The 2009 Bert and Lucy Williams Student Achievement Award for the best student verbal presentation was won by

Demian A. Willette, Institute for Tropical Marine Ecology Inc., P.O. Box 944, Roseau, Commonwealth of Dominica: "The effects of the invasive seagrass Halophile stipulacea on the native seagreass Syringodium filiforme and on near-shore fish resources in Dominica."

The 2009 Ivan Goodbody Student Achievement Award for the best student poster presentation was shared between ...

1. Claudia Patricia Ruiz Diaz, Department of Mathematics, University of Puerto Rico, Box 23355, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931 USA: "The simulation of the interaction between a sea fan colony, its immune system, and a potential pathogen."
and
2. Pascal Mege Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico - Rio Piedras, JGD Building, Rm. 216, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931 USA: "Icrosatellite and mitochondrial markers show low genetic structure in the elkhorn coral of Puerto Rico."

2007 was a good year for student presentations at the 50^th Anniversary - 33^rd Scientific Conference held at the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, USVI, June 4-8, 2007.  For both awards, two students shared the honors, as judges could not decide between their high quality efforts.

The 2007 Bert and Lucy Williams Student Achievement Award for the best student verbal presentation was shared between ...

1. Karen Neely, 135 Duke Marine Lab. Road, Beaufort, NC 28516 USA: “Patterns of fish colonization on artificial reefs varying in live coral cover.”
and
2. Jamie L. Myers, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199 USA: “Culture, identification, DGGE analysis, and physiology of cyanobacteria associated with Black Band Disease of corals.”

The 2007 Ivan Goodbody Student Achievement Award for best student poster presentation was shared between ...

1. Alex E. Mercado Molina, Dept. of Marine Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, P.O. Box 908, Lajas, PR 00667 USA: “ Relationship between water motion and size-specific survivorships of the demosponge Amphimedon compressa.”
and
2. Eddie Parish, Dept. of Science and Mathematics, University of the Virgin Islands, #2 John Brewer’s Bay, St. Thomas, USVI 00802: “Macroalgal substrate affects movement of the long spined sea urchin Diadema antillarum.”

2007 was a GREAT year!

The 2005 Bert and Lucy Williams Student Achievement Award for the best student verbal presentation was won by Ron Eytan from Louisiana State University for his presentation of "The Ecological Consequences of Phylogeographic Breaks in Coral Reef Fishes (Chaenopsidae: Acanthemblemaria)."

The 2005 Ivan Goodbody Student Achievement Award for the best student poster presentation was won by Lyndsey Holland from the Bermuda Biological Station for her poster entitled "Diversity and Specificity of Alcyonacean – Algal Symbioses in Bermuda and the Caribbean based on Sequence Data."

Although these two students were selected for their awards, the judging panel decisions were made very difficult by the many excellent competing student presentations. Efforts of all student participants were well received and are greatly appreciated, and all contributed to the success of AMLC's 32^nd Scientific Meeting in Curaçao.

The 2003 Bert and Lucy Williams Student Achievement Award was won by Jill Borger from the University of Miami RSMAS for her presentation of "The Ultrastructural Pathology of Black Band Disease and White Plague Type II."

The 2003 Ivan Goodbody Student Achievement Award was shared by two poster presentations, which were both so good that our judges could not reach a consensus winner between them! The winners were:

Ainhoa Zubillaga, Carolina Bastidas, and Aldo Cróquer of the Universidad Simón Bolívar for their presentation titled "Estandardización de un Protocolo para la Estimación del Estatus Poblacional de Acropora palmata".

Kathleen Hurley, a U.S. Fulbright Scholar working in the Dominican Republic, for her presentation, "Coral (Scleractinia) disease and bleaching in the Dominican Republic".

Each of these excellent presenters received an award certificate. We hope they are all framed prominently in the awardees’ work places. Each one worked hard to win them by contributing significantly to the success of the AMLC 31^st Scientific Meeting in Trinidad.