No joke: UVM man finds $100K in spam folder

You'd think a message from the National Science Foundation could manage to outwit an email spam folder.

Not this time.

On Tuesday, the federal agency's announcement of a prestigious research award joined reams of overlooked get-rich-quick schemes in University of Vermont grad student Charlie C. Nicholson's account.

"I got a text from a friend while I was having my morning coffee," Nicholson said Wednesday. "He said if my middle name was Casey, I'd just won an NSF grant.

"It was a moment of shock, hope and definitely skepticism," he continued. "So I did something I never do — which is check in spam."

The news was good indeed, and genuine.

Nicholson had landed more than $100,000 to support his research in native bees' pollination of blueberry crops.

"It's huge honor," he said. "I feel more like a real member of the American scientific community.

"It's also a level of economic security I've never experienced before. It's a pay bump. I'll be eating less pizza," he added.

Nicholson, 26, is two years into a doctoral degree in natural resources management at UVM's Rubenstein School.

His work has revolved around this fundamental question: How can berry farmers in the region maintain a healthy, diverse habitat for our many species of native bees?

Why it's important: Local bees have evolved in concert with blueberries; they expertly navigate and dislodge pollen from blossoms through wing-vibration.

Honeybees (none of them native to North America) just aren't cut out to "buzz-pollinate" those plants, Nicholson said.

Tuning in to native bees' needs for forage, nesting and shelter, he added, might help expand our appreciation of the broader benefits of biodiversity.

"I think we can do a much better job of supporting species other than ourselves," Nicholson said.

The grant funds three more years of research — in the blueberry patches of Chittenden and Addison counties and less glamorously, in campus laboratories, crunching data and sniffing out patterns that might turn out to be useful.

Nicholas credits his adviser, Taylor Ricketts, with the project's momentum.

"He's the reason why I'm here," Nicholson said of Ricketts, a professor and director of UVM's Gund Institute of Ecological Economics.

Farmers in the Champlain Valley have further enriched the research by heightening his appreciation of complex landscapes — and, in season, with easy access to fresh fruit.

In Ricketts' office at the Gund, Nicholson took a break between classes. He eyed a chart of his progress and that of other graduate students.

He predicted no change of plans in the aftermath of the grant award, but a boost forward.

Speaking of pleasant surprises: Soon after receiving his good news Tuesday, Nicholson checked the NSF website.

He discovered that his friend and colleague at UVM, biology grad student Samantha Alger, had likewise received a generous research grant.

Nicholas texted her — catching her, it turns out, completely by surprise.

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Contact Joel Banner Baird at 802-660-1843 or joelbaird@FreePressMedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/vtgoingup.