who is conducting research in Yellowstone National Park; and Francis Kiera, Baldwin Fellow of the Leakey Foundation, who is conducting research in Kenya.

The environmental dynamics program also has nine students holding Doctoral Academy Fellows and one Distinguished Doctoral Fellowship awarded by the University of Arkansas. The fellowships were created by a portion of the historic $300 million gift from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation in 2002.