Colorado State University Student Amy Treonis Receives Scholarship

Amy Treonis, a third-year graduate student at Colorado State University, was awarded the Francis Clark Soil Biology Scholarship. She plans to complete her doctoral in ecology in 1999.

Established in 1997, The Francis Clark Soil Biology scholarship provides awards to undergraduate and graduate students in the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory to further research in soil biology and to keep NREL on the cutting edge of science. Awards are made in the area of soil biology, based on scholastic merit and financial need, with favorable consideration to applicants who show concern for the public welfare. Although the scholarship typically is presented to one person, the selection committee, in consultation with Clark, recommended that Treonis share the award with doctoral candidate Serita Frey. Frey would like to integrate her research in soil microbial ecology with her interest in science education.

Treonis, who received her undergraduate degree from Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois, has spent two seasons "on the ice" in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, conducting field and laboratory experiments investigating the ecology of soil nematodes in the extreme cold desert ecosystem. After completing her doctorate, Treonis plans to continue research in the field of soil ecology and is considering teaching.

Treonis served as the McMurdo Dry Valleys graduate student site representative in 1997, and this fall was awarded National Science Foundation funding to present her research at the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research International Biology Symposium in Christchurch, New Zealand.