Durham, N.C. – Nicholas School student Nicholas R. Magliocca has been awarded the first Dorothy Bertine Internship from the Edna Bailey Sussman Fund.

The internship provides a one-time stipend of $10,000, which Magliocca will use to support his research project, “An Evaluation of Protective Measures in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.”

Magliocca, 23 of Westerville, Ohio, is pursuing a Master of Environmental Management (MEM) 91 in Ecosystem Science and Conservation. His faculty advisor is A. Brad Murray, associate professor of geomorphology and coastal processes.

The Sussman Fund was established in 1984. Over the years, it has supported internships, valued at between $3,000 and $5,000 on average, for more than 1,000 students in environmental science graduate 91 programs at institutions including Duke, Yale, Cornell, George Washington University, Scripps Institute of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego, the University of Michigan, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

In summer 2007, eleven Nicholas School students received Sussman Fund internship grants. The school has been associated with the Sussman Fund since 1985, says Karen Kirchof, assistant dean for career services. In that time, 199 Nicholas School students in all have received internship support from the fund.

“In addition to the much needed financial support, the application process gives students an opportunity to network with organizations in their effort to identify an appropriate internship and negotiate the scope of work that will enhance their own career and/or skill development as well make a positive contribution to their host organization,” Kirchof says. 

The Dorothy Bertine Internship was created this year to honor longtime Sussman Fund administrator Dorothy Bertine. It will be awarded annually to the Sussman Fund applicant whose internship plan is judged to be the most outstanding, and will increase the recipient’s total internship stipend to $10,000. Magliocca is the first student selected to receive it.

“It’s really cool to think that of all the universities we compete with, Duke is the first to get this award,” he says. “And on a personal level, it’s really nice to know my research is meaningful and could make a difference to someone. The validation is great.’

Magliocca’s project involves developing a numerical model to investigate the long-term economic and ecological costs associated with constructing artificial dunes to help shield the Outer Banks’ controversial main artery, N.C. Highway 12, against overwash from storms.

“Highway 12 is the lifeline of the Outer Banks’ tourism economy, it makes travel possible along the barrier islands,” he says. “Unfortunately, using artificial dunes to protect the highway is unintentionally making it even more susceptible by keeping the islands at a constant elevation in relation to rising sea levels.”

His model will explore the long-term ecological effects of dune construction and the increasing costs of protecting and maintaining Highway 12 when faced with the likelihood of more frequent and severe overwash events in the future.

“I hope to identify a point at which it becomes too expensive to continue current management practices,” he says. “My results will aid the evaluation of several other long-term management plans that have recently been proposed.”

In addition to the Dorothy Bertine Internship, Magliocca was awarded the Sir Geoffrey Vickers Memorial Award for outstanding student paper at the 2007 annual meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, August 4-11, in Tokyo, Japan. 

Magliocca’s paper was, “Induced Couplings: An Approach to Managing and Modeling Complex Human-Landscape Interactions.”  He is the youngest student ever to win the award.