Karolina Weclawska is preparing to study moss in Poland as the first undergraduate from UF’s School of Forest Resources and Conservation to receive a Fulbright Study/Research Award.
The 23-year-old UF forest resources and conservation senior will move to Poland in August for nine months to study species of mosses that grow on deadwood. She submitted her application in October and found out she received the prestigious scholarship, which gives teaching or research awards to students, university faculty and professionals, in March.
Weclawska, who was born in Poland, said the Polish government owns the country’s forests and removes wood from them. Because of the removed deadwood, there is no habitat for the mosses to grow.
“I’ll be out there collecting information that scientists want to know, but they just don’t have funding because Poland and a lot of Eastern European countries don’t have the kind of funding the U.S. has for science,” she said.
Weclawska’s husband will join her in Poland as she samples ecological areas to identify as many moss species as she can, she said. She’ll record species’ ecological data including its size, location and on what type of wood it lives.
Stephanie Bohlman, a UF forest ecology professor, said she wrote one of Weclawska’s reference letters for the scholarship. She said Weclawska stood out in her forest ecology class because of her curiosity.
“If anyone is going to succeed it’s her because of her passion for botany,” she said.
Karolina Weclawska
