Lawrence graduate students win first biodiversity scholarships

LAWRENCE -- Three Lawrence graduate students recently received the first Leaman D. Harris Biodiversity Scholarships, created last year by a gift for the University of Kansas by Leaman and Judith Harris of Edmond, Okla.

Oliver Komar, graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology, received a $5,000 award to support his research on biodiversity inventory and conservation and sustainable economic development. Komar's project will build on research he began in 2001 on the role that coffee plantations play in the conservation of birds in the mountainous regions of Central America.

Shankar Ranganathan and Sriram Chadalavada, graduate students in electrical engineering and computer science, together received $2,000 for support of their project to make biological information associated with animal and plant specimens accessible over the Web.

The Harrises established the scholarship fund at the KU Endowment Association to support advancing knowledge about the planet's fantastic diversity of plants, animals and microbes and its conservation through multidisciplinary, innovative research in the life sciences, earth sciences, engineering and other disciplines.

Leonard Krishtalka, director of the KU Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center and chair of the scholarship committee, said, "The Harris scholarship represents a pioneering vision for preparing the biodiversity scientists of the future -- scientists who must investigate and understand the complex natural and human systems on which all life depends. We are pleased to have as the first recipients three deserving students whose work crosses disciplinary boundaries and will enable other scientists to do so as well."

The Leaman D. Harris Biodiversity Scholarship will be awarded each May.