EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Spring has brought a crop of honors and opportunity to three doctoral candidates in the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability.

Two fellowships and an award will help open doors to research projects that help advance the understanding of how humans and nature interact – and how both can achieve sustainability and thrive. From fisheries in Australia to the comings and goings of pandas in China and how climate change may ultimately affect their habitat, the achievement of three center members has received significant acknowledgement and support.

“I am thrilled and proud that students in the center continue to be recognized nationally and internationally for their outstanding accomplishments and tremendous talents,” said Jianguo “Jack” Liu, center director.

About those honored:

Vanessa Hull wants to know what makes a forest a home for pandas, and to help drive good conservation policy – a quest that will be supported by a prestigious NASA fellowship.

Hull has been awarded the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship. The fellowship offers $30,000 per year in research support for up to three years to ensure continued training of a highly qualified workforce in disciplines needed to achieve NASA’s scientific goals… Full Hull NASA award story.

Abigail Lynch, a University Distinguished Fellow, will travel to Australia to study fisheries management in the context of climate change thanks to The William W. and Evelyn M. Taylor Endowed Fellowship for International Engagement in Coupled Human and Natural Systems.

The award provides $10,000 toward her studies… Full Lynch Fellowship story.

Mao-Ning Tuanmu’s presentation about the giant panda’s potential ability to survive climate change has earned him an honor from the U.S. Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (US-IALE).

Tuanmu, was given the Award for Best Student Presentation which he gave at the annual US-IALE meeting in Portland, Ore., in April. With the award comes $300 and a waiver of the registration fee and complimentary attendance to one fieldtrip or workshop at next year’s US-IALE annual meeting… Full Tuanmu US-IALE award story.

The center works in the innovative new field of coupled human and natural systems to find sustainable solutions that both benefit the environment and enable people to thrive.