DURHAM, N.C. – Haydee Dominguez Tejo, a fourth-year PhD candidate in Marine Science and Conservation at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, has been awarded a Faculty for the Future Fellowship from the Schlumberger Foundation.

Dominguez, who specializes in marine mammals and conservation planning, is one of 84 recipients worldwide selected by the Schlumberger Foundation to receive a new Faculty for the Future Fellowship this year.

The fellowships carry renewable grants of up to $50,000 annually. They are awarded to women from developing and emerging economies pursuing PhD or postdoctoral studies in the physical sciences, engineering and technology, or interdisciplinary research between physical and biological sciences, at leading universities abroad.

Fellowship recipients are selected for leadership capabilities as well as scientific talents. After completing their studies, they are expected to return home to serve as role models for other women and contribute to their countries’ economic, social and technological advancement through continued research and teaching or by taking leadership roles in the public sector.

Dominguez, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, is conducting her doctoral research at the Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, N.C. Her work focuses on the endangered Antillean manatee on Hispaniola Island, shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. She is conducting the first bi-national assessment of the species by combining historical ecology work with island-wide surveys of artisanal fishermen and habitat modeling. Her goals are to identify threats to manatees and areas important for their conservation, and lay the ground work for future bilateral conservation action between both countries.

Andrew J. Read, Stephen A. Toth Professor of Marine Biology, is her faculty advisor.

The Schlumberger Foundation launched the Faculty for the Future program in 2004 to foster conditions that make it possible for more women from developing nations to pursue academic careers in scientific disciplines. To date, 405 women from 68 countries have received fellowships.