Meet the Becker Fellows

About the Becker Fellowship

Catherine Z. Becker
M.S. Environmental Science and Policy, 1996

After a 21-year career as a U.S. Naval Officer, Cathy pursued a long-time desire to undertake environmental studies. She chose the M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason University, and graduated in 1996. Mason prepared her for employment in the energy data field for the next 20 years.

She and her husband Richard sponsor the Becker Research Fellowship to promote the development of leaders and researchers who will tackle environmental problems and promote responsible stewardship of the earth and its magnificent resources.

Becker Fellows

This page is regularly updated as material is provided to the College from our Fellows. Please click below to learn more about each of our Fellows. The Becker Fellowship began in 2018 and has provided critical funding support to master's and doctoral candidates in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy.

MS Concentration: Conservation Science and Policy

Project Title: Beating the heat: The potential role of microclimate refugia in buffering Amazonian birds from climate change

MS Concentration: Conservation Science and Policy

Project Title: Activity levels and temperament in black and white rhinos

PhD Science Track

Dissertation Title: Individual and socio-environmental factors associated with Behavioral and physiological biomarkers of well-being in rhino's ex situ

PhD Science Track

Dissertation Title: Characterizing biological and functional diversity of bacterioplankton in the Potomac River under dynamic climate conditions. Using high throughput sequencing to identify taxonomy (16S rRNA) and functional potential (metagenomics) and expression (metatranscriptomics) to characterize bacterioplankton dynamics in the Potomac River with changing climatic conditions.

PhD Science Track

Dissertation Title: Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral: Finding the secrets to restoration ecology in the working landscapes of Madagascar's Mangoky River Watershed Basin

PhD Science Track

Dissertation Title: Restoring Palo Santo, the Holy Wood of the Tropical Dry Forest

MS Concentration: Conservation Science and Policy

Thesis Title: Mammal reactions to novel objects in their environment

PhD Science Track

Dissertation Title: Invasion history of parasitic castrators influences an estuarine crab host’s demographics, physiology, and behaviors

PhD Science Track

Dissertation Title: The facilitation of the invasive alga Gracilaria vermiculophylla by a native decorator worm (Diopatra cuprea) in mid-Atlantic estuaries of the United States.

PhD Science Track:

Dissertation Title: Conflicting ecosystem services and frugivorous mammals in the Peruvian Amazon

MS Concentration: Aquatic Ecology

Thesis Title: Does salinity influence the spatio-temporal distribution of two parasites (Loxothylacus panopaei & Cancrion sp.) of the white-fingered mud crab (Rhithropanopeus harrisii)?

MS Concentration: Conservation Science and Policy

Thesis Title: Prey selection by bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) mother-calf pairs within the lower Chesapeake Bay and coastal Virginia as a method of meeting high energy demands