Amber Greenall, who began grad studies this past fall as a member of Thompson Rivers University’s first Master of Science in Environmental Sciences program, has received a very prestigious award valued at $17,500 from Canada’s premier sciences and engineering granting agency.
“This award is big news,” said Dr. Nancy Van Wagoner, TRU Associate Vice-President, Research and Graduate Studies. “These awards are given to the top candidates for Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council post-graduate scholarships. These are highly competitive awards and indicate that Amber is among the very best graduate students in Canada.”
The award, renamed this year to honour Canadian scientist Alexander Graham Bell, is granted to students who are at the top academically and show outstanding research and
leadership skills along with a broad range of interests.
Students do not apply for the award, nor is there a nomination process. Greenall, who earlier this year was granted an NSERC post-graduate scholarship (PGS), was one of the highest-ranked PGS applicants in Canada, and so was automatically considered by NSERC for the award.
“This is wonderful for our university, wonderful for our new MSc program and wonderful for Amber,” said Dr. Lauchlan Fraser, Canada Research Chair in grassland ecology and TRU MSc faculty member, who is supervising Greenall in a study examining how climate change will affect the distribution and competitive performance of two invasive plant species in southern interior grasslands, with the fieldwork to take place in the 100 Mile House area of BC.
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Greenall has already had great success as a student. After graduating from Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School in 100 Mile House in 2002, she left the family ranch in 100 Mile House to come to TRU. A Bachelor of Natural Resource Science degree student with an interest in range issues, Amber attended the Society of Range Management Conference in Reno, Nevada, in 2007, where she placed 5th out of 152 students in the Undergraduate Range Management Exam. She won TRU’s 2007 University Medal in Natural Resource Science, and was the valedictorian for the 2007 Sciences and Health Sciences convocation ceremony.
“My reaction to this award was a sense of community achievement. I know about the caliber of faculty and the level of student teacher interaction here at TRU as well as the innovative and cross-disciplinary research being conducted, but others may not, so, to me, this award is less about my achievements and more about the quality of student and research that TRU is producing. There is a real flexibility and support in the graduate program that allows you to incorporate other fields of study such as economics or policy into your research,” said Greenall, whose future plans include continued research which can influence the attitudes and policies around rangelands and grasslands.
