Rebecca Blanton began her studies at EKU as a pre-med major.

It wasn't long, though, before the Harlan native decided "there were so many more fascinating creatures than humans" and changed her major to biology.

A prestigious award from the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools (CSGS) confirms that Blanton made a wise choice. The CSGS, an organization consisting of 200 graduate schools in 15 southern states, recently presented the 2002 Master's Thesis Award to Blanton for her work on fantail darters in North Carolina.

Blanton, who earned a bachelor's degree in biology from EKU in 1998 and a master's degree in the same subject last year, now is pursuing a doctoral degree in ecology and evolutionary biology at Tulane University in New Orleans. While at EKU, Blanton achieved a 3.8 GPA as an undergraduate, 4.0 in her graduate studies.

"This is a very prestigious award and it speaks highly of Rebecca and the quality of her work," said Dr. Guenter Schuster, Foundation Professor of biology at EKU and the recipient of the 1999 Outstanding College Teacher Award from the Kentucky Academy of Science.

Blanton, a 1994 graduate of Cumberland High School and the daughter of Larry and Margaret Blanton, said she has always been fascinated by biology, especially natural history and organismal biology.

"These darters are amazing, beautiful creatures," she declared, "and they have their greatest diversity right here in the southeastern U.S., yet there remains so much we don't know about them. They are a very important aspect of our freshwater ecosystems, which also makes them very interesting."

The full title of her award-winning thesis was "Examination of Morphological Variation among Populations of Fantail Darters (Percidae: Etheostoma: Catonotus) from River Drainages of North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, with a redescription of the subspecies Etheostoma flabellare brevispina (Coker)."

Blanton credited many at EKU and elsewhere for her award.

"My family, of course, has always been extremely supportive and have offered their assistance in so many ways, emotionally and financially," Blanton said. "Without them, I could have never been the student that they allowed me to be."

Academically, "(former EKU biology professor) Dr. Patrick Ceas helped me originally develop my thesis topic and really sparked my interest in taxonomy and systematics and fishes in general. Dr. Schuster was also instrumental in the completion of my thesis (and) provided much helpful insight and was there to keep me on my toes every step of the way. His passion for aquatic biology was contagious and kept me inspired.

"I had a number of very good classes, especially a graduate-level course in aquatic biology," she added. "Dr. Ceas and Dr. Schuster provided me with excellent instruction in the areas of taxonomy and systematics and the natural history of organisms."

Fieldwork involved long trips to North Carolina to collect specimens, "and I was extremely lucky to be a part of a wonderful group of graduate students at EKU who were always willing to help collect. I seriously doubt that I would have been able to put together the same thesis without their help in the field."

Blanton credited other members of her thesis committee (Dr. Barbara Ramey at EKU and Dr. David Etnier at the University of Tennessee), Dr. Robert Jenkins (Roanoke College), Dr. David Eisenhour (Morehead State University), and Dr. Larry Page (University of Illinois), among others.

"Even though my name is on the thesis … and I put a lot of time, effort and thought into this project … I'm sure I would not have received this award without the help of so many other wonderful people."