Don M. Smith Marine Scholarship/Fellowship

Support research in the Dept of Food and Resource Economics at UF/IFAS to define and develop strategies to measure the economic value of environmental benefit produced by agriculture in Florida; agricultural lands generate ecosystem services that contribute to human well-being, while these services generate benefits to society do not has associated values which is critical for the development of policies, programs and markets to ensure their provision and viability; this research program support is intended to maintain and enhance a viable market for the use of agricultural lands of Florida.

Support activities for Food and Resource Economics students and provide experiences outside the classroom. Funds may support events such as the National Agri-Marketing Association conference (NAMA), the Quiz Bowl, and other professional conferences for undergraduate students as needed by the FRE Department Chair.

The spendable income of the Roland T. Stern Scholarship Endowment shall be used to award scholarships as follows: A minimum of a $4,000 undergraduate scholarship will be awarded annually to an undergraduate student (or students) graduating from a high school in Bradford County and studying forestry. If there is no eligible student in any given year, then the scholarship will be awarded according to the following criteria, in order of preference: 1) to a student (or students) graduating from a high school in Northeast Florida (Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Columbia, Baker, Nassau, Duval, Taylor, Lafayette, Suwannee, Union, Bradford, Clary, St. Johns, Dixie, Gilchrist, Alachua, Putnam, Flagler, Levy, Marion, or Volusia counties) and studying forestry, (2) to a student ( or students) graduating from a high school in Northeast Florida (as defined above) and studying natural resource conservation or geomatics, and (3) to a student (or students) conducting research at the Austin Cary Forest. A minimum of a $4,000 graduate scholarship will be awarded annually to a graduate student (or students) studying forestry with first preference to students graduating from a high school in Bradford County and second preference to students graduating from a high school in Northeast Florida (as defined above). If there is no eligible student in any given year, then the scholarship may be awarded to a graduate student (or graduate students) whose studies will utilize the Austin Cary Forest. Scholarship recipients must be full-time students with at least a 2.5 cumulative GPA. Students may receive the scholarships for more than one year as long as the students continue to meet the award criteria. If spendable income is less than $8,000 annually in any given year, then the spendable income shall be divided equally between the two scholarships. If spendable income is more than $8,000 annually in any given year, then additional or larger awards may be granted as determined by the Director of the School of Forest, Fisheries, & Geomatic Sciences. The Donor wishes for the awards to increate proportionally with costs of attendance, to the extent the spendable income is available to do so.