The Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean
2019 Awardees

The Bert and Lucy Williams Student Achievement Award winners for the best student verbal presentations are ...

First Place
Holly Trew, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados: "Abundance, distribution and growth of the excavating sponge Cliona delitrix on Barbado’s south and west coasts."

Second Place
Jeniece Germain, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados: "Spatio-temporal patterns of microhabitat use by the cleaner gobies Elacatinus evelynae and E. prochilos in Barbados."

Third Place
Erin M. Dillon, University of California, Santa Barbara: "Shifts in shark assemblages over the last 7000 years in Bocas del Toro, Panama."

The Ivan Goodbody Student Achievement Award winners for the best student poster presentations are ...

First Place
Hannah Rempel, California Polytechnic State University: "Recovery of threatened Orbicella annularis corals from parrotfish predation within and outside of a Caribbean marine reserve."

Second Place
Daniela Sánchez, Universidad Simon Bolivar: "Status of lionfish (Pterois volitans) along the Venezuelan coast: 10 years after the first report of invasion."

2017 Awardees

The Bert and Lucy Williams Student Achievement Award winners for the best student verbal presentations are ...

First Place
Madeleine Emms, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology & CIEE Research Station Bonaire: "Broad-scale population genetics of the host sea anemone, Heteractis magnifica."

Second Place
Megan E. Bock, Nova Southeastern University, Forida, USA: "Exploring disease dynamics in the staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis: genotypic response to pathogen transmission techniques."

Third Place
Morgan V. Hightshoe, NOVA Southeast University, Florida, USA: "Disease resistance in the threatened staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis."

The Ivan Goodbody Student Achievement Award winners for the best student poster presentations are ...

First Place
Birla S. Perez-Pagan, University of Puerto Rico: "Evaluation of artificial corals as an alternative to promote the recruitment of coral reef fish."

Second Place
Israel Muniz-Castillo, CINVESTAV Unidad Mérida, México: "Coral bleaching event in the Mesoamerican reef region and its relation to stressors monitored by remote sensing."

2015 Awardees

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

Andrew Shantz, Florida International University: "Fish-derived nutrient hotspots shape coral reef benthic communities."

The Ivan Goodbody Student Achievement Award for the best student poster presentation was won by

Cory Fuchs, Florida International University: "Sediment removal increases turf algae grazing and alters algal community composition on coral reefs."

2013 Awardees

The Bert and Lucy Williams Student Achievement Award winners for the best student verbal presentations are ...

First Place
Abigail Brownell, Florida International University, Florida, USA: "Sulfate reducing bacteria as secondary and necessary pathogens in black band disease of coral."

Second Place
Ana Herrera, Central University of Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela: " Population connectivity in Abudefduf saxatilis (Pomacentridae) using otolith natal elements as natural fingerprints in some Venezuelan coral reefs, South Caribbean."

Third Place
Nicole D’Antonio, NOVA Southeast University, Florida, USA: "Phenotypic plasticity in Acropora cervicornis on two southeast Florida near-shore substrate types."

The Ivan Goodbody Student Achievement Award winners for the best student poster presentations are ...

First Place
Luis Ascencio-Aguirre, CINVESTAV, México: "Variación del ciclo gonádico del ostión americano, Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin, 1791) en función de la talla en la Laguna de Tamiahua, Veracruz, México."

Second Place
Kayelyn Simmons, NOVA Southeast University, Florida, USA: "Endoparasite fauna of the invasive lionfish complex (Pterois volitans and Pterois miles) in the Western Atlantic and Caribbean."

2011 Awardees

The Bert and Lucy Williams Student Achievement Award winners for the best student verbal presentations are ...

First Place
Aaron Miller, Biology Department, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th St., Miami, Florida 33166 USA: "Mat formation by cyanobacteria in black band disease of corals."

Second Place
Chatchanit Arif, Red Sea Research Center (RSRC) Chemical Life Sciences and Engineering Division Room 2226, Building 2 4700 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Thuwal 23955-6900 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: "Bacterial profiling of white plague disease in a comparative coral species".

Third Place
Natalia Barrantes Rojas, Apdo 2985-1000, San José, Costa Rica: "Environmental interpretation for reef management on Quiribrí island national monument, Caribbean of Costa Rica."

The Ivan Goodbody Student Achievement Award winners for the best student poster presentations are ...

First Place
Shruti Arora, Post Box 371 University of the Virgin Islands #2 John Brewers Bay St. Thomas, USVI 00802: "Diversity of bacteria associated with Montastraea spp. across sea water quality gradient in the United States Virgin Islands."

Second Place
Emily Broderick, Florida International University, 11200 S.W. 8th St., Miami, FL 33199 USA: "What is that pink crust? Making identification of crustose coralline algae more tractable."

2009 Awardees

The 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 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."
  2. and
  3. 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 Awardees

2007 was a good year for student presentations at the 50th Anniversary - 33rd 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 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.”
  2. and
  3. 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 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.”
  2. and
  3. 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!

2005 Awardees

The 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 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 32nd Scientific Meeting in Curaçao.

2003 Awardees

The 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 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 31st Scientific Meeting in Trinidad.

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