Eric Gangloff was recently awarded a $3M Research and Mentoring for Post Baccalaureates Program (RaMP) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The four-year grant supports the expansion of Dr. Gangloff’s research by allowing him to fund a post-baccalaureate researcher in order to produce a new generation of scientists as well as study the best methods for mitigating the impacts of large-scale global change in terrestrial salamanders. Previously, Gangloff was awarded a three-year NSF grant to study the evolutionary ecology of common wall lizards. Most of the research for both projects will be located in Cincinnati, which has seen an increase in the population of the common wall lizard, which is native to mainland Europe but now thrives in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. His research seeks to identify how this lizard has flourished in urban environments on a new continent after just 10 of the reptiles were released in Cincinnati in the 1950s. Additionally, this latest grant research explores how to best mitigate the impacts of large-scale global change, including land-use shifts and atmospheric deposition. Gangloff will work with research partners at Bridgewater State University, Michigan State University, Penn State University, Monmouth University, and Susquehanna University to form a coalition of scientists who integrate research across disciplines and across large geographic ranges in order to understand how a wide range of dynamics emerge from individual responses to environmental variations in terrestrial salamanders. Gangloff said, “This project will advance our understanding of how terrestrial vertebrates have and will respond to a rapidly changing climate.” The university is proud to be a partner in long-term, sustainable research programs for Ohio Wesleyan undergraduate students that will be a model for other institutions, with a specific focus on increased participation and success in STEM fields.
OWU Sponsoring Organization/Office: Foundation Relations Office
Contact: Susan Zimmerman at sezimmerman@owu.edu