Cutthroat Chapter – Trout Unlimited
Steve Bailey Memorial Research Fellowship
Colorado State University Warner College of Natural Resources
Description of Fellowship
The Cutthroat Chapter – Trout Unlimited Steve Bailey Memorial Research Fellowship was established by the Cutthroat Chapter of Trout Unlimited in memory of Steve Bailey, whose generosity, sportsmanship, and fellowship contributed greatly to the vitality of the chapter and the fly-fishing community.
Trout Unlimited's mission is to conserve, protect, and restore North America's trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds. In keeping with that mission, the fellowship provides financial support to a graduate student pursuing research related to trout and other salmonids.
Eligible research may address trout biology, fisheries management, biodiversity, water quality, disease, habitat conservation, or other issues important to the conservation and management of trout and salmonid populations, streams, and watersheds.
Fellowship Criteria
The recipient must:
Be a graduate student pursuing a master's or doctoral degree in Fishery and Wildlife Biology or another course of study with a demonstrated focus on fisheries biology and management.
Be engaged in research pertaining to trout or salmonid biology, fisheries management, biodiversity, water quality, disease, habitat conservation, or other issues important to the conservation and management of trout and salmonid populations and their streams and watersheds.
Demonstrate superior academic achievement through academic performance and scholarly work.
Demonstrate a focus on issues directly impacting Colorado watersheds and cold-water fisheries, including research, fieldwork, conservation activities, or other relevant professional pursuits.
Demonstrate a commitment to the fisheries profession, as evidenced by professional experience, research, service, leadership, volunteer activities, and personal character.
Recipients:
2026-2027 Academic Year:
2025-2026 Academic Year: Helen Acosta – Survival analysis of adult brown trout in flow regulated Blue River
2024-2025 Academic Year: Jordan Trujillo – Determining stream health for the restoration of Rio Grand cutthroat trout
2023-2024 Academic Year: Taylor Stack – Spatial Patterns of Genetic Diversity in Trout
2022-2023 Academic Year: Nista Platis – Trophic niche dynamics of brown trout and mottled sculpin in a regulated Rocky Mountain River
2021-2022 Academic Year: Audrey Harris - Characterizing gene flow of non-native brook trout to aid Colorado’s largest native cutthroat trout restoration project
2010-2021 Academic Year: Tawni Riepe- Bacterial Kidney Disease in Colorado Trout
2019-2020 Academic Year: Cole Brittain- How Does Rock-Ramp Fishway Surface Texture Affect the Passage Success of Small-Bodied Fish
2018-2019 Academic Year: Christopher Kotalik- Habitat improvements to bring/restore trout to streams impaired by acid mine drainage
2017-2018 Academic Year: Alex Townsend- The effect of maternally-transferred selenium on the survival, hatch success and performance of Brown Trout Salmo trutta fry
2016-2017 Academic Year: Brian Avila– Survival of Rainbow Trout Fry in the Wild: A Comparison of Two Whirling Disease Resistant Strains