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MDC
12/2003
Scholarships help students make a difference for conservation
Scholarships honoring the memory of a citizen conservationist help students of all ages contribute to Missouri's conservation tradition.
JEFFERSON CITY - As a college student at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Nathan Mills worried about the decline of frog populations worldwide. He wondered if pesticides in the environment might be contributing to that decline. A grant from the Charles P. Bell Memorial Scholarship Program enabled him to link pesticides and frog deaths.
Another MU student, Hayden Mattingly, wondered what factors determined why the endangered Niangua darter - a pint-sized fish related to the walleye - inhabited some stretches of stream in Western Missouri and not others. The same scholarship program helped him identify habitat factors critical to the fish's survival.
The scholarship program bears the name of a Columbia resident who was president of the Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM) at the time of his death in 1989. He also served as treasurer of the CFM Charitable Trust.
Bell's family cooperated with the CFM to set up the scholarship program in Bell honor. Each year since 1990, Bell scholarships have demonstrated to students from grade schoolers to Ph.D. candidates that their passion for state's wild resources is important.
Mills used a $600 Bell Scholarship to buy equipment for a scientific experiment as part of his work for a Ph.D. degree. He demonstrated that stress - in this case seeing a predator - multiplied the negative effects of pesticide exposure in gray tree frog tadpoles. This is small bit of knowledge about the environmental effects of pesticides, but it contributes to the growing body of knowledge that ultimately may help scientists discover why amphibian numbers are declining worldwide.
Mills' scholarship also helped him build a resume that landed him a job as an assistant professor of biology at Harding University in Searcy, Ark. "Graduate students are always searching for funding to do a little better project," said Mills. "The Charles Bell scholarship program is one of the best-kept secrets in Missouri."
Mattingly used his Bell scholarship to cover living expenses while he studied the Niangua darter's habitat preferences. "Money was really tight for me at that time," he recalls. "I was just starting out and had been working two jobs. The Bell grant was a nice financial boost, and it boosted my confidence, too. It was definitely motivating to have the importance of my work recognized.
Mattingly's work helped state and federal wildlife agencies design population monitoring and management plans for the Niangua darter. It also helped convince Tennessee Technical University in Cookeville, Tenn., to hire him as an assistant professor.
The CFM Charitable Trust awards one $600 graduate scholarship and one $500 undergraduate scholarship annually. It also awards six $250 scholarships to elementary or high school students or youth groups each year to support conservation projects.
Applications for Bell scholarships are due by Jan. 15. For scholarship application forms or information about tax-deductible contributions to the program, contact: Charles P. Bell Scholarships, Conservation Federation of Missouri, 728 W. Main St., Jefferson City, MO 65101. Phone: 573/634-2322 or 800/575-2322.
- Jim Low -
12/2003
Scholarships help students make a difference for conservation
Scholarships honoring the memory of a citizen conservationist help students of all ages contribute to Missouri's conservation tradition.
JEFFERSON CITY - As a college student at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Nathan Mills worried about the decline of frog populations worldwide. He wondered if pesticides in the environment might be contributing to that decline. A grant from the Charles P. Bell Memorial Scholarship Program enabled him to link pesticides and frog deaths.
Another MU student, Hayden Mattingly, wondered what factors determined why the endangered Niangua darter - a pint-sized fish related to the walleye - inhabited some stretches of stream in Western Missouri and not others. The same scholarship program helped him identify habitat factors critical to the fish's survival.
The scholarship program bears the name of a Columbia resident who was president of the Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM) at the time of his death in 1989. He also served as treasurer of the CFM Charitable Trust.
Bell's family cooperated with the CFM to set up the scholarship program in Bell honor. Each year since 1990, Bell scholarships have demonstrated to students from grade schoolers to Ph.D. candidates that their passion for state's wild resources is important.
Mills used a $600 Bell Scholarship to buy equipment for a scientific experiment as part of his work for a Ph.D. degree. He demonstrated that stress - in this case seeing a predator - multiplied the negative effects of pesticide exposure in gray tree frog tadpoles. This is small bit of knowledge about the environmental effects of pesticides, but it contributes to the growing body of knowledge that ultimately may help scientists discover why amphibian numbers are declining worldwide.
Mills' scholarship also helped him build a resume that landed him a job as an assistant professor of biology at Harding University in Searcy, Ark. "Graduate students are always searching for funding to do a little better project," said Mills. "The Charles Bell scholarship program is one of the best-kept secrets in Missouri."
Mattingly used his Bell scholarship to cover living expenses while he studied the Niangua darter's habitat preferences. "Money was really tight for me at that time," he recalls. "I was just starting out and had been working two jobs. The Bell grant was a nice financial boost, and it boosted my confidence, too. It was definitely motivating to have the importance of my work recognized.
Mattingly's work helped state and federal wildlife agencies design population monitoring and management plans for the Niangua darter. It also helped convince Tennessee Technical University in Cookeville, Tenn., to hire him as an assistant professor.
The CFM Charitable Trust awards one $600 graduate scholarship and one $500 undergraduate scholarship annually. It also awards six $250 scholarships to elementary or high school students or youth groups each year to support conservation projects.
Applications for Bell scholarships are due by Jan. 15. For scholarship application forms or information about tax-deductible contributions to the program, contact: Charles P. Bell Scholarships, Conservation Federation of Missouri, 728 W. Main St., Jefferson City, MO 65101. Phone: 573/634-2322 or 800/575-2322.
- Jim Low -
