{"id":1194,"date":"2021-11-30T12:06:54","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T17:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/paleolab\/?page_id=1194"},"modified":"2026-05-09T09:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T13:17:08","slug":"lab-successes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/paleolab\/lab-successes\/","title":{"rendered":"Lab Successes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Jump to the Undergraduate student success <a href=\"#undergrad-success\">HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Congratulations to our graduate students! <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>2025-05-01: <strong>Alyssa Willson&nbsp;<\/strong>won two student awards!&nbsp; Alyssa is the recipient of the Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Award in Science by the College of Science and the Exemplary Graduate Research Career which recognizes a student who best personifies the department\u2019s mission of advancing biological knowledge by demonstrable excellence in research, educating the next generation of leaders in the life sciences, and applying their findings to solve the grand challenges that will shape the future of human health and the environment. Congratulations Alyssa!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2025-04-14: Congratulations to graduate student <strong>Hannah O&#8217;Grady<\/strong> who received an Honorable Mention for her NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program submission.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2025-03-28: Congratulations to&nbsp;<strong>Alyssa Willson<\/strong>&nbsp;for the successful defense of her PhD on \u201cThe ecological time machine: Towards an understanding of vegetation-climate relationships across scales.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2024-08-26: Congratulations to <strong>Nate Kroeze<\/strong> for the successful defense of his Master&#8217;s work on &#8220;Environmental and Genetic Influences on Species Composition and Belowground Biomass Dynamics in Coastal Marshes.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2024-05-30: Congratulations to <strong>Megan Vahsen<\/strong> for winning the Ecological Society of America George Mercer Award for her \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/science.abq0595\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rapid plant trait evolution can alter coastal wetland resilience to sea level rise<\/a>,\u201d publication in <em>Science <\/em>from Jan. 26, 2023.&nbsp; See the full description of the award<a href=\"https:\/\/www.esa.org\/blog\/2024\/05\/30\/esa-announces-recipients-of-2024-awards\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;here<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2023-09-11: Congratulations to Nate Kroeze who was awarded a 2023-2024 <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/socialconcerns.nd.edu\/2023-24-graduate-justice-fellows\/\" target=\"_blank\">Graduate Justice Fellowship<\/a>. The fellowship is designed to create an interdisciplinary community of graduate students committed to scholarship that engages questions of justice.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2023-07-18: Congratulations to Megan Vahsen and co-authors for the publication \u201cComplex eco-evolutionary responses of a foundational coastal marsh plant to global change\u201d just out in New Phytologist.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/nph.19117\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/nph.19117<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2023-03-31: Congratulations to <strong>Megan Vahsen<\/strong> for winning the 2023 Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Graduate School Award in Science at the University of Notre Dame.<br>The Shaheen Award recognizes one outstanding graduate student from each of the four<br>divisions of the Graduate School, and is a recognition of Megan&#8217;s research excellence in the field of biological sciences, your extraordinary publication record, and your deep commitment to service, mentorship, and teaching. The Shaheen Award signifies that Megan represents the very best in the graduating class in your division in the Graduate School.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2023-02-24: Congratulation\u2019s to <strong>Megan Vahsen<\/strong> for the successful defense of her PhD dissertation!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2023-01-26: <strong>Megan Vahsen\u2019s<\/strong> paper &#8220;Rapid plant trait evolution can alter coastal wetland resilience to sea level rise&#8221; was published in Science&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/stoken\/author-tokens\/ST-985\/full\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.science.org\/stoken\/author-tokens\/ST-985\/full<\/a>&nbsp;and highlighted by&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/news.nd.edu\/news\/rapid-plant-evolution-may-make-coastal-regions-more-susceptible-to-flooding-and-sea-level-rise-study-shows\/\" target=\"_blank\">Notre Dame News<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2022-11-18: Congratulation&#8217;s to <strong>Helena Kleiner<\/strong> who successfully defended her Master&#8217;s Thesis!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2022-06-24: <strong>Ann Raiho\u2019s<\/strong> paper \u201c8000-year doubling of Midwestern forest biomass driven by population- and biome-scale processes\u201d was published in Science<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/science.abk3126\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/science.abk3126<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2022-06-09: <strong>Alyssa Willson&#8217;s<\/strong> paper &#8220;Climate and hydraulic traits interact to set thresholds for liana viability&#8221; was published in Nature Communications. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-022-30993-2\">https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-022-30993-2<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2021-11-11: <strong>Helena Kleiner<\/strong> received one of the Best Graduate Student Poster Awards for the 2021 Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) Conference. You can see Helena&#8217;s poster <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/paleolab\/helena-kleiners-award-winning-poster\/\" target=\"_blank\">HERE<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2021-04-10: Congratulations to&nbsp;<strong>Haley Kodak<\/strong>&nbsp;who successfully defended her Master\u2019s Thesis!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2021-03-25:&nbsp;<strong>Megan Vahsen<\/strong>&nbsp;received the Kaneb Center Award for Outstanding Graduate Student TA\/Instructor<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2021-03-23:&nbsp;<strong>Alyssa Willson<\/strong>&nbsp;was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Award<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2021-03-23:&nbsp;<strong>Helena Kleiner<\/strong>&nbsp;received an honorable mention for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Award.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<a name=\"undergrad-success\"><\/a>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Congratulations to our undergraduate students!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>2026-04-30: Undergraduate&nbsp;<strong>Finley Shinnick<\/strong>&nbsp;presented her work at the University of Notre Dame College of Science Joint Annual Meeting!&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/paleolab\/spring-2026-cose-jam\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">See details here<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2025-10-31: Undergraduates\u00a0<strong>Lily Church<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>Finley Shinnick<\/strong>\u00a0presented their work at the University of Notre Dame Fall Undergraduate Research Fair!\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/paleolab\/fall-undergraduate-research-fair-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">See details here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2025-10-31: Undergraduates <strong>Lily Church<\/strong> and <strong>Finley Shinnick<\/strong> presented their work at the University of Notre Dame Fall Undergraduate Research Fair! <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/paleolab\/fall-undergraduate-research-fair-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">See details here.<\/a>\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2023-05-04: <strong>Ian Shuman<\/strong> presented his poster on &#8220;Modeling the Historical Vegetation-Environment Relationship in the Midwestern United States&#8221; at the College of Science Joint Annual Meeting.2021-04-27:&nbsp;<strong>Alexis Waldschmidt<\/strong>&nbsp;received the Paul F. Ware, M.D., Excellence in Undergraduate Research award, and&nbsp;<strong>Brianna Brown<\/strong>&nbsp;was chosen for an Outstanding Biology Student Leader award&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2020-05-08: <strong>Brady Stiller<\/strong> received the Outstanding Biological Scientist Award and was the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nd.edu\/stories\/valedictorian-salutatorian-2020\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2020 Valedictorian<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jump to the Undergraduate student success HERE. Congratulations to our graduate students! Congratulations to our undergraduate students!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":597,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1194","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/paleolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/paleolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/paleolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/paleolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/597"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/paleolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1194"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/paleolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1464,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/paleolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1194\/revisions\/1464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/paleolab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}