June 11, 2020
ANN ARBOR, MI — The International Association for Great Lakes Research (IAGLR) recognized top student scientists for their contributions to IAGLR and Great Lakes science. The following awards were announced Wednesday at the association’s 63rd annual Conference on Great Lakes Research, held online for the first time in the association’s history.
IAGLR Scholarships
The 2020 winner is Rene S. Shahmohamadloo (University of Guelph) for research on “Microcystins in the Great Lakes: Mechanisms of toxicity and risks from consumption of fish.” The IAGLR Scholarship is awarded annually to promising Ph.D. students whose dissertation research is likely to make a significant contribution to the understanding of large lakes.
The recipient of this year’s award is Polly Peterson (University of Toledo) for research on “Bayesian modeling applications for addressing algal bloom issues in Lake Erie.” The scholarship is awarded for the pursuit of graduate research in applied mathematics for the advancement of a quantitative understanding and management of the Great Lakes ecosystem. The scholarship honors the memory of David M. Dolan, whose work in applied mathematics, statistics and computer modeling served to provide a quantitative basis for phosphorus management on the Great Lakes.
Norman S. Baldwin Scholarship
The 2020 winners are Taylor Brown (Cornell University) for research on “Contemporary Spatial Extent and Ecological Drivers of Larval Coregonine Distributions across Lake Ontario” and Jordan Holtswarth (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) for research on “An integrative taxonomic and ecological assessment of banded killifish across the Great Lakes Basin.” The Norman S. Baldwin Fishery Science Scholarship is awarded annually to a deserving graduate student conducting research pertaining to Great Lakes fisheries. The scholarship is sponsored by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, IAGLR's oldest sustaining member, and honors the first executive secretary of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.
JGLR/Elsevier Student Author Award
This year’s recipient is Matthew Futia (University of Vermont) for the article “Evaluation of adult and offspring thiamine deficiency in salmonine species from Lake Ontario,” Journal of Great Lakes Research 45(4), 811-820. This award recognizes a student scientist who is first author on a top-ranked article in the journal. Co-authored with Jacques Rinchard.
IAGLR Paper & Poster Awards
These awards recognize the best student papers and posters presented at the previous year’s conference. The following winners presented at IAGLR’s 2019 conference in Brockport, New York.
Winner of the 2019 IAGLR IAGLR Best Student Paper Award is Leon Katona (Wright State University) for his presentation “Variability in sediment and mussel-associated algal biomass along a depth gradient in Lake Ontario.”
Winner of the 2019 IAGLR Best Student Poster Award is Josie Mielhausen (University of Guelph) for the poster “Fish ‘passability’ in modified vortex rock weir systems.”
