University Park -- Ph.D. Candidate in Ecology Receives Intercollege Graduate Student Outreach Achievement Award
Eric S. Long, Ph.D. candidate in the Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, is the recipient of the 2005 Intercollege Graduate Student Outreach Achievement Award.
This award endeavors to encourage our future scholars and researchers to embrace outreach and to promote a commitment to advancing the welfare and quality of life for the public through scholarly pursuits.
To be considered for the award, outreach activities of the nominees must be related to their areas of scholarship and the disciplinary training received in their graduate degree programs. Nominees must also have completed substantially all of their coursework and research at the time of nomination.
Eric’s research focuses on the effect of recently enacted harvest regulations in Pennsylvania on the dispersal of yearling male, white-tailed deer. Eric, together with the help of more than 30 technicians in two counties, captured over 2,000 deer, radio-marked 550 bucks, and tracked their movement patterns. His study generated large amounts of data, as well as interest from the media.
Eric has been called upon to give numerous interviews for newspapers, television, and radio and on multiple occasions, he has worked with Don Jacobs, host of WNEP’s “Pennsylvania Outdoor Life,” to televise various aspects of the research project. Don was among those who nominated Eric for this award, and following are excerpts from his letter:
“Eric invited our cameras into the blinds, onto the tree stands and under the nets as his team captured, tranquilized, processed and released deer in the name of research. He explained the process step by step and in a manor understandable to the people of Pennsylvania. Eric was certainly the voice of research and of reason. Our audience is perhaps the most knowledgeable population in the state when it comes to understanding whitetail deer and the efforts being made to learn more about them. This could not have been accomplished without Eric’s dedication to his project and to the people of Pennsylvania.”
The Intercollege Graduate Student Outreach Achievement Award was created by a generous gift from two Penn State alumni, Dr. and Mrs. Steven E. Linberg, and a matching gift commitment from the Office of the Vice President of Outreach.
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PR Contact:
Marilyn B. Engle
mbengle@psu.edu
814-863-8117
Release Date: March 28, 2005