Loeblich and Tappan Student Research Grant

This Grant was established in 2004 in memory of Alfred R. Loeblich, Jr. and Helen Tappan. The Grant supports undergraduate and graduate student research on any aspect of living or fossil foraminifera or other protists, such as diatoms, coccolithophorids, dinoflagellates, acritarchs, or radiolaria. Research on geochemistry using microfossils only as geochemical indicators is not funded; however, geochemistry that relates to any aspect of living or fossil foraminifera is fundable and should be explained.

Current students with developed research projects in these areas are encouraged to apply for support. Applicants must be Cushman Foundation members at the time of application. To apply you will need to fill out the application form and provide a description of the proposed research, why it is important, a detailed budget with justification for the expenditures and a curriculum vitae. Budgets should provide sufficient detail that a complete understanding of the financial aspects of the proposed work is clear. A letter of support from the student's faculty advisor is also required. These should be sent to by email to cushmanfoundation@gmail.com. No Grant will be made for more than $3000. The Board of Directors reserves the right to make no awards or to make awards that differ from the requested budget.

Previous Loeblich and Tappan Student Research Grant Winners Include:

2024

• Joshua Deen (Oklahoma State University, USA) for the project entitled Analysis of Benthic Foraminifera Extinction From Equatorian Mid-Pleistocene Transition Sediments
• Jonas Donnenfield (Oregon State University), for the project entitled Benthic Foraminiferal Morphometrics as a Quantitative Oxygen Proxy: Assessing Shell Pore Characteristics to Reconstruct the Northeast Pacific Oxygen Minimum Zone During Holocene Warming
• Lucia Maldonado (North Carolina State University) for the project entitled Variability of Neogloboquadrina incompta crust and proloculus size: insights into frequency and timing of sexual reproduction in a natural environment. 

2023

• Solomon Joshua Avong Ahmadu Bello University Nigeria
• Eleanor Goetz Yale University

2022

• M. Kelsey Lane, “Paired molecular and trace metal geochemical analysis of non-spinose planktic foraminifera.” Oregon State University
• Clément Tremblin, “Antiquity of Trochamminids (Organic-Cemented Agglutinated Foraminifera) Examples from the Lower Permian, Western Australia.” University of Western Australia

2021

• Samanta Trotta, “Variations in calcareous nannofossils assemblages during the Lower Pleistocene (MIS 48-MIS 41).” Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro"
• Jon Gardoqui, “The micropalaeontological record of human impact on the coastal zones of Northern Atlantic Iberia.” University of the Basque Country

2020

• Trenity Ford, “A novel approach of determining foraminiferal volume and its application as a proxy for seafloor oxygen conditions.” Oklahoma State University
• Christian Gfatter, “Culturing experiments to quantify the incorporation of redox-sensitive trace elements in benthic foraminifera.” Florida State University
• Shari Rohret, “Surveying the distribution and cellular adaptations of benthic foraminifera in karst subterranean estuaries.” Woods Hole
• Ria Sarkar, “A Tale of Two Drifts: Using Planktonic Species Counts and Benthic Foraminiferal Assemblages to Evaluate the Variations in Deep Water Formation at Eirik and Gardar Drifts.” Rutgers University

2019

• Francesca Caridi, “Benthic foraminifera and cigarette butts toxicity: worst than plastic?.” Università Politecnica, Ancona, Italy
• Xiaoyi Guo, "Seasonal hypoxia in the Yangtze River Estuary indicated by trace elements on benthic foraminiferal shells." Ocean University of China, Qingdao, Shandong
• Shari Rohret, "Ultrastructural analysis of hydrothermal vent-associated foraminifera: Surveying for symbionts and cellular modifications." Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program

2018

• Roni Tadir, “Late Cretaceous SST reconstruction based on the most reliable surface-water indicator, Pseudoguembelina.” Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.

2017

• Eric Eubanks, “Distribution of encrusting foraminifera at Mayaguana, Bahamas: Determining assemblage composition and relationship to food availability.” Auburn University, USA.
• Krystyna Kornecki, “Heavy metal sequestration in testate amoebae bioadhesive.” Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA.
• Joseane Marques, “Anthropogenic influence in Brazilian coral reefs: Foraminifera as indicators of environmental health.” Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Brazil,
• Sarah Trubovitz, “Quantifying radiolarian macroevolution through morphology, biodiversity, and silica usage across major Cenozoic climate shifts.” University of Nevada, USA.
• Bethany Walker, “Freshwater diatom response to mining activity in a subalpine lake in the central Colorado Rocky Mountains.” University of Colorado, USA.

2016

• Braden Gregory, "The effect of arsenic on arcellininid communities – towards developing arcellininids as a proxy for paleo-As concentrations." Carleton University, Canada.
• Katarzyna Melaniuk, "Assessing the relationship between living foraminifera and methane emission in the Arctic." UiT Arctic University of Norway, Norway.
• Nawaf Nasser, "High spatio-temporal resolution assessment of Arcellinina (Testate Amoebae) as bioindicators of legacy mine contamination in the Canadian Subarctic." Carleton University, Canada.
• Jason Padgett, "The application of intertidal foraminifera to reconstruct strike normal variability of coastal subsidence during the Cascadia AD 1700 earthquake in Washington, USA." University of Rhode Island, USA.
• Elizabeth Tedder, "Holocene benthic foraminiferal assemblages of tidal inlet deposits along Cedar Island, VA, USA: insights into storm impacts, breach dynamics and inlet evolution." George Mason University, USA.
• Kara Vadman, "Mg/Ca-temperature calibration and reconstruction of bottom water paleotemperatures on the Sabrina Coast, East Antarctica using benthic foraminifer Trifarina angulosa." University of South Florida, USA.

2015

• Megan Fung, "Exploring Early Eocene hyperthermals from an onshore corehole on the New Jersey paleo-continental shelf (ODP 174AX)," Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA.
• Christian Haller, 'A modern analog in storm deposit preservation: The foraminifera in the “Storm of the Century,” University of South Florida, USA.
• Sarah White, "Using foraminiferal B/Ca to constrain the effect of dissolution on key Pliocene Mg/Ca temperature records," University of California, Santa Cruz, USA.

2014

• Elizabeth Brown, "Geochemical and morphological discrepancies in fossil foraminifera: an application to paleoceanographic proxy reconstruction," University of South Florida, USA.
• Paris Stefanoudis, "The biomass of benthic foraminifera at the PAP – insights from morphometric analyses and X-ray tomography," University of Southampton, United Kingdom.
• Jaimie Little, "Development of high-resolution sea level records for the South Atlantic," University of North Carolina Wilmington, USA.

2013

• Chiara Borrelli, “B/Ca as an ocean pH proxy: a new calibration study using cultured benthic foraminifera and synthetic calcite,” Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA.
• Martina de Freitas Prazeres, “Benthic foraminifera as a tool for detecting environmental changes on the Great Barrier Reef,” University of Queensland, Australia.
• Ben Ross, “Dormancy in the foraminifera: a new direction in understanding responses to environmental insults,” University of South Florida, USA.
• Dominique Wojcieszek, “Using B/Ca in Cibicidoides pachyderma from the West Florida Shelf as an ocean acidification paleo-proxy in depths shallower than 1000 meters.” University of South Florida, USA.

2008

• Phoebe Cohen, "Investigations into the Morphology and Taxonomic Affinity of Enigmatic Precambrian Siliceous Scales from the Tindir Formation, Yukon Territories and Alaska". Harvard University, USA.
• Bill Wood, "Palaeoclimatological and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of Galway Bay, Ireland during Holocene." National University Ireland, Galway, Ireland

2007

• Deniz Altin, "The application of the total evidence phylogenetic approach for phylogenetic reconstruction of selected allogromiid foraminifera of Sapelo Island, Georgia, USA". The University of Georgia, Department of Geology, USA.
• Lorraine Casazza, "Endosymbiosis in an Eocene Nummulite". Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, USA.

2006

• Peter van Hengstum, “Developing the concurrent use of thecamoebians and foraminifera as a paleoenvironmental archive in the subterranean flooded cave systems of Quintana Roo, Mexico". School of Geography and Geology, McMaster University, Canada.
• Christopher Stanton, "Holocene Stratigraphy, Micropaleontology, and Environmental Change: North Carolina Inner Shelf". Department of Geological Science, East Carolina University, USA.

2005

• Barry A. Taylor, "Palynostratigraphy of the Valanginian to Lower Aptian succession in the Carnarvon Basin: a critical framework for petroleum exploration on the North West Shelf of Australia". School of Earth & Geographical Sciences, The University of Western Australia.
• Tom Dunkley Jones, "Climate Dynamics, Phytoplankton Productivity and Global Cooling through the Eocene-Oligocene Transition". Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, University of London, UK.