STUDENT RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES
The Cara Melissa Albright, PhD, '10 MS, Endowed Fund for Graduate Student Research in the Center for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Stewardship
Named in honor of a driven, diligent, hard-working, and life-loving Villanovan, this endowed fund is used to support to a graduate student doing research in the Center for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Stewardship (CBEST).
ABOUT CARA MELISSA ALBRIGHT, PhD, '10 MS
December 18, 1974 - July 7, 2025
Cara was a graduate of the US Naval Academy and served in the Navy as a surface warfare officer aboard the USS Kearsarge and the USS Eisenhower. After leaving the Navy as a Lieutenant, she returned to her high school alma mater, Newark High School (Delaware), where she taught physics and math. Cara then decided to further her education at Villanova University where she earned her Master’s in Civil Engineering and then joined Villanova’s Peatland Ecology Research Group, headed by Drs. Kel Wieder and Melanie Vile, as a Research Technician. Cara played a lead role in the team’s research, spending summers in Alberta, Canada overseeing the day-to day activities of a large group of graduate and undergraduate students and technicians. Cara was a skilled field ecologist, and at the same time she was instrumental in keeping up morale, inspiring the team with great meals, frequent ice cream stops, and refreshing swims in the chilly Lesser Slave Lake. She was loved.
Cara left the peat research group to pursue her doctorate in Civil Engineering at Villanova where she studied the dynamic, adaptive nature of green infrastructure systems in Philadelphia in the context of stormwater management, climate change, and urban stressors. After completing her doctorate, Cara returned to the military, securing a position at the Pentagon as a Data Analyst for the U.S. Air Force.
In Cara’s own words, her passions were “…crafts of all kinds, the great outdoors, maple syrup, sharing ideas and information, running, birds, New York State, fresh food and homemade jam…being thankful for generations before me, who both taught techniques and inspired my creative nature.” Further, after moving to her position at the Pentagon, Cara shared this: “I am passionate about applying history and past patterns to current and emerging constructs, thinking across spatial and temporal scales, and continually improving ideas and systems to keep pace with a changing world. My goal is to use analytics to impact strategy at the national level, because I am driven to make a difference.”
This endowed fund celebrates Cara and her impacts on the world by supporting graduate students who share her passion and enthusiasm for science and for life.
Student Travel Awards and Summer Research Support
CBEST encourages students to present their work at conferences and in that spirit, we offer travel awards. Students are encouraged to apply. CBEST students, due to the nature of their research, are also often conducting research throughout their summers and are encouraged to reach out for funding opportunities if they are not funded throughout the summer months.
Student Workshops and Science Slams
Every year, CBEST hosts workshops based on student feedback and ideas. These workshops cover subjects ranging from bioinformatics to effective scientific communication. We also host Science Slams, a productive a way for graduate students from several departments and colleges within the University to get together and present research and work through problems.
BioBlitz and Sustainability Events
CBEST hosts annual BioBlitzes, hourlong searches specifically in the West Campus meadow area to find and identify as many species of animals, plants, and fungi as possible. Students upload the information into to a publicly accessible website, and while identifying and documenting the species is important itself, it’s the comparative data that can give meaning to what is found in the same place at the same time each year.
Classes are also encouraged to not only take part in Bioblitz activities, but are also encouraged to engage in other focused projects on campus including native plant garden maintenance and invasive plant removal from the West Campus Meadow.
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