Achievement

C. Burkhalter is a shining example of someone who proactively uses the IGERT Traineeship to amplify his graduate experience beyond the already excellent resources and opportunities of his home graduate program. Burkhalter, a student in Ecology & Evolution studying avian conservation biology, has (i) incorporated into his thesis research an element highly relevant to our IGERT project’s focus on sustainable fuels solutions - i.e. whether growing crops for biofuels production is compatible with the habitat requirements of certain endangered grassland bird species (ii) leveraged IGERT connections to the NJ Sustainable Energy Work Group to meet with working farmers and to situate field studies on lands where perennial grasses are grown as potential energy crops (iii) sought opportunities to expand his knowledge of genomics, e.g. learning about non-invasive genetic sampling of endangered wildlife through a Smithsonian Institution workshop, enabled by IGERT participant support funds.