Doctoral candidate receives outreach award, begins fellowship with Kellogg Bird Sanctuary

Corinn Rutkoski

Corinn Rutkoski, a Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Sarah Evans’ lab at W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, has joined the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary as its 2023 social media fellow. In that role, she will help Sanctuary staff conceptualize, create and distribute content on social media to support the Sanctuary’s education and outreach efforts.

Earlier this year, Rutkoski received the Graduate Student Award for Science Communication and Outreach from Michigan State University’s Office of University Outreach and Engagement. The award is one of several bestowed by that office to faculty, students, staff and volunteers to recognize high-quality community-engaged scholarship and university activities.

The award committee cited several of her contributions to University outreach efforts, including:

• Organizing a series of policymaker visits to KBS.
• Identifying how scientists can effectively engage with those outside of academics, including farmers and crop advisors.
• Leading high school class sessions focused on plant-microbe mutualisms.
• Teaching a course on nature journaling for public audiences.

Corinn Rutkoski

Corinn Rutkoski earned a B.S. in environmental science from Loyola University Chicago. Her Ph.D. program research focuses on how the inclusion of conservation areas in agricultural lands impacts—and can benefit—soil and microbial communities.

In 2020, she received an Emerging Public Policy Leadership Award from the American Institute of Biological Sciences. The award recognizes graduate students in the field of biological sciences who are interested in helping to shape science-related public policy and who demonstrate related engagement and leadership skills.

Rutkoski also received a KBS Long-term Ecological Research program fellowship in 2019.