Alice K. Wondrak, a University of Colorado at Boulder doctoral student studying cultural geography and landscape theory, has been awarded a $75,000 scholarship from the Canon National Parks Science Scholars Program.
Wondrak was one of eight nationally selected doctoral students awarded the scholarship, which was established in 1997 to encourage students to research scientific problems critical to the national parks. She was selected for her research in cultural sciences, one of four disciplines established under the scholarship program.
The scholarship program is a collaboration among Canon U.S.A. Inc., the National Park Foundation, the National Park Service and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She received the award in Washington, D.C.
During the three-year scholarship, Wondrak will examine the different stories told about Yellowstone National Park and how they have changed with different park policies through the years. To do this she plans to dig through piles of records, old newspapers and other data recorded in the park over the years, and to interview visitors and park managers.
"By looking at these stories and how they are perceived, I want to then be able to use research to help the Park Service design more successful interpretive programs," Wondrak said.
The scholarship program encourages doctoral students to conduct innovative research on scientific problems critical to the national parks now and in the future. Wondrak chose Yellowstone聮s bears as the focal point for her research, she said, because they have always been a high profile species in the park.
"I will also be looking at how environmental history has influenced the development of park policy, with my ultimate goal being better interpretation of park policies," she said.
Since arriving at CU-Boulder, Wondrak has researched the history of relationships between policy, tourism and landscape in national parks. She also worked as a planning assistant at Yellowstone National Park, providing research for the park聮s highly publicized Winter Use Plans and Environmental Impact Statement.
Wondrak聮s dissertation is titled "From Juno to Toby: Policy, Culture and the Historic Narrative of the Yellowstone Bear."