Trent’s Nomination
I would like to nominate Trent Grasso for the OSCAR Student Excellence Award as he has demonstrated an extreme dedication and passion for research within conservation. He dedicates much of his free time to understanding all things elephants whether that be working on his elephant database, with his research projects, or being a volunteer zoo aide with Asian elephants.
In 2015, he started collecting primary and secondary research articles about Proboscidean species (extinct and current) to create a database of articles relating to anything to do with Proboscidean. His dedication paid off as in June of 2020, he made the database public and now has a collection of over 250 articles, from before 1700s to today, that relate to elephants and related species. While gathering all these sources was a long endeavor, and he learned a lot none of the sources was his research.
Once he got to George Mason University (GMU), he started to look for ways to create and participate in elephant research. He has worked on three research projects in his undergraduate career with the first being done in his Sophomore year when he worked in Dr. Kathleen Hunt’s lab. This experience was done during GMU’s College of Science Research semester and he spent it extracting hormones from elephant tail hair from Maryland Zoo and the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (SNZCBI). Through this experience, he was able to determine the growth rate of tail hair in both Asian and African elephants and successfully run immunoassays for cortisol and progesterone.
A few months later, he spent a semester at the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation (SMSC) in the Endangered Species Conservation program. In this program, he completed a research project on determining a more accurate Asian elephant population count through literature reviews and interviews. This project was important because there is not an agreed upon population count for the species but his work would help conservationists have a better idea. At the end of his project, he was able to present his findings to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Officials.
Currently, he is completing a URSP project that continues looking at the elephant tail hair study by running more immunoassays and looking at the stable isotopes to better understand cortisol and progesterone levels in the elephants under human care. He hopes to be able to eventually publish this work so other researchers can use his findings to help with elephant conservation.
While he has dedicated much of his time to elephant research, he is not limited to only elephants. In the summer of 2023, he helped graduate students in Dr. Hunt’s lab run hormone extractions on whale baleen and package samples for stable isotope analysis. His help in the lab will help give a better understanding of the baleen growth rates of bowhead whales and in creating full hormone profiles of many different whale individuals.
Recently, he started a position at the SNZCBI as a volunteer zoo aide where he is getting hands-on experience in working with elephants. Not only has he created databases and pursued research in elephant conservation, but now he gets to help take care of elephants and get a new understanding and appreciation of the species he has dedicated his life to.
His dedication and constant participation in research projects within his field make me believe that Trent Grasso is the perfect candidate for the OSCAR Student Excellence award as for almost 10 years he has been passionate about learning everything there is to know about elephant conservation. All the projects he has completed as an undergraduate show he is extremely passionate about his interests and has many outstanding accomplishments with hopefully many more ahead.