Faculty Tell Their Stories  

Professor Sees Power of Mini-Grants

Dr. Randall Tracy holds a meadow vole, one of many species live-trapped at Poutwater Pond (a bog in Holden/Sterling) for summer courses in Wildlife Investigation Techniques and Ecology.

Cottontail rabbits and certain small rodents in Worcester County are candidates for the endangered species list. With the perhaps lone exception of Assistant Professor of Biology Randall Tracy, Ph.D., the dwindling numbers of these animals and why they are in peril are typically overlooked by area wildlife researchers.

But through WSC’s mini-grant program, Tracy is simultaneously increasing the ranks of area conservation biologists and raising the stature of these creatures.

“Some of these initiatives have supported professional development grants that have allowed me to try to determine the distribution and abundance of these species that are in peril,” Tracy explained in his interview for the Opportunity for a Lifetime campaign video.

Mini-grants Tracy has received supported the purchase of equipment “essential in conservation biology for updating the distribution and abundance of species that may be in peril.” For example, the Biology department purchased several camera traps, night vision goggles and other equipment that allows Tracy and his students to identify the presence of certain species in some of Worcester County’s wildlife management areas.

“The students benefit directly because they get credits for doing independent studies with me…and they can present them in a public forum,” Tracy said. “That’s been a real bonus, not just for their resumes, because that is a tremendous asset to a resume, but also to them personally because they get to interact with other investigators. They get to do science instead of just talk about science.”

WSC’s faculty mini-grants are funded by the Worcester State Foundation and the Office of Academic Affairs.