LAKE ARIEL, PA — Lacawac recently awarded two grants to scientists conducting research at Lacawac Sanctuary Field Station. The Robert Estabrook Moeller Memorial Awards were given to Dr. Elise Heiss, King’s College and Rachel Pilla, Miami University of Ohio.

Heiss, a chemistry professor at King’s College, has been awarded a $2,000 grant for her research, “Nitrogen Cycling in Lake Lacawac: Investigating Environmental Controls on Water Column Nitrification.” Pilla, a Ph.D. student at Miami, has also been awarded a $2,000 grant for her research titled “Mapping the Metabolic Landscape for Threatened Zooplankton Taxa in Lakes.” 

Moeller, a long-time friend and supporter of the Lacawac Sanctuary, passed away in late May 2011 at the age of 62. He was a limnologist, a researcher who studied the structure and function of lakes and the organisms that live in them. He was always generous in giving his time to help students and colleagues with their research. His focus in more recent years was on the ecology of ultraviolet radiation and its effects on zooplankton-phytoplankton interactions.

His generosity extended to his establishing an endowed fund that will support the Robert Estabrook Moeller Research Fellow awards to college and university students and faculty to do limnological research on Lake Lacawac and other Pocono region lakes.  For more information visit lacawac.org.