FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake established the Doyle W. Stephens scholarship to celebrate Stephens' remarkable scientific contributions toward understanding the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem. This scholarship provides support to undergraduate or graduate students engaged in new or on-going research that focuses on Great Salt Lake and its ecosystem. For 2018, FRIENDS will award one $1,000 scholarship.

Eligibility: Applicants must be undergraduate or graduate students currently enrolled at an accredited college or university. Individuals who have previously received this award are not eligible. The award may be used to support laboratory or field research, attendance at professional meetings, or other activities that further the understanding or protection of the Great Salt Lake ecosystem. Research located anywhere in the Great Salt Lake watershed can qualify for this award. We will consider projects from any academic field (for instance: ecology, biology, chemistry, physics, geography, geology, urban planning, social sciences, communications, education, economics, tourism, engineering, etc.). 

Thank you to those of you who applied for the 2018 Doyle W. Stephens Scholarship.

Congratulations to Katherine Barrett, University of Notre Dame, winner of the 2018 Doyle W. Stephens Scholarship for reasearch related to Great Salt Lake. 

Katherine Barrett will be awarded the $1,000 scholarship during the 2018 Great Salt Lake Issues Forum on May 10 at the Fort Douglas Officers Club on the campus of the Universtiy of Utah.

Barrett's project titled, Linking Artemia To the Benthos: Do Microbialites Support Brine Shrimp Production in Great Salt Lake?, explores the connections among the Great Salt Lake food chain. See below for her project description

PROJECT DESCRIPTION Despite covering at least 700 km2 in the south arm of Great Salt Lake (GSL), fundamental ecological understanding of microbialites, their associated brine fly populations, and interactions with brine shrimp, is in its nascent stages (Baskin 2014). Researchers have suggested that the benthic (brine fly) and pelagic (brine shrimp) food chains may be linked, and microbialites may be a critical component of brine shrimp cyst production. A long-term pelagic study has benefitted researchers and managers with an understanding of brine shrimp and phytoplankton dynamics in relationship to variable abiotic factors, but this dataset lacks a complementary benthic study (Belovsky et al. 2011). Without further information on the benthic food chain, the importance of pathways supporting brine shrimp production remains speculative. My proposed research, which involves field and laboratory studies, aims to identify microbialite communities and quantify their contribution as a food source to brine shrimp populations in GSL. Since the construction of a rock and gravel railroad causeway created a salinity gradient in GSL, my project will focus on the south arm because that is where brine flies, shrimp, and microbialites are biologically active.

Applications for the 2019 Doyle W. Stephens Scholarship will open in early 2019. 

History of Dr. Doyle W. Stephens and the scholarship created in his name.

Doyle Stephens was born in Ogden, Utah, in 1944. He received his BS in Biology from Weber State College in 1967, his MS in Entomology in 1969 and his PhD in Limnology from the University of Utah in 1974.

At the time of his death in May, 2000, he had been a research hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey for nearly 20 years. In 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Governor's Medal for Science and Technology.

Doyle Stephens made significant contributions toward public awareness of critical issues relating to Utah's natural resources and environment. Of particular importance were his efforts to increase public knowledge and awareness of the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem. As a contributor to the state's Great Salt Lake Ecosystem project, Doyle's work on Great Salt Lake shrimp ecology helped increase understanding about population dynamics of the shrimp in the lake and factors affecting the structure and density of the population.

"Stephens leaves a broad and deep body of scientific work. His legacy is that his work's contribution to the environment, to the economy, and to the quality of life in Utah will not diminish over time but will continue to grow," says Don Leonard, President, Utah Artemia Association.

Another colleague observed: "Icebergs don't happen in Great Salt Lake, save one. Before he left us so prematurely, we only got to see the tip of Doyle Stephens' impact on the work of almost every other Great Salt Lake investigator. As time passes, we will begin to understand the extent of Doyle's work and the encouragement he lent to others to wonder and search along with him."

Click here to donate. With your help, FRIENDS can continue to support and promote research critical to the conservation of Great Salt Lake.

Doyle W. Stephens Scholarship Recipients