Schubot Center Announces 2026 Mini-Research and Travel Grant Awardees
The Schubot Center for Avian Health is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2026 Schubot Mini-Research Grants and Travel Grants. This year’s awards support a broad range of avian-focused research, training, and professional development opportunities across Texas A&M University.
The 2026 funded projects represent researchers from multiple departments and career stages, including undergraduate students, M.S. and Ph.D. students, postdoctoral researchers, caretakers, and associate research scientists. Together, the awardees reflect the Schubot Center’s commitment to supporting interdisciplinary avian science and training the next generation of researchers.
This year’s mini-research grants span a wide range of topics, including genomics, diagnostic tools, anthropogenic effects, stress physiology, nutrition, pesticide exposure, disease ecology, and conservation. Projects include studies on Scarlet Macaw kinship and breeding systems, diagnostic tools for captive parrots, the effects of chronic noise and light pollution on urban animals, heat stress physiology in wild birds, pesticide risk in swallows, arthropod bloodmeal metabarcoding, and corticosterone measurements in psittacine feathers.
The 2026 travel grants will also support trainees as they attend scientific conferences and participate in field-based research experiences. Awardees will travel to GulfCon 2026 in Mobile, Alabama; the Joint Wilson Ornithological Society and Association of Field Ornithologists Conference in Newport, Rhode Island; ASM Microbe 2026 in Washington, D.C.; and Tambopata in the Amazon rainforest of Peru.
Through these grants, the Schubot Center continues to invest in research, mentorship, and hands-on training that advance avian health, ecology, behavior, and conservation.
Schubot-Funded Projects
2026 Mini-Research Grants
| Name | Position | Dept | Mentor | Tittle |
| Gabriela Vigo-Trauco | Postdoctoral Associate | VTPB | Dr. Brightsmith | From Feathers to Family Trees: A Pilot Genomic Kinship Study of Scarlet Macaw Breeding Systems in Tambopata, Peru |
| Dr. E.V. Voltura & Lauren Petersen | Postdoctoral Associate and Caretaker | VTPB | Dr. Hamer | Improving diagnostic decision making in captive parrots through the contextualization of lactate measurements paired with thermal imaging |
| Jenna Turpin | PhD Student | ECCB | Dr. Yorzinski | Urban Animals Under Chronic Noise and Light Pollutions in El Paso, Texas |
| Ross Eggleston | PhD Student | ECCB | Dr. Grace | Does early-life glucocorticoid exposure moderate the antioxidant response to heat stress in a wild bird? |
| Tabitha Olsen | PhD Student | EEB/BIOL | Dr. Butler | From Cropland to Colony: Diet Composition and Pesticide Contaminant Risk in Petrochelidon Swallows ilson’s Snipe (Gallinago delicata) |
| Sujata Balasubramanian | Associate Research Scientist | VIBS | Dr. Hamer | Evaluating bird bias in arthropod bloodmeal metabarcoding |
| Adam Bower | PhD Student | EEB/VTPB | Dr. Brightsmith | Assay validation for measuring corticosterone in Psittacine feathers |
2026 Schubot Travel Grants
| Name | Position | Dept | Mentor | Tittle |
| Kevin Perozeni | PhD Student | RWFM | Dr. Ashley Long | Joint Wilson Ornithological Society and Association of Field Ornithologists Conference, Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island |
| Carolina Ferreira Bertuol | PhD Student | ECCB | Dr. Hamer | ASM Microbe 2026, Washington, D.C. |
| Alexander Hoxie | PhD Student | RWFM | Dr. Gary Voelker | Destination: Joint Wilson Ornithological Society and Association of Field Ornithologists Conference, Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island |
| Aeris Clarkson | MS Student | BIOL | Dr. Butler | Joint Wilson Ornithological Society and Association of Field Ornithologists Conference, Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island |
| Keith Andringa | PhD Student | EEB/ECCB | Dr. Grace | GulfCon 2026, Mobile, Alabama |
| Kaitlin Martin | Undergraduate, BIMS | VTPB | Dr. Brightsmith | Tambopata, Amazon rainforest of Peru |
| Jackie Hernandez | Undergraduate, | VTPB | Dr. Brightsmith | Tambopata, Amazon rainforest of Peru |
