We are proud to announce that Megan Wheeler was the recipient of the Lisa Dent Memorial Award for 2018! This award is given to an exceptional female Ph.D. student in ecology. Megan’s commitment to research, teaching, and service towards the community embraces the legacy left by Ms. Dent, as illustrated below. Congratulations, Megan!
| Catherine Lisa Dent was a rising star in aquatic ecology who, in a brief career that was tragically cut short by cancer, published significant work on spatial variability of nitrogen in streams and multiple stable states in stream and lake ecosystems. A Canadian citizen who possessed an extraordinary intellect, Lisa entered the ASU Ph.D. Program in Biology in 1994. After receiving a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and a M.S. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon, Lisa decided that protecting the earth was more important than teaching machines to think, developing a passion for ecology that never faltered. In her five years at ASU, she was a leader among graduate students and an inspiration to her advisors and to everyone with whom she interacted. She was an ideal graduate student – always demanding more of herself than anyone else would, and always challenging those around her. She produced an exceptional scientific legacy in her brief research career, including a seminal paper on spatial heterogeneity in nutrient concentrations (Ecology, 1999) and her Hynes Award Honorable Mention paper on multi-scale nutrient heterogeneity (J-NABS, 2001). She went on as a post-doc at the University of Wisconsin to produce significant work on regime shifts in streams and lakes. The life work of Lisa Dent, and her passion for her chosen field, provide an inspiration to young ecologists. The Lisa Dent Memorial Fellowship, established in memory of this inspiring and talented graduate of ASU, will assist other young people in their academic explorations of the natural world, through the exceptional graduate studies programs in ecology at Arizona State University. |