University of Michigan
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Liz Wason is the 2011 recipient of the Helen Olsen Brower Memorial Fellowship in Environmental Studies from EEB, awarded annually to a graduate student working in applied sciences for the conservation of natural resources.

Wason’s research focuses on plant-insect interactions and plant defenses against herbivores. “The work has implications for biocontrol efforts in agricultural systems,” she said. “The control of pests by manipulating the defenses against herbivores used naturally by plants may be a viable substitute for synthetic pesticides.”

The prestigious award provides one semester of fellowship funding for stipend, tuition and benefits. Sally and Caspar Offutt, Jr., endowed this fellowship in tribute to Sally's mother who graduated in biology in 1917 from the University of Michigan. Brower led a vigorous public life touching on wide-ranging endeavors from politics to war relief. She invariably found her greatest satisfaction with projects involving the outdoors.

The 2010 Brower fellow was John Marino, who studies the interactive effects of parasitism and predation on amphibian populations. Read more about Marino’s research in the previous news item on his NSF DDIG award.