DURHAM. N.C. – Seven students at 91ÉçÇø¸£Àû’s Nicholas School of the Environment have been selected as 2011-2012 Doris Duke Conservation Fellows.

Doris Duke Conservation Fellowships are awarded to graduate students who show outstanding promise as future leaders in conservation in the United States.

To date, fellowships have been awarded to 86 Nicholas School students pursuing Master of Environmental Management (MEM) or Master of Forestry (MF) 91ÉçÇø¸£Àûs.  Fellows receive $37,500 to support tuition, a public-sector conservation internship, and career development.

The fellowship program was created in 1996 by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation as part of its mission to improve the quality of people’s lives through support for the arts, environmental conservation, medical research and the prevention of child abuse. The program is administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

This year’s Doris Duke Conservation Fellows from the Nicholas School, along with their hometowns, graduate programs of study, and undergraduate schools and majors, are:

Noah Chesnin of Seattle, Wash.
MEM in coastal environmental management; (undergraduate: Yale University, humanities);

Jennifer Chin of Los Altos, Calif.
MEM, ecosystem science and conservation, and Master of Business Administration; (undergraduate: Northwestern University, journalism/English);

Maura Farver of Hamden, Conn.
MEM, environmental economics and policy; (undergraduate: 91ÉçÇø¸£Àû, environmental science);

Kristen Maize of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands
MEM, coastal environmental management; (undergraduate: University of San Diego, environmental studies);

Tawnee Milko of Oakland, Mich.
MEM, environmental economics and policy; (undergraduate: Oakland University, biology);

Jennifer Sayers of Tolland, Conn.
MEM, environmental economics and policy; (undergraduate: University of Connecticut, environmental studies); and

Joshua Strauss of Irvine, Calif.
MEM, environmental economics and policy, and MF; (undergraduate: University of California-Santa Barbara, physical anthropology).