As the home of ecology and evolutionary biology at the UA we strive to create an enriching experience for all of our students, undergraduate and graduate alike.  One way we achieve this is by offering a diversity of support opportunities such as scholarships, fellowships, internships, and awards that honor excellence.

2013 Robert H. Hoshaw Memorial Scholarship Recipient: Guanhzu Han

My research addresses the emergence and evolution viruses. Typically, viruses evolve rapidly, which makes it difficult to study their long-term evolution by using contemporary virus sequences. Endogenous viral elements replicate with their hosts' genomes and evolve relatively slowly, preserving the features of ancient viruses. My research involves discovering novel endogenous viral elements within animal genomes to study the deep history of viruses. My other interests include molecular evolutionary analysis of contemporary virus sequences to understand the tempo and mode in virus evolution.

2013 Professor Robert Tindall Biodiversity and Conservation Biology Undergruate Research Internship Recipient: Johanna Quanzin

My name is Johanna Ouanzin. I am a freshman at the University of Arizona, after moving to Tucson from the Central African Republic 4 years ago. I am planning to major in Biology, but was not able to register for any science credits in my first semester, so I was especially fortunate to be offered a paid Internship in Conservation Biology and gain research experience. I am working with Pacifica Sommers, a doctoral candidate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology who studies the ecological interactions of an introduced grass. So far, I have had the opportunity to participate in several of her experiments: germination experiments in Saguaro National Park and in the EEB greenhouse, as well as studies on paloverdes’ growth and self-pruning. I have already gained basic research skills including accurately measuring distances, weighing biomass, thinking critically, and making predictions.

To learn more about student research supported by EEB click on the award tabs on the left