Michael Skibsted’s passion for turtles and wildlife preservation has granted him a 2025 Udall Scholarship. The undergraduate from the University of Georgia is among 55 students nationwide being acknowledged for their leadership, community service, and dedication to environmental issues.
A third-year Honors student hailing from Ladera Ranch, California, Skibsted is pursuing a major in ecology at the Odum School of Ecology and biology through the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. He has also secured funding for his research from the UGA Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities.
The Udall Scholarship is granted to sophomore and junior students based on their dedication to careers in matters pertaining to the environment, Native health care, or Tribal public policy. The scholarship covers up to $7,000 for qualifying educational expenses.
With Skibsted’s addition, UGA has applauded 10 Udall Scholars over the past decade.
“Michael is committed to environmental causes in numerous ways, and we celebrate his recognition from the Udall Foundation,” remarked Meg Amstutz, dean of the Morehead Honors College. “From being the primary author on a pond turtle manuscript to co-creating a turtle podcast, he has fervently chased his passion, and we are grateful for the faculty and programs that have bolstered him.”
Michael Skibsted catches a male common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) in one of Florida’s freshwater springs. Florida boasts over 1,000 freshwater spring systems, a result of the massive Floridan aquifer. These systems harbor some of the most diverse turtle populations — in terms of species richness and biomass — globally. (Submitted photo)
After acquiring a Ph.D. in ecology or biology, Skibsted anticipates devising innovative solutions to challenges within conservation biology and ecology. He is particularly focused on turtle conservation and research, aiming to apply insights gained from this intriguing group of animals to wider human and planetary issues.
“There exists a largely unexplored reservoir of wisdom inherent to turtles that could influence fields as diverse as cancer research, hotspot mapping in conservation science, addressing competition in ecology, and enhancing our grasp of normative ethics,” he stated. Turtles, recognized as the most endangered vertebrate group on the planet, “truly represent an immense repository of biological knowledge, serving as a window into the urgent concern of biodiversity loss and acting as a cultural mediator and universal connector.”
Skibsted collaborates with John Maerz, the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Professor of vertebrate ecology. He is the primary author on a journal article co-authored with Maerz that models pond turtle responses to urban growth. Alongside Zach Siders from the University of Florida and Eric Munscher at SWCA Environmental Consultants, Skibsted assisted in researching and drafting a paper focused on establishing a growth model for Florida softshell turtles.
In January 2022, he launched a podcast titled CheloniaCast, assembling a team of nine undergraduates from seven different universities to aid in production. He has administered 149 hours of conversations centered on turtle research and broader scientific issues with 98 guests from over 110 organizations. Collectively, these guests have authored more than 7,000 research papers, been cited 375,376 times, and published over 400 books.
Through these efforts, he and his team have developed the most extensive audio archive of turtle science currently available. The available 71 episodes have been downloaded upwards of 22,000 times, accumulating around 4,300 listener hours. Skibsted utilized an Honors Domestic Experiential Learning Scholarship in 2024 to finance this project. He is regularly seeking partners to help nurture this endeavor and aspires to evolve the podcast framework into a turtle-oriented ecotourism venture.
Michael Skibsted holds an adult female Central American river turtle (Dermatemys mawii) at the Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education research station in Toledo District, Belize. BFREE maintains a substantial colony of this critically endangered species, which nests underwater and has thus far produced roughly 1,000 hatchlings. (Submitted photo)
Skibsted also partners with Russ Mittermeier, chief conservation officer for Re:wild, updating diversity metrics for turtles and other fauna in the biodiversity hotspot of the Southeastern Coastal Plain. Together with John Carr, professor emeritus at the University of Louisiana Monroe, he recently co-authored a chapter on snapping turtles for Lynx Nature Books’ “Handbook of the Reptiles of the World.”
Currently, Skibsted is co-author or primary author on 13 scientific articles, either published or under review, and has presented 20 talks at professional symposia concerning turtle research.
In the summer of 2024, Skibsted served as an environmental consultant with SWCA Environmental Consultants. He is also a research assistant for the Turtle Conservancy and a summer field researcher in Belize for the Turtle Survival Alliance.
As the youngest member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, he is also an American Junior Academy of Sciences Fellow in Residence and was involved in organizing the Ninth Diamondback Terrapin Workshop. He participates in the student-led UGA Herpetological Society and EcoReach UGA, which organizes educational activities for students in Athens-Clarke County. Through the Council on International Educational Exchange, he studied abroad in Monteverde, Costa Rica, during the fall of 2023.
The Major Scholarships Office at UGA, located within the Morehead Honors College, supports students across campus in their pursuit of national, high-profile scholarships. For further details, contact Jessica Hunt at [email protected] or visit https://honors.uga.edu/scholarships/external-scholarships/.
The article UGA’s Michael Skibsted named 2025 Udall Scholar was originally published on UGA Today.