Jimmy Haugh, a junior at Central Michigan University from Orion, MI, has been granted the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. Haugh is an Honors Program student majoring in biology with a focus in geographic information sciences.
As a child, Haugh aspired to be like his favorite, Diego from the show “Go, Diego, Go!” His aim was to visit the Amazon rainforest and document uncommon species while also working to safeguard the environment.
“I often trekked through my yard, field guide in hand, collecting the frogs or snakes to show my (usually dismayed) mother,” he told me.
Haugh is presently pursuing a boyhood goal of studying overseas in the Ecuadorian Amazon and the Galápagos Islands to further his studies in ecology, evolution, and conservation. The journey includes a visit to YasunĂ National Park, home to the world’s most diverse reptile and amphibian population.
“Herptiles are among the most at-risk of extinction and are an indicator species for climate change due to their endothermic nature and reproductive strategy; their conservation is vital to the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystem functions,” he went on to say. “Understanding how they evolve and interact can help increase our knowledge and catalyze conservation efforts.”
Haugh is working with Dave Zanatta, his research advisor, and John Pfeiffer, curator of Bivalvia at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., to study shell form variations in the critically endangered freshwater mussel genus Epioblasma. This undergraduate research experience will help Haugh prepare for his ultimate aim of receiving a Ph.D. in ecological and evolutionary biology while also undertaking herpetological research.
Haugh collaborated with Zanatta and Maureen Harke, director of the CMU National Scholarship Program, on the Goldwater Scholarship application. The Goldwater Foundation wants to encourage college sophomores and juniors who have the potential to become the next generation of STEM research leaders. Haugh was chosen from a tough pool of 1,353 applicants from 446 universities to win this honor.