FNR Honors Awards, Scholarship Recipients at Annual Ceremony

Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources recognized the department’s student award and scholarship recipients at a ceremony on April 21, 2026.

A full photo gallery of all of the scholarship and award winners is available on the FNR Facebook page. 

Academic merit awards are given to a sophomore, junior, and senior within each major who has the highest academic achievement (cumulative GPA). Each major also selects one individual for its leadership award, typically a senior who has been exemplary within their major or the department as a whole.

Each major also puts forth a nominee for the Stanley Coulter Leadership Award, which recognizes the department’s outstanding student leader. It carries the name of Stanley Coulter, former Dean of Science, who initiated Purdue’s forestry program in 1914. Mr. John Sample and other early forestry graduates established the Coulter Fund in honor of Dean Coulter, and to recognize the achievements of students in Forestry and Natural Resources. The winner of this award has demonstrated strong leadership and responsible citizenship in activities at the department, school, university, and community level.

The 2024-25 Stanley Coulter Leadership Award winner is Mallory Wagner. Mallory is a senior in aquatic sciences with a concentration in fisheries. She is an active member of the American Fisheries Society and served as chapter president this past year. In addition, she has represented the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources as both an FNR Ambassador and a College of Agriculture Ambassador. For the past three years, Mallory has worked on an undergraduate research project studying the abundance, diet and growth of larval yellow perch in Lake Michigan and connected tributary habitats. Following graduation, Mallory will continue her academic journey at Purdue, where she will pursue a master’s degree in FNR and continue to study yellow perch in Lake Michigan.

Mallory also received the Aquatic Sciences Leadership Award.

The FNR faculty presents a trio of research and engagement awards.

The L. David Mech Distinguished Undergraduate Research Award is named in honor of Dr. L. David Mech, recipient of a PhD in wildlife ecology from Purdue in 1962. Dr. Mech, a research biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is the world’s foremost authority on wolf ecology. In 1995, Dr. Mech was named a Distinguished Alumni of the Purdue University College of Agriculture. He was also a recipient of the Aldo Leopold Award, the highest honor bestowed by The Wildlife Society.

This award was established by the faculty in wildlife to recognize a senior who has, by virtue of contributions made independently or in conjunction with ongoing studies, shown the greatest potential for future success as a research scientist. Selection is based on the student’s curiosity, intellect, perseverance, problem solving, and communication skills.

The honoree of the Distinguished Undergraduate Research Award is Liam Doski, a senior in wildlife Liam is graduating in May and will be working as the Summer Practicum TA Lead, followed by a position as a hellbender technician with Nick Burgmeier. He is currently wrapping up his undergraduate research with Dr. Pat Zollner, where he has been studying otter harvest, while also assisting three graduate students with their individual research projects. Liam has served as Vice President of The Wildlife Society, American Fisheries Society and the FNR Student Council, as well as the undergraduate representative for CSRC. He plans to pursue graduate school within the next few years.

Liam also received the FNR Outstanding Senior Award.

Amelia Roberson received the Undergraduate Research Award, which recognizes an undergraduate who, by virtue of contributions made independently or in conjunction with ongoing studies, shows the great potential for future success as a research scientist. Amelia is a seniorajoring in aquatic sciences, with a concentration in fisheries management. She also has minors in environmental policy and wildlife biology. She is graduating in May and will be pursuing a master's degree at Purdue University.

Hannah Kaluf received the FNR Undergraduate Engagement Award, which recognizes a senior who has demonstrated excellence in engagement and has shown the greatest potential for fulfilling the extension and research components of the Land Grant Mission. Hannah is graduating at the end of the semester and will be participating in a missionary internship this summer in the United Kingdom.

FNR recognizes a freshman, sophomore, junior, senior and transfer as outstanding students, awards which are given to the most outstanding student in each class as demonstrated by educational accomplishment, research, community service, student organization involvement and leadership, and involvement at the department, college, or university level.

• FNR Outstanding Freshman:Sophie Low - Sophie is a wildlife major with a minor in aquatic sciences. On campus, she has been helping out with scoring thermal imagery from drones and helping with owl and songbird banding.
• FNR Outstanding Sophomore:George Emerson – George is a wildlife major who will be attending Practicum this summer. Next school year he will continue researching the roosting ecology of nonbreeding sparrows and will be co-leading the Northern Saw-whet Owl banding station
• FNR Outstanding Junior:Max Clark - Max currently works for USDA Wildlife Services and is a teaching assistant for the Wildlife Investigational Techniques class. He plans to spend his summer working as a research assistant trapping rodents at poultry facilities to analyze movement patterns. He will be graduating following the fall semester.
• FNR Outstanding Senior:Liam Doski. Liam also was recognized with the L. David Mech Distinguished Undergraduate Research Award.  
• FNR Outstanding Transfer: Tam Tran - Tam is a graduated wildlife major and intends to find work with birds. Currently she assists with white-throated sparrow research and the bird banding lab.

Aquatic Science Awards

Senior Leadership Award: Mallory Wagner. Mallory also received the Stanley Coulter Leadership Award.

Sophomore Academic Merit Award: Abigail Tapp. Abigail is an aquatic sciences major with a concentration in marine and freshwater biology and a minor in wildlife science. She is currently completing an internship at Columbian Park Zoo as a penguin care intern and will be interning with Aquatic Control after FNR Practicum in the summer. Abigail is completing her second semester as an undergraduate researcher in the Wainwright Lab, where she studies scale morphology and their diversity across different body regions. After graduation, she plans to pursue her master's or PhD to continue her education and further her research.

Junior Academic Merit Award: Sarah Agostin. Sarah is involved with the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant as a research assistant on a project looking into microplastic contamination. She also has been working on an independent research project based around stable isotopes in fish scales in the Hook lab. She is aiming to graduate in December 2026 and will be working as a water resources environmental specialist for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection over the summer.

Senior Academic Merit Award: Austin Mygrant. Austin is graduating at the end of the semester and will apply to work for the conservation officers in Indiana.

Forestry Awards

Leadership Award: Albert Spalding. Albert is a senior, graduating at the end of the semester. He will be taking a job in northern Indiana with a custom cabinetry company.

Sophomore Academic Merit Award: Jacob Meyers. This summer, Jacob will go to Practicum and work for NICHES Land Trust on various ecological restoration and habitat management projects.

Junior Academic Merit Award: Garrison Sickbert. Garrison is a junior in forest management. He intends to intern with the Indiana DNR this summer under a district forester.

Senior Academic Merit Award: Albert Spalding.

Wildlife Awards
R.K. Swihart Undergraduate Wildlife Leadership Award: Beca Appelmann. Beca plans to graduate in May 2026 and will be pursuing a seasonal position with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington state following graduation. Beca is actively involved on campus as president of the Wildlife Society, treasurer of the FNR Student Council and an FNR Ambassador. She is currently completing her independent research project and assists two graduate students on their research.

Sophomore Academic Merit Award: George Emerson. George also received the FNR Outstanding Freshman Award.

Junior Academic Merit Award: Lydia Pultorak. Lydia is a junior majoring in wildlife with a minor in aquatic sciences. Through FNR, she researches bird-window collisions on campus, co-leads the Northern Saw-whet Owl banding station, and is a member of the Aeroecology lab. This summer, she will be working as an undergraduate research technician with Cerulean Warblers in southern Indiana.

Senior Academic Merit Award: Elena Boughton. Elena is a graduating senior with minors in forest ecosystems and aquatic sciences. She currently serves as secretary of the Purdue Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society, co-leader of the Northern Saw-whet Owl Banding Station and video analyst on the FNR Flight Crew. Her undergraduate research project on the endangered Least Bell's Vireo is almost complete and she will soon be submitting her first manuscript for publication. After graduation, Elena will work as a Cerulean Warbler field technician at the Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment in southern Indiana. Next Fall, she looks forward to returning to Purdue as a graduate student in Dr. Kyle Horton's Aeroecology Lab.

Outstanding Camper

An Outstanding Camper Award is presented to students in aquatic sciences, forestry and wildlife and are determined by student vote at Summer Practicum. Selection is based on leadership, scholarship, and the ability to get along with others in the camp setting and field work.  

Outstanding Aquatic Sciences Camper Award: Grace Hahn - Grace is graduating from the aquatic sciences program at the end of the semester. She will continue working as an aquatic research assistant in the Hoverman lab after graduation. She intends to pursue a master’s degree in the future, focusing on marine systems.

Outstanding Forestry Camper Award: Isaac Johnson. Isaac will be completing a forestry internship through Purdue this summer. He is actively involved in the Society of American Foresters club and plans to pursue a leadership position during his senior year. After graduation, Isaac intends to work in consulting forestry while also utilizing his red card certification to participate in controlled burns and wildland firefighting.

J.B. Dunning Outstanding Wildlife Camper Award: Sam Lillie. Sam is a junior in wildlife & aquatic sciences. They are focused on pursuing their education, seeing the world and making change.

In addition to the academic merit, outstanding camper and leadership awards, the wildlife major also gives out four other awards: the Durward Allen Memorial Award, the Kirkpatrick Memorial Graduate Student Award, the L. David Mech Distinguished Undergraduate Research Award (see above) and the William A. Rafferty Award.

Durward Allen Memorial Award

Durward Allen was a distinguished member of the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources and internationally recognized as one of the nation’s leading wildlife authorities. In honor of Dr. Allen, this award is presented to an outstanding junior majoring in Wildlife.

The 2024-25 honoree of the Durward Allen Memorial Award is Lydia Pultorak. Lydia also was recognized as the Wildlife Academic Merit Junior award honoree.

Kirkpatrick Memorial Graduate Student Award

This award was established by the widow and two daughters of Charles Kirkpatrick. The recipient must be a wildlife graduate student within one year of graduation (either before or after).

This year there were three honorees of the Kirkpatrick Memorial Graduate Student Award: Natalie Allen, Rachel Brent and Veronica Bullock.

Natalie Allen. Natalie is a fourth-year PhD candidate in Andrew DeWoody’s lab. Her research uses genomic tools to study evolutionary processes and population dynamics in wild species, with applications for wildlife conservation. She aspires to pursue a career in academic research focused on evolutionary genomics.

Rachel Brent. Rachel is a graduate student with a concentration in wildlife science, where her research focuses on cranial variation in spotted skunks. She is an active member of the department and is scheduled to defend her thesis in Fall 2026

Veronica Bullock. Veronica is a master's student and an agriculture and natural resources extension educator for Purdue Extension in the southeast part of Indiana. Her research focuses on studying collaborative partnerships and innovative engagement tools centered around conserving the eastern hellbender salamander.

William A. Rafferty Award

William A. Rafferty was a friend of Purdue University’s College of Agriculture who operated a large farm near Morocco, Indiana. Rafferty believed in the ideals of honor, integrity, and patriotism. To commemorate William A. Rafferty, this award was established to recognize the potential for citizenship and leadership in a senior Wildlife student.

The 2025-26 recipient of the William A. Rafferty Award is Elena Boughton. Boughton was also the wildlife senior academic merit honoree.

Other Awards

Collin Frost was honored with the Great Lakes Research Award, which is presented to an undergraduate student enrolled in an FNR major and conducting research focused on the Laurentian Great Lakes. The initial contribution for the award was made in the name of Dr. Tom Lauer, who earned his PhD from the department and focused his career on university education and Lake Michigan ecological research.

Collin is a junior in aquatic sciences. He is currently involved in undergraduate research in the Hook Lab looking at diets of larval bloater across Lake Michigan. He is the treasurer for the American Fisheries Society, while also being a part of the FNR Ambassador team. Collin's career goals are to pursue a master’s degree in fisheries science following graduation from Purdue.

The Indiana Arborist Association’s Ramsey Award is given to a Purdue student who has a professional interest in some aspect of urban forestry. The award is named in honor of Paul Ramsey, who was an outstanding professional arborist in Indiana.

This year’s Ramsey Award honoree is Jean Fritz Saint Preux. Fritz is completing his PhD in Natural Resources Economics. His research focuses on the maple syrup industry, exploring cooperative models like shared processing facilities and sugarbush leasing to support producers. He is interested in developing data-driven tools and decision-support systems to advance sustainable forest products.

FNR Poster Competition

Each spring, FNR hosts a poster competition and presents awards in the categories of graduate research, undergraduate research and graduation extension.

Graduate Research

• First place: Sarah Grimes for her poster on “Automated Lasers Reduce Bird Activity and Grape Damage in Michigan Vineyards”
• Second place: Joya Saha for her poster on “Integrating Revolving Algal Biofilm (RAB) in a Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) for Nutrient Recycling and Water Quality Improvement”
• Third place: Delaney Jones for her poster “Evaluating Visual Surveys and Two Trap Types for Detecting and Monitoring Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) Populations in Indiana.

Graduate Extension

• First place: Francis Asare for his poster “Evaluating Organic Digital Strategies for Global Biochar Engagement: A Six-Month Case Study of BIS’s Volunteer-Driven Network”
• Second place: Jean Fritz Saint Preux for his poster on “Maple Co-ops in Indiana: Financial Models and Decision Support Tools”

Undergraduate Research

• First place: Amelia Roberson for her poster on the “Using stable isotopes to evaluate food webs across four large Swedish lakes”
• Second place: Sarah Agostin for her poster on “Exploring the effectiveness of a non-lethal alternative for stable isotope sampling in fish”
• Third place: Benjamin Wegener for his poster “The Price of Inaction: A Comparison of Invasive Shrub Management Scenarios in Indiana”

 Undergraduate Extension

First place: Ava Hale for her poster “Messy or Marvelous: Public Opinions on Shoreline Management Styles”

Alumni Awards

The department also honored its five alumni and career award recipients.

• Chase S. Osborn Award for Wildlife Conservation: Dean Zimmerman
• Chase S. Osborn Early Career Award for Wildlife Conservation: Geriann Albers
• FNR Lifetime Achievement Award: Dr. Ted Cable
• FNR Distinguished Alumni Award: Dr. Kristin Floress
• FNR Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Dr. Zachary Feiner