Five Earn Botanical Research Grants at Florida Tech

– Five Florida Tech undergraduate biological sciences majors have earned Vaughn-Jordan Foundation cash prizes of $3,000 each. All are conducting senior
projects on different aspects of botanical research.

Krystle Agans: Methods to improve tissue culture of endangered plant species Aaron Collins: Effect of long-term pastoralism and land management on the
elevation of tree line in Peru Nick Ferra: Methods to improve tissue culture of endangered plant species Kristen Hulm: History of climatic change in a
lowland lake in Peru to determine if El Nino activity has influenced lake productivity over the last 5,000 years Chris Williams: Effect of paleoclimatic
oscillations on fire frequency in an Amazonian Peru seasonally-dry forest.

Collins and Williams will travel to Peru to participate in Dept. of Biological Sciences fieldwork this summer.

The students are working in the laboratories of biological sciences faculty Dr. Mark Bush and Dr. Russell Weigel.

The Vaughn-Jordan Foundation is a philanthropic organization based in West Palm Beach, Fla. It supports research in conservation, botany and horticulture.