Dear Friend of Estuaries and Coasts:

We urge you to nominate one of your colleagues for an Estuarine Research Federation award. Four awards will be presented at the ERF 2007 conference in Providence, Rhode Island: the Cronin, the Odum, the William A. Niering and the Donald W. Pritchard awards.

Format of nominations package: Varies slightly by award.

Where to send nominations: Each award has a committee chair, to whom the nominations should be sent. Please see the information below.

The Odum Award - Lifetime Achievement

The Odum Award is named for the three outstanding ecological scientists in the Odum family: Dr. Howard T. Odum, Dr Eugene P. Odum and Dr. William H. Odum III. This award recognizes the lifetime achievements of an outstanding estuarine scientist. It honors an individual whose sustained accomplishments have made important contributions to our understanding of estuaries and coastal ecosystems. Donald Pritchard, John Teal, Larry Pomeroy, Scott Nixon and John Hobbie are the former recipients of the Odum Award.

Nomination Procedure

Send a letter that describes the major highlights of the nominee's qualifications and experiences and a full CV. The letter should not exceed 5 pages. Supporting letters from students (former and/current), colleagues (institutional and/or disciplinary), supervisors (chairs, deans, VPs, presidents) and/or community leaders/members may be included but are not required.

Send nominations to Walter Boynton at boynton@cbl.umces.edu

The Cronin Award - Early Achievement

The Cronin Award is named for Dr. L. Eugene Cronin, Sr., the first president of ERF and a significant contributor to estuarine science and our organization. This award recognizes the significant accomplishments of an estuarine scientist who is in the early stages of his/her career development. The recipient will have shown great promise with work carried out during the first six years past the PhD. Past recipients of the Cronin award are Samantha Joye, Bradley Eyre, Jaye Cable, Lisa Lucas and Peter Raymond.

Nomination Procedure

The information required is the same as for the Odum award but 1-2 additional supporting letters are encouraged.

Send the Cronin award nominations to Iris Anderson at iris@vims.edu.

The William A. Niering Outstanding Educator Award

To recognize the central role that education plays in achieving the objectives of our society, the Federation's Governing Board established a new award named for a leader in estuarine education, Dr. William A. Niering. The criteria for this award include individuals who have played significant roles in education at any level ---from primary school to the graduate level, inside or out of the classroom, or education of the general public through outreach activities. Recipients of this award are Joy Zedler, John Day, Jr. and Ivan Valiela.

Nomination Procedure

Nominations must include a supporting letter from the nominator summarizing the nominee's strengths and noteworthy accomplishments as they relate to the educator award, plus letters from at least two of the nominee's professional colleagues and from four former or current students. The nominator must submit these materials together as an electronic submission.

Send the Niering nominations to Randy Chambers at rmcham@wm.edu.

Donald W. Pritchard Award

The Pritchard Award recognizes the author or authors of a paper judged to make the most meritous contribution to the field of estuarine physics that is published in the Federation's journal, Estuaries, in the 24-month period ending December of the year preceding the award. Created in 2001, it was presented for the first time at the ERF 2003 Seattle conference to Rocky Geyer, Jonathan Woodruff and Peter Traykovski. Parker MacCready received the award at ERF 2005.

Nomination Procedure

None needed. The committee considers all papers published in the last 2 years.

Thank you for helping the Federation reward excellence among our colleagues!!!