A graduate student at the University of Hawaii at Hilo‘s Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science master’s program has been awarded a competitive graduate research fellowship from the National Science Foundation.

Corie Yanger was one of 2,000 (out of a whopping 13,000) applicants to be selected for the fellowship, which recognizes outstanding graduate students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines. It includes a $30,000 annual stipend, a $12,000 education allowance, international research and professional development opportunities and access to the XSEDE Superecomputer.

From a press release:

Yanger plans to use her award to conduct research on the impact of pathogenic fungi on native and invasive seeds. Her study will focus on identifying seed fungal pathogens in the ecosystem and the amount of damage they cause to better understand and manipulate the probability of seed survival.

Yanger said Hawai`i provides a unique case study because native plants evolved without common animal predators such as rats, ants and slugs, which may have caused them to lose important chemical defenses.  She is interested in learning if seed chemistry is related to fungal attack, and whether native seeds are being lost to introduced fungal pathogens. Her research will take place at nine lowland wet forest sites in East Hawai`i, representing a range of native canopy dominance from no native representation to a medium-high native presence.

Yanger plans to present her findings at various conferences during the 2014-15 school year. She also plans to share her research with her hula halau with the goal of promoting greater interest in and support for forest preservation among cultural practitioners.

To read more about Hawaii’s STEM movement, check out Civil Beat’s story, Is Hawaii Doing Enough To Engage Kids In Science, Tech And Math?

— Alia Wong