The Albert R. and Alma Shadle Fellowship is awarded to a graduate student in recognition of current accomplishments and future potential in Mammalogy. This year the award is $4,727. The 2017 recipient of the Albert R. and Alma Shadle award is Brett Jesmer of University of Wyoming.
Mr. Jesmer has received a NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, a NASA Space Grant Fellowship, and was the recipient of the ASM Elmer C. Birney Award and the Alces Society’s Al Franzmann and Distinguished Colleagues Award. He also has received numerous grants from state and federal agencies to support of his research. Mr. Jesmer has been published in journals such as Ecological Applications, Journal of Mammalogy, and Frontiers in Genetics. He is an active member of ASM, serving on the Animal Institutional Care and Use Committee, and presented at the ASM conference each of the past four years.
Mr. Jesmer's dissertation research focusses on understanding how large mammalian herbivores, such as moose, deer, and bighorn sheep, behaviorally and physiologically cope with food limitations. By synthesizing several ecological sub disciplines and methodological approaches he strives to not only increase understanding of mammalian systems, but to also provide practitioners with new tools and approaches for management and conservation. Mr. Jesmer plans to use funds from the Albert R. and Alma Shadle Fellowship to investigate how moose may mitigate food limitations by altering their diet and gut microbiome.