Ella Carlson ’25 Wins Prestigious Watson Fellowship
Colby’s 67th Watson Fellow to explore motivations behind amphibian conservation efforts
Ella Carlson ’25, a biology major concentrating in ecology and evolution from Jamestown, R.I., has been named a 2025 Watson Fellow. The prestigious fellowship and its $40,000 stipend will support Carlson for a year of international travel to pursue her project, “Who Speaks for the Frogs?”
Carlson, a student leader in initiatives relating to food systems and a recipient of dual grants from the Buck Lab for Climate and Environment, plans to travel to Germany, Indonesia, Australia, Brazil, and Mexico. Communities in these countries have differing relationships with amphibians, and Carlson aims to understand how their underlying feelings shape actions toward the conservation of this keystone species.
Upon hearing that she’d won, Carlson said she felt seen by the Watson Foundation. “I felt like the foundation saw how much of myself I had put into the application, and that’s really what I was trying to get across. … I know that this isn’t random. They saw who I was on these pages. It felt pretty amazing, kind of like when I got into college,” she added with a smile.
She is so excited about what lies ahead.
“It’s just like this glowing orb of a future because I get to spend an entire year studying, exploring, and chasing after the thing that has kept me chasing this whole time.”
Carlson is Colby’s 67th Watson Fellow. The fellowship is a one-year grant to pursue a personal project outside the United States and is available only to graduating seniors from select colleges. She is one of just 37 Watson Fellows nationwide selected from a competitive pool of students representing the foundation’s 41 partnering colleges.
She joins a robust community of former Watson Fellows, many of whom have reached out to offer support, language lessons, and more. Carlson even received congratulations from Jordan McClintock ’22, Colby’s last Watson Fellow.
“I am over the moon that Ella got the Watson,” said Professor of Art Véronique Plesch, chair of Colby’s Watson Selection Committee. “I’m thrilled but not surprised for she displays qualities the Watson Foundation hopes to find in applicants, including leadership, imagination, and boldness of spirit. Ella’s inquisitiveness knows no limits, and her application showed how she’s able to ask questions grounded in a deep curiosity. She is an original thinker and a creative one as well.”
Women scientists and mentors
The inspiration for Carlson’s project stems from a childhood spent searching for frogs and other amphibians in vernal pools, ponds, and forest floors, net always in hand. She brought that passion to Colby, where she initially majored in environmental studies, thinking that working on habitat conservation was the closest she could get to frogs.
Then she met herpetologist Cathy Bevier, Colby’s Oak Professor of Biology.
“Here at my own school was this amazing, experienced, and dedicated human who knew everything there was to know about frogs. And she had turned it into a career and was now teaching other people to care about them,” said Carlson. “That’s when I changed my major from environmental science to biology.”
Studying ecology and biology has given Carlson hands-on experience with the species she loves. Carlson joined Bevier’s research team as a student research assistant in January to help with her long-term project on amphibian health. Carlson is analyzing recordings of Green Frogs calling from breeding choruses. She is also helping with a new project focusing on frog species with complex advertisement calls and potential connections with the evolution of human language.
“Ella now has a wonderful opportunity to learn about cultural differences and investments in amphibian conservation in some key places around the world.”
Oak Professor of Biology Cathy Bevier
“Given that we have been losing a great proportion of amphibian diversity, largely because of habitat degradation and emerging diseases, her work is sure to inspire new perspectives on this issue,” Bevier said of the impact of Carlson’s Watson Fellowship.
Bevier is just one of several scientists who have mentored Carlson. Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Gail Carlson (no relation) and the Elizabeth and Lee Ainslie Professor of Environmental Science Philip Nyhus are others.
The professors and student connected early on, as mentors and mentee, and also as people who share common ground.
“Since the day I got to Colby, they told me that I can do anything I want here,” said the student. “They encouraged me to reach high and have been instrumental in propelling me forward.”
Ella Carlson has been the student leader for the student farming club and has co-led a civic engagement project related to food security-related activities in Waterville. “She is adept at thinking in an interdisciplinary manner and has made close connections between food systems and biodiversity conservation,” said Gail Carlson. “She is super passionate, and more importantly (and more rarely), she is completely committed to putting in the hard work to see things through.”
Ella Carlson also connected with Gail Carlson through the Buck Lab for Climate and Environment, where the professor serves as director. The process of applying for Buck Lab grants gave the student experience expressing herself in applications. And by winning two grants, she learned that trusting and investing in her ideas had rewards.
Carlson was also encouraged by the Colby women scientists mentoring her. Their success in their fields fueled her confidence. When the time came to complete the Watson Fellowship application, she was ready to take the next step.
She said to herself, “I could do this.”
The “why” behind the “how”
Now Carlson will indeed do as she envisioned. As she loops around the globe, she will pursue the warm, wet seasons that frogs thrive in. She’ll chronicle her experience taking both still images and videos to capture the nuances of all she observes.
She’ll begin in August in Germany, where the government has constructed 3,000 miles of tunnels to allow amphibians to pass safely under highways. In October, she’ll relocate to Java, Indonesia, the world’s largest commercial exporter of frogs for human consumption. In January 2026, she’ll land in Australia to explore a community-based science project that has sparked concern for amphibians among everyday citizens.
In March, Carlson will return to the Western Hemisphere to spend extended time in Brazil focusing on habitat preservation in the rainforest and Indigenous views of frogs as symbols of luck and prosperity. Her Watson year will conclude in the Valley of Mexico, where two freshwater lakes provide the only viable habitat for the axolotl, an endemic salamander named for the Aztec god of fire and lightning.
“I’m thrilled but not surprised for she displays qualities the Watson Foundation hopes to find in applicants, including leadership, imagination, and boldness of spirit.”
Professor of Art Véronique Plesch on Ella Carlson ’25
She plans to be like a sponge, stepping back and being a student. “My Watson year will allow me to go beyond the presumed neutrality of science in an attempt to understand the why behind the how.”
Plesch is confident Carlson is ready to embrace this path. “Ella possesses wonderful people skills and is sincerely interested in other people. She also has kindness and warmth, traits that will ensure she’ll make lasting connections and friendships during her Watson year.”
When a dream becomes reality
With her Watson Fellowship secure, Carlson can relish her final months at Colby in the company of friends and professors. She expressed profound gratitude to Bevier, Carlson, Nyhus, and Plesch for helping her achieve this dream.
Between now and when Carlson embarks on her Watson year, she will refine her itinerary, lay out her intentions, and decide how she wants to pursue them.
Otherwise, she’s ready to invest in the future she imagined.
“When I planned this, it was a daydream. It’s not like it would actually happen. So, I planned out my ideal itinerary and all of a sudden, I’m going to do it, which is pretty wild.
“Every day I forget for a second. I’ll be doing homework or eating a meal and then I’ll remember. I’ll get all the tingles and butterflies again and a huge smile on my face,” she said, barely able to sit still. “It’s just such an exciting feeling to know that in four short months I’ll be embarking on my journey.”
