First prof. Olevi Kulls Memorial Stipend issued The first stipend from prof. Olevi Kulls Memorial Fund was awarded to Ingmar Tulva, a 4th year PhD student (Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, department of botany, University of Tartu) to attend and present at the 23rd IUFRO Conference for Specialists in Air Pollution and Climate Change at Contrasting Altitude and Latitude, to be held in Switzerland in September 2008. The choice of the Funds committee from among three submitted applications was based on the correspondence of the application to the mission of the Fund, as defined in its statute, and on the content of the candidates proposed research. Ingmar Tulva studies photosynthesis and stomatal conductance in canopy light gradient, and the response of gas exchange to changing atmospheric CO2 concentration. He has also worked on the effect of environmental conditions on the modular structure of trees, including the differences in the branching strategies of light- and shade-adapted tree species (using aspen, linden and birch as model species), and the effect of atmospheric ozone and CO2 concentration on the branching in birch, and modeling of canopy growth based on local branching patterns. Ingmar Tulva was one of prof. Olevi Kulls doctoral students and continues studies started under his supervision in his soon to be defended dissertation Relations between tree photosynthetic production and spacial distribution of growth. Prof. Olevi Kulls (22. VI 1955 31. I 2007) Memorial Fund, managed by Tartu University Foundation, was created by his friends and colleagues in June 2007 to commemorate his contributions to ecology. The goal of the Fund is to provide travel stipends for last-year undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral scientists in the fields of plant ecophysiology, forest ecology, and ecosystem ecology, to attend international conferences, or to conduct research at foreign research institutions. The stipend is designed to facilitate the involvement of students studying in Estonian universities in the field of ecology, motivate them to pursue careers in science, help establish international contacts, and promote understanding of world science. The stipend must advance Estonian forest ecology research on global scale.
The Fund remains open to new donations. Instructions for this can be found at http://www.ut.ee/sihtasutus/index.php?lk=13&stipendium=61. A brief synthesis of Olevis most important work was published in Tree Physiology 28: 483-490: Olevi Kull's lifetime contribution to ecology. (by Oren R, Kull K, Noormets A.) http://heronpublishing.com/tree/pdf/volume28/28-483.pdf Yours sincerely, Asko Noormets Edgar Karofeld Funds committee members
