Margaret Williams Research Grants
for botanical research
The Nevada Native Plant Society (NNPS) Margaret Williams research grants program will annually award up to two grants of not over $1000 each.
These grants are designed to facilitate basic botanical research and increase our understanding of Nevada's native and naturalized flora. The research should cover some aspect of our flora from single species to whole communities or ecosystems. Research can include, but is not limited to, disciplines such as conservation, landscape analysis, ecology, biogeography, taxonomy, and ethnobotany.
CRITERIA AND PROCEDURES
Written proposals are to be submitted to the Small Grants Program chair. Research proposals should be concise and to the point. Each proposal should contain a title, objectives, methods, expected final product(s), a brief statement of applicant's qualifications, and a project budget for how NNPS funds will be spent. If applicant is a student an accompanying letter from their faculty advisor is required (maximum of one page); otherwise letters of support are optional. Next deadline is February 1st, 2025.
Eligible costs include travel, lodging, meals, supplies expended as part of the project, and services such as computer time or graphics. Non-eligible costs include wages, equipment re-usable beyond the project, and costs unrelated to the project.
A decision will be reached by March 1st. All applicants will be notified of the committee's decision. The committee may decide not to fund a grant in any given year.
Successful applicants will be required to discuss their research results with NNPS. This can be through an article for our newsletter or by giving a presentation at an evening NNPS meeting.
Support in the form of a NNPS Margaret Williams Research Grant will be awarded only once for any one project.
Proposals must be emailed to grants@nvnps.org. Supporting letters should be sent independently to the same address.
Grant History
Two Grants were awarded in March 2024 to:
Rachel Renne, Ph.D. candidate at Yale University, School of the Environment, to support “Investigating perennial forb microsites in sagebrush ecosystems”.
Allison Autry, Ph.D. candidate at Claremont Graduate University and California Botanic Garden, to support “Conserving Rare and Disjunct Orchids in a Changing American West”.
Two Grants were awarded in March 2023 to:
Mahima Dixit, M.S. student at California Botanic Garden and Claremont Graduate University, to support "Phylogeny and Taxonomy of the Eriogonum deflexum Complex (Polygonaceae)."
Sage Ellis, M.S. student at University of Nevada, Reno, to support "Quantifying the status and long-term demographic trends of a Lake Tahoe alpine endemic, Draba asterophora."
Two Grants were awarded in March 2022 to:
Peri Lee Pipkin, M.S. student at California Botanic Garden and Claremont Graduate University, to support "A floristic inventory of the Silver Peak Range, Esmeralda County, NV."
Leah Prescott, Ph.D. student at University of Nevada, Reno, to support "Investigating the causes of seed mass variation in Great Basin plants; a trait important for habitat restoration."
One Grant was awarded in March 2021 to:
Laura Shriver, M.S. student at University of Nevada, Reno, to support her research "Assessing plant trait response to fire through a resurrection study."
Two Grants were awarded in March 2020 to:
Teague Embrey, freelance botanist in Tuscon, Arizona, to support field research on Eriogonum microthecum Nutt. var. arceuthinum Reveal.
Austin Rosén, M.S. student at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, to support research on species boundaries in a group of seep-loving desert thistles.
Two Grants were awarded in March 2019 to:
Dylan Cohen, Ph.D. student at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and Claremont Graduate University, to support research on Cryptic diversity within the Mojave blazing stars (Mentzelia sect. Bartonia, Loasaceae).
Austin Koontz, M.S. student at Utah State University, to support research on Genomic comparisons among varieties of a primrose species complex in the Great Basin.
Two Grants were awarded in March 2018 to:
Rosa A. Rodriguez-Pena, Ph.D. student at The Ohio State University, to support research on Morphological divergence in Penstemon speciosus and the role of pollinator-mediated natural selection.
Jamey Wilcher, M.S. student at the University of Nevada, Reno, to support research on Ecology and Genetics of Eriogonum crosbyae Reveal.
Two Grants were awarded in March 2017 to:
Alison Agneray, PhD student at the University of Nevada, Reno, to support research on developing more effective restoration seed mixes for native sagebrush ecosystems.
Dominic Gentilcore, PhD student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to support research on ponderosa pines in the Virgin Mountains of Nevada.
One Grant was awarded in March 2016 to:
Temitope Israel Borokini, PhD student at the University of Nevada, Reno, to support research on Genetic diversity, distribution modelling and soil seed bank density studies on threatened Ivesia webberi Gray.
Two Grants were awarded in March 2015 to:
Joshua Harrison, PhD student at the University of Nevada, Reno, to support research on the population genetics and fungal community of Astragalus lentiginosus.
Brian Smithers, PhD student at the University of California, Davis, to support research on climate change-induced range shifts in Great Basin sub-alpine bristlecone pine forests.
Two Grants were awarded in March 2014 to:
Sarah Barga, a Ph.D. student at the University of Nevada, Reno, was awarded a grant to support research on Germination Ecology of Great Basin forbs.
Jeffrey Rose, a Ph.D. student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, will be learning more about the genus Polemonium (Jacobs ladders, skypilots) in a study entitled "Evolution and Biogeography of Polemonium (Polemoniaceae): Affinities of Polemonium nevadense Wherry."
One Grant was awarded in March 2013 to:
Lea Condon, a Ph.D. candidate at Oregon State University, Corvallis, to support research proposal entitled ‘Bryofighters’ Promote Ecosystem Function Following Fire.
One grant was awarded in March 2012, to:
Christopher W. Kopp, a Ph.D. candidate at University of California, San Diego, to support research proposal entitled Understanding the impacts of increasing temperatures and sagebrush encroachment in a Great Basin alpine plant community.
Two grants were awarded in March 2011, to:
Mare Nazaire, a Ph.D. candidate at Washington State University, Pullman, to support research proposal entitled The geographic and ecological basis of species richness: diversification in western North American Mertensia (Boraginaceae)”
Allison Phillips, a Masters student at University of Nevada, Reno, in support of proposal entitled Restoration using the Nevada native perennial grass Poa secunda (sandberg bluegrass) in cheatgrass invaded systems.
Two grants were awarded in March 2010, to:
James P. Riser II, a Ph.D. student at Washington State University, Pullman, for research on Species Boundaries and Phylogeography of the Dwarf Milkweed Group (Asclepias uncialis-ruthiae-eastwoodiana-sanjuanensis, Asclepiadoideae: Apocynaceae): The Nevada Endemic Asclepias eastwoodiana.
Naomi S. Fraga, a Ph.D. student at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and Claremont Graduate University, California, for research on Conservation, Taxonomy, and Reproductive Biology of the Mimulus palmeri clade (Phrymaceae).
No Grants were awarded in 2009.
Two Grants were awarded in March 2008 to:
Ben Grady, University of Wisconsin, Madison, to support research on speciation and edaphic endemism in Eriogonum (Polygonaceae).
Genevieve Walden, San Francisco State University, to support research on molecular systematics of Phacelia.
Two Grants were awarded in March 2007 to:
Sarah DeGroot, Claremont Graduate University, to support research on quantitative morphology and biogeography of Eriastrum (Polemoniaceae).
Alan DeQueiroz, to support research on genetic differentiation across high elevation islands of the Great Basin.
One Grant was awarded in March 2006 to:
Elizabeth Zacharias, University of California, Berkeley, to support research on the evolutionary relationship between Atriplex phyllostegia and Atriplex covillei (Chenopodiaceae).
One Grant was awarded in March 2005 to:
John Schenk, Washington State University, to support research on Mentzelia section Bartonia (Loasaceae), the blazing stars of Nevada.
One Grant was awarded in March 2004 to:
Brian J. Knaus, Oregon State University, Corvallis, to support research on Astragalus lentiginosus.
One Grant was awarded in March 2002 to:
Briana Gross, Indiana University, to support research on the origins of Helianthus deserticola.
Two Grants were awarded in March 2001 to:
Justen Bryant Whittall, University of California, Santa Barbara, to support research on Aquilegia.
Michael Patrick Griffith, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont, CA, to support research on hybridization in Opuntia.
Two Grants were awarded in March 2000 to:
Jason Andrew Alexander, Oregon State University, Corvallis, to support research on hybrid recombination in Astragalus.
Gina Glenne, Utah State University, Logan, to support research on two-toned beardtongue (Penstemon bicolor) in Clark County and its two-toned pollinator dilemma.