NCWF 2020 Scholarships Announced

For more than 50 years, the Federation has provided scholarship grants to North Carolina college students, helping hundreds of youths pursue their dreams of studying and working in the wildlife and conservation fields.
We are pleased to announce the 2020 scholarship recipients.

Molly Bruce is a graduate student at the Duke University School of Law and Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment. Bruce aims to pursue an interdisciplinary career in environmental science and environmental law related to climate adaptation and resiliency using technology such as drones and satellites to improve communication between scientists and policymakers to shape climate policy.

Timothy Lee is a doctoral candidate at East Carolina University’s Biological Sciences program. Lee is broadly interested in conservation issues related to invasive species, and is specifically exploring the influence of an invasive foundation seaweed on community composition and diversity, and how that differs from the composition of macro invertebrates using a native foundation seagrass species. He has collected specimens in estuaries along the Eastern seaboard and has mentored several undergraduate students in the lab and in the field.

Doctoral candidate Greg Merrill is a graduate student in Ecology at Duke University whose work centers on locating, extracting and analyzing microplastics embedded in the blubber of marine mammals. Merrill will pursue a career as a conservation biologist focused on evaluating the impact of humans on species and ecosystems. East Carolina University’s Quentin Bratkowski Nichols is a graduate student who has his sights set on a career as a fisheries scientist for a state or federal agency. His experiences have included work with federally endangered sturgeon, participation in a NOAA lab study on right whale food supplies, fish sampling in Pamlico Sound and evaluating tern colony productivity. Nichols’ research goals include collecting striped bass eggs in the Roanoke River to study the species’ migration timing.

Lauren Pharr is an ornithologist who is pursuing a Master’s degree in Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology at North Carolina State University. Pharr has extensive experience with handling and researching birds, from blue-breasted quail to vultures, swans, chickens, ducks and a wide variety of passerines. Her current research evaluates the effects of urban noise and light pollution on songbird physiology.

Chelsea Greenhaw Sloggy is pursuing a Master’s degree in Environmental Management with a focus on Ecosystem Science and Conservation at the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment. Sloggy has a deep background in environmental education and identifies community outreach as a critical tool for rallying public support of environmental conservation. She is particularly interested in justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion in outdoor spaces and these concepts are at the center of her graduate work.

Z. Reece Warfel is pursuing a Master’s in Biology at East Carolina University with a focus on fish distribution and morphometric conditions. He has participated in a research project in Beaufort Inlet at the site of the longest running, continuous time series monitoring of ichthyoplankton. As an undergraduate, Warfel received the ECU Undergraduate Research and Creativity Award, and he was slated to present his research at this year’s American Fisheries Society regional meeting. He aims to support North Carolina marine resources by contributing to the understanding of how the morphometric condition of larval fishes varies based on temperature and prey availability. Reece Warfel’s scholarship was awarded by NCWF in conjunction with the Alamance Wildlife Club.