KBS faculty member awarded Fulbright grant to continue research in conservation genomics

Sarah Fitzpatrick, associate professor in Michigan State University’s Department of Integrative Biology and resident W.K. Kellogg Biological Station faculty member, has been selected to receive a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award for the 2024-25 academic year.

The highly competitive award will support Fitzpatrick’s research beginning in fall 2024 in Ecuador, where she’ll continue to study the conservation genomics of globally endangered amphibians, with the aim of increasing the capacity of genomics and legal expertise by local conservationists and members of the public in Ecuador.

“What an awesome honor and opportunity for Dr. Fitzpatrick,” said KBS Director Fredric Janzen. “I am highly confident she will be a valuable ambassador to the Fulbright program, representing the best of KBS and MSU, and will continue to lead her professional mission to help resolve real-world conservation problems wherever they reside globally.”

Sarah Fitzpatrick

Sarah Fitzpatrick joined KBS as an assistant professor in 2016, following a postdoctoral appointment that began in 2015. Her research focuses on how evolution and genetics can help inform the ecology and, ultimately, the conservation of species. She does this through experiments with small fish and studies of wild populations of threatened and endangered species such as Harlequin frogs in Ecuador, Florida Scrub-jays, and butterflies in Michigan.

Join us in congratulating Dr. Fitzpatrick!