Borowske awarded Fulbright grant
MOUNT VERNON — Senior Alyssa Borowske has been awarded a Fulbright grant to study the impacts of Australian magpies on native bird species in New Zealand. She will work with researchers at the University of Waikato using radio telemetry to track habitat use of two endemic species, the Tui and the Wood Pigeon, in areas with and without magpies. After the Fulbright, she intends to pursue a doctoral degree in avian conservation and ecology.
Borowske has engaged in an extraordinary world of research opportunities since she arrived at Cornell from Barre, Vt., and she is the third Cornell student awarded a Fulbright in the past year. Ryan Taugher and Laura Erceg both earned Fulbrights in 2006.
A biology and environmental studies major with a minor in geology, Borowske spent a block studying coral reefs in the Bahamas, a block studying wildlife ecology at the Wilderness Field Station in northern Minnesota, and a week in Portugal with geology Professor Rhawn Denniston collecting stalagmites. She and Denniston analyzed the stalagmites at Cornell and the University of Iowa, and she presented her research at the Cornell College Student Symposium, Iowa Academy of Science, and North Central Geological Society of America. She also assisted biology Professor Bob Black with hawk research for four years and presented a project on flocking behavior at the 2006 Cornell College Student Symposium.
Last summer Borowske was a participant in a Research Experience for Undergraduates program at the University of Michigan Biological Station. Her field work with ovenbirds and red-eyes vireos involved waking up at dawn every day to catch songbirds in “mist nets” at six different sites in the area. She banded and measured the birds as part of a nation-wide program to monitor bird populations.
For her environmental studies honors thesis, she is studying campus sustainability and writing a report that includes a basic environmental audit of all aspects of Cornell’s operations: energy, dining services, water, buildings and grounds, transportation, waste, pest control, purchasing, and campus opportunities. As part of the project she was chosen to participate in the Cornell Fellows Program as the Dean Fellow in Environmental Studies with Dr. John Mark Dean ’58 in Columbia, S.C.
“My goal is to produce a document that can actually be useful for determining how to make Cornell a more sustainable institution,” she says. “For this project, I am a Cornell Fellow with ’58 alumnus Dr. John Dean, learning about various sustainability initiatives at South Carolina institutions. It is a very exciting project, and I am optimistic that it will help make a positive impact on Cornell!”
Borowske recently initiated a Mortar Board-sponsored graduation project in which seniors can choose to sign a pledge to live a life of environmental and social responsibility. Seventy-six seniors have signed the pledge.
The Fulbright program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and was established in 1946 to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries, through the exchange of persons, knowledge, and skills.
