Two Chapman science faculty members have been offered prestigious opportunities to spend the next academic year researching at two of the nation’s top universities.  Christopher Kim, Ph.D., will spend the year as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, while Jennifer Funk, Ph.D., has been awarded a fellowship by Stanford University and will be working in the field as well as on campus.

As a Visiting Scholar, Dr. Kim  will be working with the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the Harvard School of Public Health and the Harvard University Center for the Environment during the year and will be developing new research collaborations with scientists from these and other institutions on campus.  Much of this work will expand upon his current research on metal contamination and remediation in mining environments.

Dr. Funk was awarded a Jasper Ridge Restoration Ecology fellowship by Stanford University for the 2010-2011 academic year.  She will be working in a serpentine grassland at Jasper Ridge, Stanford’s Biological Reserve.  The goal of the project is to identify ways to restore the grassland by promoting the growth of native grasses and forbs, while curtailing the spread of annual ryegrass, an exotic weed from Europe.  She will also be working with scientists at Stanford’s Department of Global Ecology (Carnegie Institution) to examine restoration options under conditions of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide and in response to fire.

Congratulations to Drs. Kim and Funk!