Biology student Brittany Huntington's graduate study on the effects of microalgae on a local spawning habitat has received welcome attention and assistance. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently awarded her a Science to Achieve Results (STAR) fellowship. The grant totaling $78,000 will cover Huntington's tuition, living expenses and supplies over two years.

Based at SFSU's Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies, Huntington is conducting field experiments that examine the effects of the microalgae Gracilaria sjoestedtii on eelgrass, which is critical to herring spawning in Tomales Bay. The work is being conducted in cooperation with the California Department of Fish and Game.

"It is an honor to have a huge agency like the EPA interested in my success as a young scientist," said Huntington. "This will allow me to expand my research objectives and travel to study sites that were once beyond my student budget."

In addition to the monetary advantages that the EPA STAR Fellowship provides Huntington will have access to an EPA adviser and opportunities to attend conferences not usually open to students. "The professional support of the Environmental Protection Agency bolsters my confidence about what I can achieve in this field," she said.

Huntington's faculty adviser, Assistant Professor Katharyn Boyer, first met the native of San Diego's Carmel Valley at UCLA where she was a doctoral student and Huntington, an undergrad.

"We've stood knee deep in the mud of California marshes and worked on boats and scuba expeditions on both coasts and my first impression of Brittany still holds," Boyer said. "She's motivated to gain the skills and experience necessary to discern and solve environmental problems. I'm impressed by her ability to absorb difficult concepts in ecology and apply them in insightful ways to her own research interests."

The EPA STAR Fellowship was established to support promising masters and doctoral candidates who may one day serve as government scientists, academic researchers and science teachers in the areas of biology, toxicology, ecology, environmental sciences and other environmentally related work. Huntington was among 1,700 students from the United States who applied for this year's fellowship.

Boyer is not surprised that Huntington stood out among the applicants. "Her research experience far exceeds that of most new graduate students," she said. She believes that her student has accomplished something extraordinary. "It is very uncommon for a student to enter a masters program having already secured her own funding, especially when the source is as generous and prestigious as the STAR fellowship."

-- Denize Springer