2024
Grace Miller
A resident of Atlantic County, New Jersey, Grace Miller is a junior undergraduate majoring in
Wildlife Science at the Pennsylvania State University. In addition to her schoolwork, Ms. Miller
has varied volunteer experience working with both the Pennsylvania Game as well as the Fish
and Boat Commissions. She also volunteered this past summer with the Cape May National
Wildlife Refuge. This winter, she will be participating in a Penn State study abroad program
working with African elephants in Kenya.
2023
Kiley Chen
A resident of Somerset County, New Jersey, Kiley Chen is a junior undergraduate majoring in Wildlife
Ecology at the University of Maine at Orono. She has served as president of the University of Maine
Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society. In addition to her schoolwork, Chen has field experience
working at the Lenape National Wildlife Refuge Complex in NJ/NY/PA.
2021
Morgan Mark
Morgan Mark is a senior undergraduate at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. In addition to her schoolwork, Morgan has field experience working with
copperhead snakes, turtles, red foxes, and shorebirds. She is completing her George H. Cook Scholars
Program research on snake fungal disease.
2019
Kiera Malone
Kiera Malone is a senior at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. She is a resident of Basking Ridge, NJ, and an undergraduate senior at Rutgers University. In addition to her schoolwork, Kiera has field experience working with shad and river herring, bats, pollinators, and birds. She is completing her George H. Cook Scholars Program research on insect communities.
2018
Award not bestowed
2017
Austin Damminger
Austin Damminger is a Senior at Paul Smith’s College in Paul Smiths, New York. He is a resident of Mullica Hill, NJ, and an undergraduate senior working towards a BS in Natural Resource Management at Paul Smith’s College. Austin has been on the Dean’s List during each semester at Paul Smith’s. In addition to his schoolwork, Austin has field experience working with piping plovers as a Research Intern for the State University of New York, ESF Syracuse, and working with waterfowl and bobwhite for the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife.
2016
Matthew Sehrsweeney
Matthew Sehrsweeney is a Senior at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is a resident of Bloomfield, NJ, and an undergraduate senior working towards a BS in Biology at the University of Michigan. During his undergraduate summers, Matt worked as a technician at The Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, New Jersey.
2015
David Weber
David Weber is a Senior at Cornell University, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. He is a resident of Newfield, NJ and is working toward a BS in Natural Resources and Applied Ecology. David has a passion for birds and has worked all three summers while an undergraduate on various avian studies. During the summer of 2015, he conducted bird point counts and vegetative studies in the famed Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire. During the previous two summers, he worked with acorn woodpeckers and other cavity nesting birds on the Hastings Natural History reservation in California. In addition, he has volunteered on several avian studies including alleviating bird damage to fruit crops in New York, Canada goose banding in New Jersey, and leading tours of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.
2014
Jillena Yeager
Jillena Yeager is a junior at Richard Stockton College of NJ majoring in environmental science. She has spent this summer and last as an intern at the Coastal Conservation Research Program at The Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor. While there, she has participated in long-term conservation and research projects focused on diamondback terrapins, horseshoe crabs, and coastal ecology. She also conducted her own independent research on diamondback terrapins. She also has extensive internship experience with pine snakes.
2013
Jessica Valenti
Jessica Valenti is a student at Richard Stockton College of NJ majoring in marine science and chemistry entering her senior year with extensive coursework in marine fisheries. She spent the past summer as a Rutgers University Marine Field Station summer intern working on fisheries research. She also worked as an education and research intern for American Littoral Society, and as a teaching assistant at Stockton. She has volunteered at Jenkinson’s Aquarium, for Clean Ocean Action, ReClam the Bay, and at Stockton’s Marine Science and Environmental Field Station. Her career goals include graduate school and working as a fisheries biologist.
2012
Dan Mayer
Dan Mayer is a student at Paul Smith’s College in Paul Smiths, New York majoring in Fisheries and Wildlife Science, and will earn a certificate in GIS and a minor in Business Administration. Dan was a field research intern studying the effect of climate change on breeding ecology of songbirds in the shrub-tundra of central Alaska. He has been a Stewardship Team Leader for the Schiff Nature Preserve in Mendham. That role found him monitoring wood turtle nests and bluebird boxes, eradicating emerging invasive plants, and maintaining hiking trails and gardens. His participation with the Paul Smith’s College Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society has included running a volunteer deer check station, building wood duck boxes, and presenting his research to his peers.
2011
Lauren Cruz
Lauren Cruz is a junior undergraduate student at the University of Delaware. She has participated in two undergraduate research projects that focused on water quality, and on river otters. She has interned for two summers with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife at the Sedge Island Natural Resource Education Center. She has volunteered for the Nature Conservancy. She has maintained Dean’s List status for 2 years.
2008
Daniel Bingham
Daniel Bingham is a senior undergraduate student at the University of Montana. He is an Eagle Scout from Toms River, NJ and has volunteered with the Ocean County Community College organizing a trail-clearing project. While with the University of Montana, Daniel has volunteered studying bighorn sheep parasitism and capturing and PIT-tagging salmon smolts on the Grande Ronde River in Washington. Daniel intends on attending graduate school to study the consequences of habitat fragmentation on wildlife population genetics.In addition to the applicable wildlife coursework and volunteering efforts, Daniel is the captain of the University of Montana cross country and track teams. He was awarded the Big Sky Conference All-Academic Award and the Western Regional All-Academic Award. Daniel’s participation and leadership in college athletics and receipt of associated awards illustrates that he is a well-rounded and dedicated individual who deserved the Cookingham Scholarship Award to advance his study of wildlife biology and continue with a professional career in wildlife science and education.
2007
Angela Gorczyca
Angela Gorczyca is a 2007 graduate of Rutgers University who was an Honors student in Ecology and Natural Resources. During her time at Rutgers, she worked as an intern for the Edison Wetlands Association, and as a lab and field tech at Rutgers. She founded the RU Chapter of Roots and Shoots, a community service organization dedicated to local people, wildlife and the environment. She received Dept. of Ecology and Natural Resources Outstanding Student in Ecology Award, and the Alpha Zeta Junior Student of the Year. Her George H. Cook Scholars Program thesis was titled “The Effect of Wildflower Patch Size and Density on Food Discovery by Butterfly Species.” She is headed to Duke’s Nicholas School for the Environment in the fall to pursue a Masters of Science.