Meet the Fund Series: The Mollie Beattie Fund

SAF’s Meet the Fund Series highlights the powerful impact SAF funds have on people, SAF units, and communities. Giving to SAF ensures that we can maintain and develop new programming for all served by our organization.  

September 29, 2023

The Mollie Beattie Fund directly supports the Mollie Beattie Visiting Scholar Program. This annual program is named after Mollie Beattie, the first woman to head the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. An inspiring mentor and leader, SAF honors her legacy through the Mollie Beattie Visiting Scholar Program, established in 2016 to foster diversity in natural resources professions. Each year, the program awards $10,000 to one or more graduate students, faculty, or early career professionals to pursue a proposed research project. Scholars also have opportunities to share their research broadly, meeting with SAF staff and partners in Washington, DC, publishing their research in an SAF journal, presenting their research at the SAF National Convention, and mentoring subsequent scholars. 

SAF is pleased to announce Emma Briggs and Nicole Zampieri as the 2023-24 Mollie Beattie Visiting Scholars. Emma Briggs is pursuing a Master of Science in Forestry & Natural Resources from the University of Georgia and researching the role of herbicide use to conserve wild bee communities in working pine forests. Nicole Zampieri received a Ph.D. in Geography from Florida State University in 2023 and is a Postdoctoral Research Associate jointly supported by Tall Timbers Research Station in Tallahassee, Florida and The Jones Center at Ichauway in Newton, Georgia. Dr. Zampieri's proposed research aims to inform restoration and conservation of longleaf pine-oak savannas and woodlands of the North American coastal plain. 

You can also read more about their research both Mollie Beattie scholars here.