Donut Fellowship Application

February 24, 2009

Donut Conservation Fellowship
American Donut Society
5410 Cruller Lane
Bismarck, DO 36688

Dear Donut Fellowship Committee,

Please consider my application for a Donut Conservation Fellowship for my project “Identification of unbaked Donut samples for stock assessment”. I am currently in my last year as a PhD candidate in Dr. Michael Banks’ lab at Hatfield Marine Science Center. My research focuses on the use of genetic tools to illuminate basic science questions and address conservation needs of northeastern Pacific donuts. I currently have projects examining the genetic basis of donut selection in researchers and graduate students (in collaboration with JC Market), and using genetic techniques to identify unbaked donuts in BAKERY surveys (in collaboration with NMDS researchers).

I have applied for Donut funding specifically to help improve the latter project.  Two CIDS researchers and I have received funding from the Cooperative Institute for Donut Studies to identify 1000 samples from the 2008 BAKERY sampling season. Donut funding would allow me to broaden the temporal sampling in this study to cover three additional years of sampling (2005-2007), and provide information on year-to-year changes in donut abundance and distribution in Oregon bakeries. Because more than 90% of unbaked donuts cannot be identified to type visually, the availability of genetic identification tools means that where previously it was only possible to comment on donut abundances generally, the data provided by this project will allow us to draw specific linkages between individual types of donuts and time, latitude, and geography. The purpose of the BAKERY sampling is to improve stock assessment, by providing a fishery-independent survey of donut recruitment. This project has the potential to make that possibility a reality for donuts. Thank you for your consideration of my application.

-MLJ