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University of Nebraska–Lincoln

School of Natural Resources

From Earth to Sky and Everything In Between

Undergraduate Student Awards and Honors


Students can receive awards from a variety of sources. These range from merit-based scholarships given by the university or the School of Natural Resources to scholarships or other awards given by outside organizations. Sometimes the awards are non-monetary but reflect academic or extracurricular commitment. Occasionally a student receives recognition for a paper or poster presented at a professional meeting. You can also see a listing of our graduate student awards and honors.

Undergraduate Students, 2005-2006

Wildlife Club Awards

Outstanding Student Award: Ryan Walrath (photo)

Merit Award: Trevor Schmidt (photo)

Academic Excellence Awards

  • Top Freshman -- Aaron Hildreth (photo)
  • Top Sophomore -- Jason Thiele (photo)
  • Top Junior -- Landon Pierce (photo)
  • Top Senior -- Hunter Flodman (photo)
  • Lars Anderson (photo)
  • Tom Buell (photo)
  • Kelly Corman (photo)
  • Nick Dobesh (photo)
  • Kent Fricke (photo)
  • Scott Harter (photo)
  • Amanda Haskell
  • Kaho Hayashi
  • Nicole Heywood (photo)  
  • Minako Ishibashi
  • Amanda Keep
  • Sara Moore (photo)
  • Aaron Price
  • Ryan Rezac
  • Trevor Schmidt
  • Jason Vencalek
  • Ryan Walrath

Environmental Education Awards

  • Tom Buell
  • Nick Dobesh
  • Hunter Flodman
  • Kent Fricke
  • Aaron Hildreth
  • Amanda Keep
  • Trevor Schmidt
  • Ryan Walrath

Graduating Senior Award

  • Tom Buell
  • Kelly Corman
  • Kent Fricke
  • Amanda Haskell
  • Nicole Heywood
  • Jordan Katt
  • Amanda Keep
  • Sara Moore
  • Ryan Walrath

Student Conclave Award, at Humboldt (California) State, 2006

  • Kelly Corman
  • Kent Fricke
  • Amanda Keep
  • Trevor Schmidt

College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR) Outstanding Student Organization Award:

SNR Student Ambassadors

  • Frazer McDonald
  • Kent Fricke
  • Merilynn Hirsch

Undergraduate Students, 2004-2005

CASNR Student Ambassador

  • Ryan Walrath, a fisheries and wildlife major, was selected for the upcoming school year.

University Creative Activities and Research Experiences (UCARE) program

  • Kent Fricke won first place in the student poster competition at the annual meeting of the Nebraska Chapter of the Wildlife Society. His poster was titled: "Documenting relationships between small mammals, ground nesting passerine birds, and grazing systems on private rangelands in the Nebraska Sandhills.

Gamma Sigma Delta Recognition

Each year, Gamma Sigma Delta recognizes the top 15 percent of the students in CASNR.

  • Matt Primrose
  • Casey Cain
  • Naoko Kobayashi
  • Landon Pierce
  • William Score
  • Ryan Walrath

Outstanding Underclassman of the Year

  • Casey Cain

Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research (UCARE) Award

  • Zach Cunningham received the top award in the Agricultural and Natural Resources division of the UNL Research Fair.  He is in his second year of a UCARE project working with SNR wildlife professors Larkin Powell and Drew Trye and SNR graduate student Max Post van der Burg. Cunningham selected two wetlands, and he removed all potential woody perches from the wetlands to see if it would reduce parasitism rates of songbird nests in Rainwater Basins by brown-headed cowbirds for which there was some postive evidence.

Nebraska Chapter of The Wildlife Society

  • Kent Fricke has been selected for the $500 student travel award to attend the 2005 Annual Meeting of The Wildlife Society in Madison, Wis., in September. Kent conducted his student research through the UCARE program in the Sandhills with Larkin Powell and SNR graduate student Silka Finkbeiner.

Women in Science

  • Naoko Kobayashi, fisheries and wildlife and environmental studies, for scholastic achievement, honored by Graduate Women in Science
  • LaNae Hayes, fisheries and wildlife (same honor)

Undergraduate Students, 2003-2004

Wildlife Club Awards

  • Delia Buerstetta was honored with the Outstanding Wildlife Student Award.
  • Kent Fricke received a merit award and the Ronald M. Case Scholarship.
  • Tara Anderson received the Robert E. Thomas Scholarship.
  • Trevor Schmidt, Casey Cain, Fricke and Buerstetta received academic awards for the freshman through senior class categories, respectively.
  • Kelly Corman and Nicholas Dobesh received Howard Wiegers Memorial Scholarships to support them in the SNR field class to the U.S. Forest Service Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota. This late-spring canoe trip has recently been re-established by SNR faculty and is expected to be an annual event.

Undergraduate Students, 2002-2003

PHOTO ESSAY CONTEST on student work experiences

  • Winner: Greg Clements; also creating essays:
  • Tara Anderson
  • Allison Boies
  • Delia Buerstetta
  • Kelsi Niederklein
  • Heidi L. Puckett

Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experience Award (UCARE)

  • Greg Clements, working with Scott Hygnstrom
  • Zach Cunningham, working with Larkin Powell on undergraduate research projects
  • Kelsi Niederklein, working with Larkin Powell on undergraduate research projects
  • Zachary Rigg (agronomy/horticulture), working with former SNR soil scientist Bill Zanner on the impact of forest establishment on Sandhills soils (second-year award).
  • Aaron Rinkol (agronomy/horticulture), working with Bill Zanner to measure soil parameters important to agricultural chemical movement.

Discovery/Diversity Study Abroad Scholarship, given by UNL Office of International Affairs and Pepsi-Cola Corp.

  • Naoko Kobayashi, a freshman fisheries and wildlife major from Tokyo, Japan. She will travel to Dublin and Cork, Ireland, where she will study "The comparison of U.S. and E.U. (European Union) societies' respective attitudes toward agricultural biotechnology.

Soil Judging Contest

  • UNL Soil Judging Team, coached by Bill Zanner, won the regional contest in Minnesota and competed at national level in Texas.