2011 Undergraduate Laerm Award Winners

The recipient of the 2011 Joshua Laerm Academic Support Award for Undergraduate Students is Olivia Boyd. Olivia was nominated by Dr. Joe McHugh, Department of Entomology. Olivia is enrolled in three different degree programs: Ecology, Entomology, and Scientific Illustration. Her selection as the 2011 recipient is based on her excellent work as an NSF REU intern in the entomology collection. As an REU intern, she assisted with curation duties, especially in digitizing and databasing the entomology taxonomic literature library. She also participated in two research trips, one to the Museum National d'Historire Naturelle in Paris and the other to field sites in Thailand. She presented her undergraduate research project at the Entomological Society of America and received the President's Prize for best undergraduate research presentation in the Systematics, Evolution, and Behavior category. This paper was on a taxonomic description of two new species of sphindid beetles. All of these accomplishments make her an ideal recipient of the 2011 Award.