The Raptor Research Center generates knowledge and appreciation of birds of prey and their environments, equips students with expertise to conduct exceptional research, and cultivates innovative community leaders to shape raptor research and conservation worldwide. Boise State University Raptor Research Center’s new Wingspan Fellowships support current masters or Ph.D. students in programs other than the Master of Science in Raptor Biology program with funds to conduct research or creative activity projects that relate to, or benefit raptor ecology and conservation.
Awarded funding of up to $1,200 each may be used for research or creative activity needs such as equipment, stipends or conference travel. The inaugural awardees of the 2025 Wingspan Graduate Research and Travel Fellowship are Morgan Calahan, Elle Horwath, Eden Ravecca and Lindsay Stark.
2025 Wingspan Fellowship Awardees
This year, the Raptor Research Center awarded four Wingspan Fellowships to promising Boise State graduate students in the sciences.
Morgan Calahan
Ecology, Evolution and Behavior Ph.D. candidate
“With the support of the Wingspan Fellowship, I will be attending the Wildlife Society Conference in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in Fall of 2025 to share our science about an important raptor prey species—the Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse—in a special session among our closest collaborators.”
Elle Horwath
Ecology, Evolution and Behavior Ph.D. candidate
“The Wingspan fellowship is going to support me to present some of this research [on sagebrush – a foundational plant species that provides important habitat for many raptors and their prey] at my first international conference!”
Eden Ravecca
Ecology, Evolution and Behavior Ph.D. candidate
“This funding will support my travel to the Evolution 2025 conference to present my research, engage with the latest advances in evolutionary biology, and network with experts in the field.”
Lindsay Stark
Geophysics Ph.D. candidate
“I aspire to study both snow science and ecology, so this funding will allow me to make connections with those who already do so and learn more about combining the two fields. … meeting with and being mentored by an expert in Great Gray Owls will aid me in persisting past this barrier and conducting research understanding how melt-freeze crusts drive Great Gray Owl migration in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana.”