NALMS Announces 2024 Recipients of Kenneth H. Reckhow Student Scholarships

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 22, 2024

Contact: Alyssa Anderson, Director of Development & Marketing
Phone: 608-233-2836
Email: info@nalms.org

NALMS Announces 2024 Recipients of Kenneth H. Reckhow Student Scholarships

We are thrilled to announce this year’s recipients of the Kenneth H. Reckhow Scholarship. The two recipients are: Teso Coker (Stanford University) and Evan Jones (Queen’s University).

Photo courtesy of Dr. Kenneth Reckhow

Established through the generosity and kindness of NALMS Life Member, Dr. Kenneth Reckhow, the Kenneth H. Reckhow Scholarship Fund provides financial support to graduate students to use toward their education. “Along with NALMS members Denny Cooke and Gene Welch,” Dr. Reckhow explains, “I was part of the pre-NALMS conferences in Madison, Minneapolis, and East Lansing, leading to the 1980 meeting in Portland…NALMS helped me grow as a scientist. These are just a few of the great memories that I have, which makes me want to give back to NALMS through this scholarship fund.”

With a unique tie-in to a NALMS tradition and Dr. Reckhow’s personal history with the Society, the scholarship winners were directly linked with an event that occurs each year at the NALMS annual symposium: the Clean Lakes Classic 5K. Starting with the 2021 Clean Lakes Classic 5K Run/Walk (which was a virtual fun run due to the pandemic), one female and one male graduate student participant in the event is randomly selected each year to receive $500 for use toward their education.

Learn more about the Kenneth H. Reckhow Scholarship Fund: https://www.nalms.org/nalms-student-programs/reckhow-scholarship-fund/. Details for students interested in applying for a 2025 scholarship will be released in the coming months.

Learn more about our scholarship recipients:

Evan Jones // Queen’s University, Kingston, ON

Photo courtesy of Evan Jones

I am a PhD student in the department of biology at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario (Canada). I work in the Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Laboratory along with a fantastic cohort of undergraduate, MSc, and PhD students. We are paleolimnologists, which means we study long-term changes in lakes and ponds in North America using the sediment record at the bottom of each water basin. Within the sediment, we look at various preserved indicators (like fossilized remains) to reconstruct long-term environmental change and ecosystem responses to environmental stressors.

We live in a point of history where land-use changes, climate warming, and loss of biodiversity, pose a significant threat to our aquatic systems. I’m very interested in how we will adapt our management and conservation strategies in response to these challenges. At NALMS, I saw a range of strategies, some of which were highly involved and hands-on, and some which were more laissez-faire, depending on the lake or reservoir. Especially as new technology and techniques are developed, I’m excited to see how our water resources will be protected for the use and enjoyment of future generations.

Dr. Andrew Paterson and Dr. Liz Favot (who are both very involved with NALMS) suggested attending NALMS as it would be a good opportunity to share research, learn about lake management and monitoring strategies, and to meet a diverse group of experts in freshwater-related fields. So, five other students and I attended our first NALMS in 2023 and came back for more in 2024!

My post-event student-athlete interview would sound something like this: I’d like to thank my supervisor John for challenging me every day to becoming a better scientist, my teammate Julia for making me run faster (still lost to her in the 5k), and my other teammate Jamie for all the work that we do together!

Teso Coker // Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Photo courtesy of Teso Coker

I currently attend Stanford University and am pursuing my PhD in Earth System Science. I am most interested in the terrestrial-aquatic continuum and impacts on aquatic ecology. I was introduced to NALMS by Polly Bowman who works with FlowCam, she sent me the announcement and the theme was quite interesting. NALMS is a great community and I hope to continue to foster connections and conversations with a variety of members.

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Founded in 1980, the North American Lake Management Society (NALMS) is a nonprofit organization focused on the management and protection of lakes and reservoirs. NALMS welcomes anyone with an interest in lakes and strives to forge partnerships among citizens, scientists, and professionals to achieve this mission.