Sheila Ward has the first Fulbright Scholars Fellowship awarded within the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras College of Natural Sciences. She is conducting research on forest resources in Quintana Roo, Mexico with collaborators at the Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR) in Chetumal and at the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP). Topics of research include factors affecting species distributions and biodiversity in the Yucatan Peninsula, and genetic resources and growth patterns of Swietenia macrophylla (big-leaf mahogany) and Cedrela odorata (Spanish cedar).