The Becky Colvin Memorial Award provides juniors enrolled in the Minor in Environmental Studies or majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB) with support for travel, research supplies and other expenses associated with field research for their senior thesis. Awardees are selected by the executive director of HMEI and the chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in consultation with the Colvin family.
The award was established in memory of Becky Colvin ’95, an EEB major who was strongly committed to ecology and environmental studies. More than 50 Princeton undergraduates have received the award since 1999.
Applying for the Award
The Becky Colvin Memorial Award application for 2024 is now closed. Applications for 2025 will open in January 2025.
As you prepare materials for your application in the future, please keep in mind you will need to organize the following items:
- A project title and a description addressing the environmental relevance of your proposed topic (in Word);
- An itemized budget detailing the costs associated with your research and travel (in Excel);
- A list of all other funding sources you have received and any you have applied for (in Word);
- A copy of your transcript (unofficial copy will be accepted); and
- A letter of recommendation from your faculty thesis adviser – must be received by the application deadline.
Please feel free to reach out to Emily Ahmetaj, Internship Program Manager if you have any questions.
2024 Becky Colvin Memorial Award Recipients
Ariana Di Landro ’25, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Thesis Title: The Role of Nitrogen Dynamics in Arctic Tundra Shrub Expansion
Adviser: Jonathan Levine, J.N. Allison Professor in Environmental Studies and Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Patrick Newcombe ’25, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Thesis Title: Spatial Patterning of Bird Diversity by Termite Mounds across African Savanna Ecosystems
Adviser: David Wilcove, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Public Affairs and the High Meadows Environmental Institute
Past Recipients
| Year | Recipient (click name for stories) | Major | Adviser(s) | Senior Thesis Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Max Gotts | EEB | Stephen Pacala | Allopatric and sympatric acoustic divergence in Oophaga pumilio throughout the Bocas del Toro Archipelago |
| 2023 | Mae Kennedy | EEB | Lars Hedin | How Fynbos Plants Adapt Belowground Strategies in the Presence of Invasive Pine Trees |
| 2023 | Colby McArthur | EEB | Bridgett vonHoldt | Does DNA methylation serve as a mechanism for the plastic response of yellow-bellied marmots? |
| 2022 | Darcy Chang | EEB | Mary Caswell Stoddard | Hummingbird Pollination Behavior in the Rocky Mountains |
| 2022 | Joanna Shoubaki | EEB | Sarah Kocher | Chemical Signaling in Lasioglossum baleicum |
| 2021 | Willow Dalehite | EEB | Christina Riehl | Pair-bond and Parental Care Behavior in the Socially Monogamous Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) |
| 2021 | Katherine Irelan | EEB | Lars Hedin | Impact of Water Stress on Nutrient Acquisition and Below-Ground Traits of Model Plant Leptecophylla tameiameiae |
| 2020 | Joe Kawalec | EEB | Mary Caswell Stoddard | Warning and Cryptic Coloration in Woodpecker Camouflage |
| 2019 | Maria Stahl | EEB | Robert Pringle | Understanding the Role of Fire in Maintaining Herbivore Diversity in a Recovering Savanna Ecosystem |
| 2018 | Daniel Petticord | EEB | Robert Pringle | The Ecology of the Leopard Tortoise |
| 2017 | Alana Reynolds | EEB | Robert Pringle | Strategies that Can Prevent Elephant Crop-Raiding in Farming Communities Bordering Gorongosa National Park |
| 2016 | Zoe Sims | EEB | Stephen Pacala | Impacts of Anthropogenically Enriched Groundwater Discharge on Bermuda’s Near-shore Coral Reefs and the Role of Bermuda’s Herbivorous Fish in Maintaining the Reef Ecosystem |
| 2015 | Connor Stonesifer | EEB | Lars Hedin | Phosphorus Utilization in Panamanian Tropical Forests |
| 2015 | Kathryn Grabowski | CEE | Rob Pringle | Consequences of a Vegetation Shift Following the War-Driven Loss of Large Mammals in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique |
| 2014 | Katherine Smith | EEB | Lars Hedin | Assessing the Efficiency of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Uptake in the Backwaters and Wetlands of the Lower Mississippi Watershed |
| 2013 | Lauren Wyman | EEB | Robert Pringle | Analyzing the Impact of a Dual Lizard Introduction on Orb-weaver Spider Communities in the Bahamas: An Experimental Approach |
| 2013 | Elizabeth McKenna | EEB | Simon Levin | Researching the Effects of Varying Light and Sedimentation Conditions on the Growth Rates of Juvenile Corals at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) |
| 2012 | Abigail Hewitt | EEB | Andrew Dobson | Land-Use Dynamics on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula: A Model for Balancing Ecological, Economic and Social Development |
| 2012 | Tara Thean | EEB | James Gould | Signature Whistle Models in Bottlenose Dolphins, Tursiops truncatus |
| 2011 | Madelon Case | EEB | Simon Levin | Gopher Disturbances and Plant Community Dynamics in Montane Meadows |
| 2011 | Sara Nason | GEO | Satish Myneni | The Effects of Elevated Soil CO2 on Plant Uptake of Metals |
| 2010 | Hannah Barkley | EEB | Stephen Pacala | The Effect of Temperature and Feeding on the Early Tissue Growth and Calcification of the Atlantic Coral Porites astreoides |
| 2009 | Sarah Chambliss | EEB | David Wilcove | Land Degradation and Plant Community Change: Examining the Case of Sansevieria volkensii, a Native Plant Spreading in Kenya |
| 2009 | Josephine Walker | EEB | Simon Levin | Acaricide Use and the Control of Theileria parva at the Wildlife-Livestock Disease Interface in Kenya |
| 2008 | Ruth Schwab | EEB | Stuart Altmann, Henry Horn | From Wild Apples to Modern Cultivars: Chemical Profile Changes of Sugars, Acids and the Phenolics Over Selective Time |
| 2007 | Nathan Crumpton | SOC | Elizabeth Armstrong | Dissonant Realities: Behind the Veil of AIDS in Tanzania |
| 2007 | Jonah Wagner | WWS | David Wilcove | Water-Pricing Reform and Water Service Sustainability: Case Studies of Hyderabad and Johannesburg |
| 2006 | Meha Jain | EEB | Daniel Rubenstein | Measuring the Effects of Cattle on Land and Wildlife in Laikipia, Kenya |
| 2006 | Aliya Sanders | EEB | Lars Hedin | Nutrient Limitation on N2 Fixation by Acacia saligna Stands of the Western Cape, South Africa |
| 2004 | Wenfei Tong | EEB | Daniel Rubenstein | On the Genetic Structure of Plains Zebra Populations and Societies: Insights from Non-invasive Microsatellite Genotyping |
| 2004 | Olympia Moy | EEB | David Wilcove | The “Grain-to-Green” Program and Its Implications for the Conservation of Giant Panda Habitat in Woolong National Nature Reserve, China |
| 2003 | John Kim | EEB | Effects of Cultivation and Proximity to Natural Habitat on Ground-nesting Native Bees in California Sunflower Fields | |
| 2002 | Andrew Bryant | HIS | Social, Economic and Environmental Transformations Following the Introduction of Coffee to the Kilmanjaro Region of Tanzania, 1900 | |
| 2000 | Amanda Hawn | EEB | Early Juvenile Mortality in a Cohort of Chromis cyanea: The Grownth Mortality Hypothesis Revisited | |
| 1999 | Mark Cornwall | EEB | Daniel Rubenstein | An Analysis of the Competitive Interaction Between Two Sympatric Species of Zebra: Equus greyvi and Equus burchelli |