Boyd Evison Graduate Research Fellowship

The Boyd Evison Graduate Research Fellowship is sponsored by Grand Teton Association. The call for 2024 proposals is open until January 26, 2024.

The Evison Fellowship was established in memory of Boyd Evison to honor his dedicated service to both the National Park Service and the Grand Teton Association. Evison retired in 1994 after an exemplary 42-year career with the National Park Service in which he rose from park ranger to regional director in parks from Alaska to the Rocky Mountain Region. After retiring from government service, he became executive director of the park's primary interpretive and educational partner, the Grand Teton Association, until his death in October 2002.

Following Boyd's vision, the Evison Fellowship encourages scientific and conservation-related research in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to help shape wise management decisions and maintain healthy natural resources. It provides $10,000 in support for highly motivated graduate students working on completion of a master's or Ph.D. degree in the biosciences, geosciences, or social sciences.

 

Emilene Ostlind monitoring the pronghorn migration. ©Joe Riis 2012

Evison Fellowship Projects
The Grand Teton Association awarded the first fellowship in 2005. Students awarded the grant provide useful research to resource managers in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Previous award winners and their projects include:

2022 Jeff Baldock, University of Wyoming; Evaluating the role of spring-fed streams to Snake River cutthroat trout.

2019 Hunter Cole, Boise State University; Shedding light on nocturnal fauna: the effects of artificial light at night on bats and insects.

2018 Katherine Gura, University of Wyoming; Delineating key metrics for territory size and habitat requirements to sustain great gray owls in Wyoming.

2017 Danielle Fagre, University of Montana; Avian Community Responses to Bison Grazing in North American Intermountain Grasslands.

2016 Maggie Raboin, University of California, Berkeley; Spiders blood runs cold: Implications of winter climate change for overwintering arthropods in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

2015 Lauren Abbott, Penn State University; Exploring vertical wilderness in the acoustic environment.

2014 Kellen N. Nelson, University of Wyoming; Evaluating the effects of projected climate change on forest fuel moisture content.

2013 Susma Giri, University of Wyoming; Interactive effects of temperature and parasites in native bumblebees of Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

2012 Darren Larsen, University of Colorado; Deglaciation and postglacial environmental changes in the Teton Mountain Range recorded at Jenny Lake, Grand Teton National Park, WY.

2011 Stefan Ekernas, University of Montana; Climate change and food webs: jackrabbits, pronghorn, and coyotes in southern Greater Yellowstone.

2010 James Meadow, Montana State University; Geothermal soil ecology in Yellowstone National Park.

2009 Nicholas Dowie, University of Wyoming; Exploring symbiosis between plants Pterospora andromeda (pinedrops) and Sarcodes sanguinea (snow plant) and fungus in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

2008 Emilene Ostlind, University of Wyoming; The perilous journey of Wyoming's migrating pronghorn.

2007 Lyman Persico, University of New Mexico; Natural and historical variability in fluvial processes, beaver activity, and climate in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

2006 Ericka Pilcher, Colorado State University; Understanding and managing soundscapes in the national parks: Grand Teton National Park.

2005 Florence Gardipee, University of Montana; Development of fecal DNA sampling methods to assess genetic population structure of Greater Yellowstone bison.

 

Flo Gardipee gathering bison scat.

Apply to the Evison Fellowship
In keeping with Mr. Evison's wishes, the Grand Teton Association particularly encourages research to document the almost intangible and disappearing aspects of Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, the John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway, and surrounding public or private Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem lands, including less well-known or charismatic ecosystem elements such as natural soundscapes; air; water; plants; fish; insects; amphibians; fungi; snails; bacteria; geologic or other processes; and social science related to public understanding of natural resources and their use or management.