UMass Amherst Postdoc Awarded AAUW Fellowship to Study Sharks and Sea Turtles in St. Croix

Grace Casselberry, postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Environmental Conservation (ECo), was recently awarded the American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) to support her work in assessing the predator-prey dynamics of tiger sharks and four sea turtle species in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI).

The fellowships are awarded to women scholars who are pursuing full-time study for eight consecutive weeks and demonstrate scholarly excellence, quality and originality of project design and an active commitment to helping women and girls through service in their communities, professions or fields of research.

The American Fellowship program began in 1888, when women were discouraged from pursuing an education. It is the AAUW’s largest fellowship program and the oldest non-institutional source of graduate funding for women in the United States.

“I am honored to have been selected for this award from the AAUW to support me, as a postdoc, as well as my research,” Casselberry says. “The award is open to women across all disciplines of research and having them see the value of my work across such a wide applicant pool is really special. It is exciting to get to continue to build my career here in the ECo department, where I also did my graduate research.”