(Wahpeton)– A new endowed graduate fellowship has been created to advance research in fisheries biology, water quality and watershed management with the Iowa Great Lakes ecosystem. Mary Skopec, Executive Director of Lakeside Labs, says The Edward Thelen Graduate Fellowship in Fisheries Biology and Water Research will provide field opportunities for graduate students…
“An anonymous donor came forward, really wanted to honor Ed’s legacy and the Iowa DNR working on fisheries issues. And so this great new partnership is going to have the Iowa DNR and Lakeside Labs having a graduate student working on a fisheries topic. I believe the first topic will be paddlefish which is of course exciting to see the reintroduction of those fish into the Iowa Great Lakes. And so this graduate fellowship will have an individual staying at Lakeside Lab and then actually working with the Iowa DNR as a person in undergraduate studies. It’s kind of a win-win for everybody to have somebody with that caliber of education coming in and really looking at fisheries resources in the Iowa Great Lakes.”
Skopec goes on to explain further who the fellowship is targeted for…
“We’re hoping that students that are pursuing a PHD in say Iowa, Iowa State or nearby universities would be looking for ways to support their PHD work. And so right now we’re going to open up those applications for students to apply for this fellowship and again these are folks that are looking at fisheries work, so wanting to understand the management of fish and fish resources in the Midwest.”
Graduate students wishing to apply should contact Andrew Carlson, Fisheries Biologist at the Spirit Lake Fish Hatchery by emailing him at andrew.carlson@dnr.iowa.gov.
