MARQUETTE, Mich.—Research presented by Northern Michigan University students earned top honors at the recent Michigan Bird Conservation Initiative Conference in Tustin.

Julian “Gary” Palmer, a biology department adjunct professor and graduate student from Saginaw, and Jeremy Halka, a senior environmental conservation major from Davisburg, won the Best Presentation Award for “Radar Ornithology and Wind Energy in the Great Lakes.” Their research showed how publicly available weather radar data can be used to examine bird migration corridors and how that information can be used to improve wind farm siting plans.

Brittney Dodge, a senior biology and physiology major from Macomb, won Best Poster Award for “DNA-Barcoding Identifies Unknown Bird Blood Samples to Species.”

Organizers gave this year's awards in honor of the late William Robinson, biology professor emeritus whose career at NMU spanned 34 years.

The conference attracted bird conservationists from state and federal agencies, academic institutions and non-profit organizations. Ten NMU students attended with Professor Alec Lindsay.