2026 Tundra Award Recipients
Dr. Jessia Fayne
Project: Active Layer Soil Biogeochemical Characteristics along the Hydrological Continuum across the Latitudinal Gradient of the Alaskan Tundra Ecosystem
Bio TBD
*joint project with Kazem Bakian-Dogaheh
Dr. Kazem Bakian-Dogaheh
Project: Active Layer Soil Biogeochemical Characteristics along the Hydrological Continuum across the Latitudinal Gradient of the Alaskan Tundra Ecosystem
Bio TBD
*joint project with Jessica Fayne
Kyra Bornong
Supported by the William S. and Carelyn Y. Reeburgh Fieldwork Endowment
Project: TBD
Jonathan Carcache
Recipient of the Organization of Biological Field Stations Maxwell/Hanrahan Field Biology Research Program
Project: Influence of Pedicularis lanata on Plant-Pollinator Interactions in Arctic Tundra Communities
Jonathan Carcache is a first-year Biology Ph.D. student in the Francis Pollination Ecology Lab at Florida Atlantic University. He is interested in how parasitic plants, through multi-partite interactions, can shift along the mutualism-parasitism continuum depending on ecological costs and benefits. Using field, experimental, and modeling approaches, he aims to explore how this continuum changes across ecological contexts and latitudinal gradients, from the Arctic to the tropics.
With support from the Maxwell/Hanrahan Field Biology Research Program, Carcache will study how Pedicularis lanata, a hemi-parasitic Arctic plant, may influence pollinator movement near Toolik Field Station. His project will examine whether P. lanata acts as a magnet species by attracting pollinators and altering pollen movement among nearby flowering plants. Using a distance-based association index, he aims to test how proximity to P. lanata shapes interaction intensity and plant reproductive outcomes.
Before beginning his Ph.D., Carcache earned his B.S. in Biological Sciences from Florida International University and worked as a field technician across ecosystems from the tropics to the Arctic. These experiences shaped his broad perspective on species interactions across environmental gradients.
Dr. Cana Uluak Itchuaqiyaq
Recipient of the Organization of Biological Field Stations Maxwell/Hanrahan Earth Science Early Career Program
Project: Understanding Remote Field Operations in Earth Science
Dr. Cana Uluak Itchuaqiyaq is an Iñupiaq scholar from Kotzebue, Alaska, and the Founding Director of the Center for Sustainable Engagement in the Arctic (CSEA) at Virginia Tech. Her work focuses on community-driven Arctic research, research systems and infrastructure, workforce development, and strengthening connections between Arctic communities and the scientific enterprise. Through CSEA, she acts as a “science broker" and develops research teams and initiatives that increase community participation in research while building pathways for local leadership, employment, and long-term research capacity.
Through the project at Toolik Field Station, she will participate directly in remote-access Earth science field operations, documenting the full research workflow from field data collection and documentation to data management and packaging. By examining the skills, decision-making processes, technologies, and logistical practices required for successful remote field science, Dr. Itchuaqiyaq aims to identify where these activities align with existing strengths found in rural Alaska communities—including subsistence expertise, environmental observation, land stewardship, navigation, safety, and civic infrastructure experience—and what training, organizational structures, and support systems would be needed to expand local participation in Arctic field research careers.
Joseph Molina
Project: Stable Isotopes and Climate-Driven Change in Arctic Tundra Forage
Joseph Molina is a Ph.D. student at the University of Northern British Columbia. He
is advised by Dr. Chris Johnson, and his dissertation focuses on understanding climate
change vulnerability of caribou and moose. He is broadly interested in the ecology
of northern systems and global change. With his Tundra Award, he will investigate
how climate-driven changes in Arctic tundra ecosystems influence stable carbon and
nitrogen isotope patterns in forage communities near Toolik Lake. By combining vegetation
surveys, plant isotope baselines, and exploratory caribou fecal isotope analysis,
the study will examine whether these isotopic differences are reflected in integrated
herbivore dietary signals.
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