The University of Arizona

2010 McGinnies Scholarship Award Luncheon

On Sept. 14, a luncheon was held at the Arizona Inn to honor Henry Adams. Henry is a Ph.D. candidate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the 34th recipient of the 2010 McGinnies Scholarship Award (http://www.snr.arizona.edu/mcginnies). Henry's principal mentors are David Breshears, SNRE, and Travis Huxman, EEB and Bio2. Through field analyses, experiments, and ecological modeling, Henry's dissertation addresses the temperature sensitivity and ecophysiology of drought-induced pinyon pine mortality in the American Southwest, with particular reference to massive dieoffs during the 2002-2003 drought. Henry obtained his BA from Alfred University in NY, his MS in Forestry from Northern Arizona University, and will defend his dissertation in May 2012. He has received other awards, including an EPA STAR Fellowship, a USDA Training Grant in Ecohydrology, and an AGU Fall Meeting Outstanding Paper Award. Henry already has published 13 papers in top journals, including, PNAS, Ecology, Ecological Applications, Journal of Ecology, Oecologia, Journal of Biogeography, Canadian Journal of Forest Research, Rangeland Ecology and Management, and EOS.

 
 
The McGinnies Luncheon was attended (from left to right) by Stuart Marsh (SNRE-OALS, ALRS and SGD), Jim Buizer (IE and OALS), Travis Huxman (EEB and Bio2), Don Falk (SNRE, LTRR, and past McGinnies recipient), Henry Adams (SNRE), Kathleen Perkins (Chair, Bio5 Business Advisory Board, Board of Directors UA-College of Science, and CEO-OpticsReport), Julio Betancourt (USGS, UA and past McGinnies Award recipient), and Chuck Hutchinson (SNRE and ALRS). Conversation around the table was both lively and wide-ranging, some of it focused on a recent op ed by Ms. Perkins on the value of engineers and scientists running for public office (http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/article_98d7d01d-aadc-5cf7-9bb5-8ba472c72ebf.html). Ms. Perkins’ participation in the McGinnies Luncheon was a great addition, and the Selection Committee plans to routinely invite business/community leaders to McGinnies Scholarship Luncheons in the future.