A new source of grant funding is now available to University of California graduate students interested in conducting original scientific research in the Sierra Nevada. The Sagehen Creek Field Station Graduate Student Research Grant supports field-based research conducted at Sagehen Creek Field Station and/or Chickering American River Reserve, among the 42 reserves in UC Nature. The grant program encourages projects that utilize the reserve’s long-term environmental datasets and extensive research infrastructure.
“The Sierra Nevada offers a living laboratory for pressing environmental questions, and Sagehen is the perfect place to train the next generation of researchers and conservation stewards,” says Tim Brown, director of both Sagehen and Chickering reserves.
Sagehen Creek Field Station is situated on the eastern slope of the northern Sierra. Its location offers exceptional opportunities for studies in ecology, hydrology, fire science, climate change, geology, and forest dynamics. Chickering American River Reserve offers a similar hydrological and ecological setting on the western slope of the Sierra. Their mid-elevation forests and headwater ecosystems are critical zones of ecological change, where shifts in snowpack, fire regimes, and species distributions are already unfolding.
“Research at these sites helps inform some of the most urgent environmental challenges in western North America,” Brown says.
Up to two grant awards of up to $1,500 each will be made each year. Funds may be used to offset costs associated with conducting field work at Sagehen and/or Chickering, including reserve use fees, research supplies, and travel costs. Graduate students mentoring an undergraduate researcher qualify for an additional $500 toward mentee support. Projects are selected for their scientific merit, relevance to Sagehen’s landscape and mission, and potential to contribute to both academic scholarship and student growth.
“With my own recent experience as a doctoral student, I know how transformative early funding and field access can be,” says Brown, who is on track to complete his Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from UC Santa Cruz later this year.
This year’s grant recipient is Tommy Herrera, a doctoral student in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley. His project investigates how deer mice serve as a reservoir for Sin Nombre hantavirus, a pathogen responsible for hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in humans. By comparing gene expression in infected and uninfected wild mice, Herrera seeks to identify immune pathways allowing the mice to tolerate infection without showing symptoms. His research will advance our understanding of host-pathogen dynamics and examine the ecological factors influencing how the virus is transmitted to humans. Herrera will conduct field work at Sagehen and a second UC Nature reserve, Valentine Camp in Mammoth Lakes.
During the project, Herrera will mentor undergraduate student assistants in field methods and pathogen surveillance. Encouraging this type of student mentorship is a central goal of the grant, Brown says. “It creates a rare opportunity for graduate students to guide undergraduates through real research. This enables the graduate student to build leadership and teaching skills, while undergraduates gain hands-on experience and a direct connection to academic science. That kind of near-peer learning is incredibly formative for both.”
This aspect of the grant reflects the private donor’s interest in supporting student research and mentorship at the reserve. It’s a vision shared by the reserve’s leadership, which includes Brown and Neil Tsutsui, faculty director of both reserves and a professor at UC Berkeley. “This kind of support fills a critical gap in how we train and inspire the next generation of scientists,” Brown says.
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