Andexler Honored for Commitment to Science Advocacy

Northern Michigan University master's candidate Noah Andexler is one of 20 graduate students nationwide selected to receive the Ecological Society of America's (ESA) 2026 Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award for their demonstrated commitment to science advocacy. This prestigious program is designed to bridge the gap between rigorous ecological research and impactful environmental policy.

Awardees received an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C. in late February for policy, communications and career training at ESA headquarters, followed by meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to discuss the importance of federal investments in the biological and ecological sciences. They were also featured in Science Magazine.

"Being selected for this award to experience how the legislative process works and where the scientific field can help inform that process has truly been an honor," Andexler said. "I had never really explored the aspect of science policy, so learning how to advocate came with a weight of responsibility and a thrill to learn a new area of communication that can help the ecological sciences.

Andexler is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in Professor Diana Lafferty's Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Science Lab at NMU. His research combines advanced DNA analysis with isotopic data to enhance understanding of brown and black bear population structure and feeding patterns in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Through this work, he said he hopes to provide essential information to the National Park Service to guide management decisions, and to lay a foundation for non-invasive whole genome DNA sequencing in ecology.

"We collected bear fecal samples by walking in coastal meadows, rather than capturing them and taking samples, which is more invasive," Andexler said. "From there, we pulled DNA from the feces and inserted it into a machine to read the whole length of DNA fragments obtained from the fecal samples. These fragments then get matched up to the species that it came from, and allows us to identify the food they are eating.

"Currently, alternative genomic methods can be expensive and limited in scope. If we can use whole genome sequencing as a new method for processing non-invasive samples, it would allow agencies and scientists to ask new questions in relation to fine-scale wildlife conservation, all at a reduced cost."

Another reason why the ESA's McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award program has been such a meaningful experience, Andexler added, is that National Science Foundation funding has been extremely impactful on his career trajectory and being able to attend graduate school at NMU. After being supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, he said he felt an "innate desire to fight for a program that continually invests in and supports incredible future scientists."

Andexler is also passionate about mentoring the next generation of ecologists, and seeks to translate the ecological stories of the natural world into tangible actions. He said scientists sometimes forget that all of their time and effort aren't just about interesting results, but the underlying stories they are telling with those results.

"My work is centered on brown and black bear ecology, but the real story I'm looking to tell is that even in protected systems such as remote national parks, there are keystone resources that these ecosystems rely on to function. In this case, if the human footprint can disrupt even what we have protected to the best of our ability, it makes one wonder what is happening to the forests, rivers and lakes of our cities, counties and states. Those scientific connections provide an opportunity for federal and state agencies, as well as legislatures, to act on robust science whether it directly or indirectly affects our lives.

Prior to his graduate research at NMU, Andexler worked as a wildlife technician throughout the western United States and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin Stevens-Point. After he completes his master's from NMU, he said he is thinking of pursuing a doctorate.

"There are so many more questions ecologically to explore, and a lot more stories to tell. Through this experience, I really have come away with a renewed perspective that legislators need to hear the stories, along with the facts that scientists work so hard to obtain. Communicating that effectively and consistently is something I would personally really enjoy incorporating in my continuing studies and future career."

Learn more about Lafferty's Wildlife Ecology & Conservation Science Lab at NMU here.