The Department would like to recognize and congratulate the following studenst for being awarded the CLAS Outstanding Student awards for Outstanding Bachelor of Science Spring 2020, Outstanding Master of Science Spring 2020, and Outstanding Doctoral Student Fall 2019.
Outstanding Bachelor of Science Spring 2020
Shaely Folger (Integrative Biology)
Throughout her four years at CU Denver Shaely was involved in a variety of student organizations and professional associations such as The National Society of Leadership and Success (Sigma Alpha Pi) and the Pre-Physician Assistant Club, among others. The Golden Key International Honor Society invited her to join the International Scholar Laureate Program - Delegation of Medicine and Science in Australia. This program provided her a life-changing educational and cultural opportunity to further her education in the global medical field with other scholars across the world. Shaely volunteers at OrthoColorado Hospital, part of Centura Health, focusing on giving patients the most comfortable experience throughout the stages of orthopedic surgery by nurturing the health of those in their community. She is also a clinical research intern at the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes at University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine. Her future goals include attending the PA Program at the University of Colorado Anschutz and becoming an Orthopedic Physician Assistant specializing in sports medicine.
Outstanding Master of Science Spring 2020
Marianne Elizabeth Davenport (Integrative Biology)
During her MS program at the University of Colorado Denver, Marianne researched the life history biology of an important forest pest in the Ragland Lab and worked 6 months of each year at Forest Health Protection in the United States Forest Service (USFS). Some of her research accomplishments include; presenting at international and national conferences and earning Honorable Mention for the highly competitive National Science Foundation’s Graduate Student Research Fellowship. She also recruited and mentored more than 8 undergraduate students to engage in research projects in the Ragland lab. In addition to her research with CU Denver, Marianne has been able to directly engage in forest management in her position at USFS, promoting healthy and resilient forests in collaboration with a team of other researchers, forest pathologists and entomologists. In the future she wants to continue helping protect our forests by working in forestry research at a federal or state agency in a position able to make substantial applied contributions. Marianne says, “By researching forest pests, I can help inform future forest management practices that will have a direct and immediate impact on the future of our vast landscapes. The knowledge I have gained during graduate school, by learning more about the distribution and behavior of insects that affect our forests, will play an integral role...”
Outstanding Doctoral Student Fall 2019
Elizabeth Rose Pansing (Integrative Biology)
Throughout her time as a graduate student in the Department of Integrative Biology, Libby established a successful record of manuscript publication, acquired nearly $50,000 in funding for her master’s and doctoral research, and presented research findings at a variety of international, national, and regional conferences. She published two first-author publications, one chapter from her dissertation in the journal Forests and one resulting from her master’s work in the Journal of Ecology and Evolution. In addition, she has two manuscripts in review, and five in preparation in collaboration with researchers from CU Denver, the Rocky Mountain Tree Ring Lab, Montana State University, and Conservation Science Partners. Following graduation, she will be moving into a postdoctoral scholar position where she will investigate drivers of biodiversity in alpine plant communities across Europe and how those drivers change as a function of geospatial scale. Following her postdoctoral studies, she intends to pursue a career as a forest researcher with one of the national resource management agencies (e.g., US Forest Service, National Park Service).