SOEST Awards and Honors: 2007

Dec 3: 2007 Awardees from PACON International

The following persons received awards from PACON (Pacific Congress on Marine Science and Technolgoy) International at the PACON 2007 Awards Banquet on 26 June 2007:

Dr. Lorenz Magaard received the PACON Fellow Award. PACON Fellow Awards are
to recognize members of earned eminence in the marine field. Awardees are
nominated by the membership-at-large and elected by the PACON International
Board of Directors.

Dr. Jerome Comcowich received the PACON Service Award. PACON Service Awards
are given to the current PACON members who have contributed significantly to
the organization of this conference.

Ms. Marion Bandet Chavanne, a graduate student in the Department of Ocean
Resource Engineering, won fourth place for her poster titled, "Dynamics of
New Boundary Flow over a Coral Reef" in the Student Poster Session held on
25 June 2007. She received a Certificate of Participation, an Fourth Place
Award Certificate, a one-year PACON International student membership, a
monetary award, and refund of her P07 registration.

Congratulations, Lorenz, Jerome and Marion!

Dec 17: UH Sea Grant Graduate Student Awarded National Marine Policy Fellowship

Paulo Maurin, a University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program funded graduate student, was awarded a highly-competitive John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship to begin in early 2008.  He will join an elite class of Fellows who will convene in Washington, D.C. to work for one year on national and international policy related to ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources. Congratulations Paulo! Read more about it.

Image courtesy of Hawaii Sea Grant / SOEST

Dec 3: ORE researchers win American Physical Society fluid mechanics competition

Ocean and Resources Engineering (ORE) graduate student Miguel Canals and ORE Associate Professor Geno Pawlak's poster on instabilities in oscillating flow was one of the winning entries in the American Physical Society 'Gallery of Fluid Motion' poster competition. These will be published in a special edition of Physics of Fluids journal in 2008.Their entry, entitled "Instability, transition and vortex topology in oscillating flows" shows the flow patterns that develop when a cylinder is exposed to an oscillating flow, as would be the case for a cylinder in the ocean when exposed to waves. “Understanding the dynamics of these coherent vortical features is important to correctly predict the pressure distribution on cylindrical structures,” explains Canals, “an important problem in ocean engineering.” Congratulations, Miguel and Geno! Read more about it.

Image courtesy of Miguel Canals.

Dec 3: Steven M Stanley receives the 2007 Paleontological Society Medal

Steven Stanley, a Researcher in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, received the 2007 Paleontological Society Medal. The Society describes the Medal as "the most prestigious honor bestowed by the Society, is awarded to a person whose eminence is based on advancement of knowledge in paleontology." Steven was given the award at the Geological Society of America meeting in Denver this past October. Congratulations, Steven!

Image courtesy of SOEST / UH

Aug. 19: Bidigare awarded Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Research

Robert Bidigare has been awarded a 2007 UH Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Research. A professor of oceanography, his research concerns bio-optics, pigments, the foundation of the marine food web and the effects of UVB radiation. His work in biological oceanography has been recognized both nationally and internationally, and he has won best paper awards from the Geochemical Society and the Japanese Phycological Society. He has more than 170 refereed publications, and his publications have been cited more than 3,000 times. Bidigare is also a member of SOEST’s Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB), Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE), and Center for Marine Microbial Ecology & Diversity (CMMED). Congratulations, Bob!

Image courtesy of UH.

May 25: Fred Mackenzie awarded the Vernadsky Medal for 2007

Oceanography professor emeritus Fred Mackenzie has been selected to receive the Vernadsky Medal for 2007. The Vernadsky Medal of International Association of GeoChemistry (IAGC) is awarded to a deserving individual for a distinguished record of scientific accomplishment in geochemistry over the course of a career. This year, IAGC will announce its awards in Cologne, Germany during its 40th anniversary celebration on Saturday 18 August, with the awards being conferred during 17th Annual Goldschmidt Conference. Congratulations, Fred!

Image courtesy of Fred MacKenzie.

May 8: Klaus Wyrtki elected to Academy of Arts & Sciences

Oceanography professor emeritus Klaus Wyrtki has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He is most well-known for providing a key piece to the El Niño puzzle that helped to forecast such events several months ahead. Wyrtki was the first to understand that ocean conditions more than 5,000 miles away in the far-western equatorial Pacific affect the ocean temperatures off the coast of Peru. Congratulations, Klaus!

Read more about it in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and in the UH News article. Image courtesy of UH News.

Jennifer Salerno awarded Seaspace scholarship

Jennifer Salerno,a Ph.D. student in the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, was awarded a Seaspace scholarship to assist her in her doctoral research project. Jennifer is using molecular methods to investigate the diversity and abundance of bacteria associated with healthy and health-compromised corals within the Hawaiian archipelago and greater Pacific. The ultimate goal of this study is to be able to use assessments of coral associated bacterial populations as bioindicators of a coral’s health state and to predict a coral’s susceptibility to disease. Congratulations, Jennifer!

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Salerno /SOEST.

Todd Bianco awarded VGP section Outstanding Student Paper award at the AGU Fall Meeting, 2006

Todd Bianco, a graduate student in the Geology and Geophysics Department, was awarded a Outstanding Student Paper award in the VGP section at the 2006 Fall AGU Meeting. Congratulations, Todd!

Photo courtesy of Todd Bianco/SOEST.

Tom Fedenczuk awarded MARGINS Student Prize at AGU Fall Meeting, 2006

Tom Fedenczuk, a graduate student in the Geology and Geophysics Department, was awarded a MARGINS Student Prize Honorable Mention for his presentation at the 2006 Fall AGU Meeting.Congratulations, Tom!

Photo courtesy of MARGINS.

Axel Timmermann wins Rosenstiel Award in Oceanographic Science for his work in paleoclimatology

Axel Timmermann, associate professor of oceanography and research team leader at the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC), was honored as the 33rd recipient of the prestigious Rosenstiel Award in Oceanographic Science for his outstanding achievement and growing impact on ocean science. The award is awarded annually to a scientist who has made significant contributions to marine science in one of six broad areas: meteorology and physical oceanography; marine geology and geophysics; marine and atmospheric chemistry; marine biology and fisheries; applied marine physics, and marine affairs and policy. He is trying to figure out what caused abrupt climate changes in the last ice age. Congratulations, Axel!

Read more about it in the Honolulu Star Bulletin and the IPRC press release PDF. The Rosenstiel School at the University of Miami also has a release about his award. Photo courtesy of Honolulu Star Bulletin.

Margo Edwards receives the U.S. Coast Guard Distinguished Public Service Award

Dr. Margo H. Edwards, Senior Research Scientist and Director of the Hawaii Mapping Research Group, was honored at a ceremony on January 10th, 2007 during the Arctic Icebreaker Coordination Committee meeting in Seattle, Washington. This award, the highest civilian public service medal bestowed by the Coast Guard, was presented in recognition of Dr. Edwards’s outstanding support of the Coast Guard and the scientific community. She served as a member of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) Arctic Icebreaker Coordination Committee (AICC) from September 2001 to December 2003 and as Chair of the AICC from January 2004 to January 2007. Congratulations, Margo!

Read more about it in the full press release, which includes more pictures. Photos courtesy of HMRG/SOEST.

Aran Mooney wins award for best student presentation at joint US/Japan acoustics meeting

Aran Mooney, a graduate student of the Marine Mammal Research Program at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB), won the award for the best student presentation at the recent joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of Japan and the Acoustical Society of America for his work on temporary threshold shifts in bottlenosed dolphins and the development of an algorithm to predict shifts depending on time and intensity of sound introduced into the water. His work will be particularly important for determining limits and regulations for the introduction of anthropogenic noise like that produced by sonars and shipping. Congratulations, Aran!

Return to SOEST News | Go to News Archives for: 2007 • 2006 • 2005 • 2004 • 2003 • 2002

See also: SOEST Bulletin • Awards and Honors 2006 Archive • Press Releases

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