NEW YORK — Three Fordham University professors recently received prestigious fellowships to pursue research in their respective fields.

David A. Burney, Ph.D., professor of biological sciences, received a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for $37,000 to complete research in Kaua’i, Hawaii on human-caused extinctions, a project that he has been working on for most of his career.

“This is a great boost to my plans for the coming year, as it will allow me to draw together all the threads of my three decades of research on human-caused extinctions,” said Burney. “Using one of the most beautiful Hawaiian Islands as a backdrop, I hope to answer questions that are tied to the current global extinction crisis, reaching back in time by looking at the fossils in cave and lake sediments.”

Burney, who also has plans to write a book about the prehistoric ecology of Kaua’i, was one of 186 Guggenheim Fellows selected from more than 3,000 applicants for awards totaling $7,112,000. Fellows are appointed on the basis of distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment.

Maryanne Kowaleski, Ph.D., professor of history and director of the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies, received a $45,000 fellowship from the National Humanities Center in North Carolina to complete work on her monograph, Living from the Sea: An Ethnography of Maritime Communities in Medieval England. The project will explore how the marine environment shaped the society and culture of costal communities in medieval England.

Michael Suarez, S.J., associate professor of English, was awarded a $40,000 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant to study English satire from 1660 to 1750. In addition, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University named Father Suarez a fellow for the 2005-2006 academic year.

Radcliffe Institute fellowships support scientists, artists and writers with significant past accomplishments who wish to pursue work in academic and professional fields and in the creative arts.

During the 2004-2005 academic year, more than 50 Fordham faculty members were awarded in excess of $21 million in grants and fellowships.

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