https://esp.gmu.edu/2018/12/esp-graduate-student-is-awarded-a-national-geographic-career-grant/

Update:

Palo santo crowdfund: https://experiment.com/projects/does-the-palo-santo-tree-consist-of-multiple-distinct-species

Betsy’s lab note: https://experiment.com/u/XFYWoA

Congratulations are in order!

PhD student Elizabeth (Betsy) Collins has been awarded an Early Career Grant in the amount of $10,000.00 by the National Geographic Society’s Committee for Research and Exploration in support of her proposed project, “Holy Wood: A Powerful Tool for Understanding and Healing the Endangered Dry Forest”.

Betsy’s dissertation research focuses on defining species boundaries and studying the population genetics of the tropical tree, Bursera graveolens (palo santo), to better understand the evolutionary processes driving the formation of the dry forest biome in the Americas.