Janet Buckner wins scholarship for summer study in Brazil

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Janet Buckner speaks to area high school students.

• Janet Buckner looks for egg mass of the rare bog buck moth.

OSWEGO, NY (06/03/2011)(readMedia)-- Janet Buckner of Rochester, a SUNY Oswego senior graduating this year in zoology, is one of 15 State University students each awarded a $5,000 scholarship to travel to Brazil this summer to take part in hands-on learning in SUNY Oswego's Global Laboratory project.

Buckner is the daughter of Ted Wilson of Bleacker Road in Rochester and Ramona Wilson of Douglasville, Ga. Buckner also traveled to Brazil last summer, studying the wetlands ecology of the country's Pantanal region with Oswego professor Cleane Medeiros.

A McNair Scholar at Oswego as well as a participant in the college's Honors Program, Buckner wrote her honors thesis on the rare bog buck moth of Oswego County. At Oswego's Honors Convocation in April, she received the Manjula Ravindra Shah Memorial Scholarship. She has been accepted to pursue a doctorate in zoology next year at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Banco Santander through its U.S. subsidiary Sovereign Bank provided funding to support students and faculty at any SUNY institution taking part in Oswego's research partnerships with Brazil. The scholarship program will be open to another 15 students next year.

The funding is part of a larger, three-year Banco Santander grant to SUNY's Office of International Programs to promote international education, research and a dual-diploma program.

The $5,000 scholarships cover airfare, accommodation and stipends for students taking part in six- to eight-week projects in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields hosted by research university partners in Brazil.

Potential scholarship projects for SUNY students in 2011 and 2012 include exploring the wetland ecology of the Pantanal region, drug development from medicinal plants, condensed matter physics, comparative health care systems, software engineering and development of solar energy cells.

For more information, see http://www.oswego.edu/academics/research/global_laboratory/brazil.html

Photo option 1: SUNY Oswego senior zoology major Janet Buckner of Rochester talks to students from area high schools about research in zoology at SUNY Oswego the college's Science Day 2011. This summer she will participate in research in Brazil with the aid of a scholarship underwritten by Banco Santander through its U.S. subsidiary Sovereign Bank.

Photo option 2: SUNY Oswego senior zoology major Janet Buckner of Rochester looks for egg mass of the rare bog buck moth in an Oswego County fen insect. This summer she will participate in research in Brazil with the aid of a scholarship underwritten by Banco Santander through its U.S. subsidiary Sovereign Bank.