Hull will use the funds to study both the interactions and behavior of giant pandas in China’s Wolong National Nature Reserve. Giant pandas are an endangered species.

Previously, she focused her research on the transition process involved with reintroducing a giant panda into the wild.

Hull hopes to determine the ways in which pandas best relate to their environment and surroundings in the face of human needs and interactions.

“Her work is very important,” said Jianguo “Jack” Liu, Hull’s adviser and a university distinguished professor in fisheries and wildlife. “Her ideas are very innovative.”

Hull’s work builds in part off Liu’s research, which previously examined human and natural systems and the interactions between them.

Hull said she was “honored” to receive the grant from NASA.

“It is wonderful that large organizations like NASA set aside funding specifically for students who are in the early stages of their careers,” she said in an email.

Through the course of her research, Hull plans to use remotely sensed imagery from NASA to develop baseline characteristics for panda habitats.

Hull is optimistic her work will lead to long-term developments in her chosen field.

But her work has not been without challenges.

In May 2008, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked China’s Sichuan Province, where the Wolong National Nature Reserve sits. Many of Hull’s friends in the area lost their homes as a result of the disaster, and while the incident didn’t significantly affect her work, Hull said it was a difficult time.

“It has been sobering to bear witness to the long process that my friends and colleagues are now undergoing in trying to put their lives together,” she said.

Despite the quake, Hull said she continues to travel to the region to conduct field research. Once she completes work related to the grant, she plans to continue conservation-related work.

“I hope I will continue to have the privilege of conducting research on the giant panda,” she said. “Working with pandas has taught me a great deal about the complexities of conducting science.”

Graduate student Mamy Tantely Rasolofomalala said it’s important for MSU to involve itself in this type of research.

“As (pandas) are an endangered species … sometimes people don’t understand why you have to protect them,” he said. “They need someone to take the initiative.”