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Doctoral candidate to attend symposium for top new researchers

06/01/2010

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“Sampling” by Molly Mehling from her photo story “Discover Your Microwildness” presented at the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) Summit held in Feb. in Reno, Nevada.

Molly Mehling, a doctoral candidate in zoology at Miami University, is one of 35 new researchers selected to attend the Eco-DĀS IX symposium (Ecological Dissertations in the Aquatic Sciences).

The weeklong, all expenses paid symposium, held at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa in October, is designed to foster sustained, cross-disciplinary interactions among the top new researchers in ecological oceanography and limnology.

The selected researchers — who have received, or will receive, their doctorate between June 1, 2009, and June 1, 2011 — have conducted their dissertation research on an important ecological problem in oceanography or limnology.

Mehling, who will receive her doctorate in August, studies how human and natural systems interact across scales to structure/shape aquatic communities. Her dissertation research has focused on uncovering patterns of biodiversity and distribution of nearshore benthic (bottom-living) macroinvertebrates in the Sierra Nevada lakes and reservoirs. Her doctoral adviser is Jim Oris, professor of zoology and associate dean of research and scholarship.

“I am able to participate in this program thanks to the mentorship and training provided by Miami’s ecology faculty, many of whom are active as members of Miami’s Center for Aquatic and Watershed Sciences (CAWS),” says Mehling. The CAWS is a proposed Center of Excellence of the University System of Ohio.

Eco-DĀS IX is funded by the National Science Foundation with contributions from the Office of Naval Research, NASA and NOAA. The symposium will highlight the initial work of the new researchers through open-access publication of a formal symposium proceedings volume.