Spring-Summer
2013
Awards & Honors
Students
Degree track and faculty advisers in parenthesis
Shannon Hennessey (BS), Megan Stauchra (MS, Mantua), Wes Larson (MS, Seeb L), Cody Szuwalski (PhD, Punt), and Aaron Galloway (PhD, Sebens) were given SAFS Faculty Merit Awards for 2013. This award annually recognizes outstanding efforts by students who have achieved high scholastic standing in the program.
Emma Hodgson (PhD, Essington), Adrianne Smits (MS, Schindler), Keith Fritschie (MS, Olden), and Stuart Munsch (MS, Simenstad) all obtained National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships. We especially thank Meryl Mims, who organized the Fellowship writing proposal program this year.
Stuart Munsch (MS, Simenstad) netted the Best Graduate Student Oral Presentation Award from the meeting of the Pacific Estuarine Society for his paper, “Salmon, Seawalls, and Seattle: Assessing the Effects of Shoreline Modification on the Ecology of Fish in Elliott Bay, Washington.”
Brittany Jones (MS, Simenstad) was the runner-up for the Best Graduate Student Poster at the Pacific Estuarine Society meeting for her paper, “Vulnerability and Adaptability of Tidal Wetlands to Future Climate Change in Puget Sound: Planning for Strategic Restoration.”
Aaron Galloway (PhD, Sebens) was awarded Pacific Northwest Shell Club Scholarship Award and a postdoctoral research grant from the University of Eastern Finland.
Emma Timmins-Schiffman (PhD, Roberts) was awarded a Chateaubriand Fellowship, which will support research she will be conducting in France in Autumn 2013. She also won an Honorable Mention for the Best Student Oral Presentation within the Thurlow C. Nelson Award competition at the 105th Annual Meeting of the National Shellfisheries Association.
Mackenzie Gavery (MS, Roberts) won a Student Spotlight Award at the 105th Annual Meeting of the National Shellfisheries Association.
Anne Gower (BS) and Elizabeth Phillips (PhD, Horne) were awarded College of Environment Scholarships.
Juliana Houghton (MS, VanBlaricom) won the Best Oral Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Northwest Student Chapter of the Society for Marine Mammalogy for her paper, “The Relationship Between Vessel Traffic and Noise Levels Received by Killer Whales.” She was also selected as a recipient of the College of the Environment's Campbell Donaldson Scholarship for the 2013-2014 academic year.
Burlyn Birkemeier (BS) is a recipient of the Del Rio Endowed Scholarship from the College of the Environment. This scholarship aims to promote academic success and graduation for under-represented ethnic minorities, economically disadvantaged, and first-generation college students at the University of Washington.
Marissa Jones (MS, Simenstad) and Megan Stachura (MS, Mantua) won Knauss Marine Policy Fellowships. They will be spending a year in the executive branch of the federal government (Department of State, Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation, or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).
Katrina Herlambang (BS), Jennefer Lopez (BS), and Breanna Walker (BS) all obtained Mary Gates Research Scholarships. These scholarships are intended to enhance the educational experiences of undergraduate students at the University of Washington while they are engaged in research guided by faculty.
Lilia Bannister (BS) and Brandon Ringstad (BS) were both awarded Nancy Wilcox Endowed Scholarships from the College of the Environment.
Louisa Harding (MS, Young) won second place for the Outstanding Pre-doctoral Scientific Presentation Award from the Center for Reproductive Biology for her presentation “High-throughput Sequencing and Pathway Analysis Reveal Alteration of the Pituitary Transcriptome by 17a-Ethynylestradiol (EE2) in Female Coho Salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch.”
Nicola Follis (BS) was awarded the Bonderman Travel Fellowship from the UW Honors Program. She will be spending the next eight months travelling the world, having just graduated with her BS degree in Aquatic and Fishery Sciences.
Sarah Friedman (BS), Daniel Geldof (BS), Zachary Houghtaling (BS), and Nirupam Nigam (BS) all obtained Campbell-Donaldson Scholarships in Ocean and Fishery Sciences from the UW College of the Environment.
Faculty
Trevor Branch was awarded the College of the Environment Outstanding Researcher Award. Trevor joins several SAFS faculty who have previously won this award. Trevor also was awarded an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowship. He is one of only 20 researchers worldwide to receive this unique opportunity to enhance leadership skills in translating science into action.
Julian Olden was named an Early Career Fellow by the Ecological Society of America. These fellowships recognize early career members of the Society who have begun making and show promise of continuing to make outstanding contributions to a wide range of fields served by ESA.
André Punt was the winner of one of the 2013 UW Distinguished Teaching Awards. André joins SAFS faculty members Loveday Conquest (1987), Tom Quinn (1991), Ted Pietsch (1998), and Julia Parrish (2008), who have previously received this award. The award is given to faculty members who show a mastery of their subject matter, intellectual rigor and a passion for teaching. André was also recognized by an Award of Excellence from the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society. This award is given an AFS member who has shown outstanding achievement and exceptional competence in fishery resource applications through monumental works, new methodologies, or multiple successful contributions that benefit resources and the profession.
Don Gunderson (Emeritus Professor) won the Worthy Coelacanth Award. This award goes to a senior member of the Washington-British Columbia Chapter of the American Fisheries Society who has made an outstanding contribution to fisheries management and science.