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."

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."
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 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 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 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 32^nd Scientific Meeting in Curaçao.

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 31^st Scientific Meeting in Trinidad.