Molly Wick selected as the first Margaret A. Davidson Fellow

August 03, 2020

The Lake Superior Reserve is pleased to announce that Molly Wick, a PhD student at the University of Minnesota Duluth, has been selected as their first Margaret A. Davidson Fellow! Her funded two-year project will focus on the benefits and well-being people receive following changes in the health of the St. Louis River ecosystem.

The Margaret A. Davidson Fellowship is a competitive federal fellowship program that aims to help scientists and communities understand the coastal challenges that influence policy and management. The program places one graduate student at each of 29 National Estuarine Research Reserves. Led by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the inaugural class launches in fall 2020.

Molly has been an ORISE research fellow at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division in Duluth, Minnesota for the last four years. Her research focused on the ecological assessment of shallow near shore areas of the Great Lakes. Prior to that, Molly managed habitat restoration projects in the St. Louis River Estuary for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Molly earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. In 2010, she earned a master’s degree in Earth and Planetary Science from University of New Mexico and went on to earn a second master’s degree in Water Resource Science from University of Minnesota-Duluth in 2013. Molly will conduct research to assess how changing conditions due to habitat restoration and climate change in the St. Louis River estuary affect human well-being in neighboring communities. The research will inform how local managers plan and assess success of restoration work and adaptation to climate change.

CONTACT:

Deanna Erickson

Reserve Director

deanna.erickson@wisc.edu

(715) 399-4086