Congratulations 2011 CERF Scientific Award Recipients!

The Federation is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2011 CERF scientific awards. Please plan to attend the CERF 2011 conference plenary on Sunday afternoon, 
6 November, to congratulate them in person.

Odum Award for Lifetime Achievement
Hans W. Paerl
Distinguished Professor, Institute of Marine Sciences
UNC-Chapel Hill, Morehead City, North Carolina USA

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William A. Niering Award for Outstanding Educator
Linda Walters
Professor of Biology and Director of Fellers House Field Station
University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida USA

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Cronin Award for Early Career Achievement
Isaac R. Santos
Senior Lecturer, Center for Coastal Biogeochemistry
Southern Cross University, Lismore, Australia

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Donald W. Pritchard Award for Estuaries and Coasts Geophysics Paper
“Thermal variability in a tidal river”
by Stephen G. Monismith, James L. Hench, Derek A. Fong, Nicholas J. Nidzieko, William E. Fleenor, Laura P. Doyle & S. Geoffrey Schladow

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Odum Award for Lifetime Achievement - Hans W. Paerl

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 E. Odum, III. This award recognizes the lifetime achievements of an outstanding estuarine scientist whose sustained accomplishments have made important contributions to our understanding of estuaries and coastal ecosystems.

Dr. Hans W. Paerl is the 2011 winner of the Odum Lifetime Achievement Award for his four decades of work to clarify the causes, consequences, and mitigation of blooms in estuarine and coastal environments. Dr. Pearl is the William R. Kenan Distinguished Professor of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He obtained a Ph.D in 1973 in Ecology/Limnology, working under Professor C.R. Goldman , one of the pioneers of limnology. Dr. Paerl is a world-class leader in the ecology and physiology of harmful algal bloom species, and this information is being used by management agencies worldwide. He is a creator of FerryMon, a ferry-based water quality monitoring system, and recently his research has focused on global change. Hans has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers, with an impressive H factor of 53, and his papers have been cited over 9000 times in the literature. He has advised over 40 graduate students, 16 post-docs, 25 undergraduates, and 27 technicians. Those who have trained with Dr. Paerl have gone on to make significant contributions of their own. He has served on numerous committees, organizations, and expert panels; been on editorial boards of 6 journals; and has given a large number of keynote presentations at national and international venues. Most importantly Dr. Paerl is a long-time member and supporter of CERF and he exemplifies the enthusiasm and collegiality necessary to be an ambassador of the CERF community to the world of coastal and estuarine science and management.

William A. Niering Award for Outstanding Educator - Linda Walters

To recognize the central role that education plays in achieving the objectives of our society, the Federation's Governing Board established an award named for a leader in estuarine education, Dr. William A. Niering. The award is for an individual who has played a particularly important role in education at any level -- from primary school to the graduate level, inside or out of the classroom, or in the education of the general public through outreach activities.

Dr. Walters is a Professor of Biology at the University of Central Florida and the Director of the Fellers House Field Station at the Canaveral National Seashore. She received a PhD in Biology from the University of South Carolina (USC) in 1991, a MS in Biology from USC in 1986, and a BS in Biology from Bates College in 1983. Dr. Walters has been a member of the UCF faculty since 1997, and has come up the ranks from Assistant to Full Professor during her tenure. She is the first female to have accomplished this in the Department of Biology at UCF. At UCF, she has contributed her expertise in biology and ecology to undergraduate course offerings, her dedication to service, and her innovative educational approaches. She has twice been honored with a competitive Incentive Teaching award and with an Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching award from the UCF College of Sciences.
Although she carries a substantial teaching load, this has not stopped her from maintaining an active research program focused on oyster reef restoration in Mosquito Lagoon, FL, and ecosystem restoration at the Canaveral National Seashore. She uses these activities to make new discoveries, but also as a means to engage the public. Through her research she has mentored, engaged and energized scores of students from 5th graders to graduate students. Her outreach activities include organizing an Oyster Appreciation Day at the Brevard Zoo, a Girl Scout Women in Science Day, and various oyster focused programs at the Orlando Science Center. In addition, she is a model for volunteerism within the CERF community by taking on the role of Poster Chair for CERF 2011.
Dr. Walters’ students and colleagues hold dear her infectious enthusiasm for science and learning. She is regarded as a dynamic force for quality, substance and creativity in her field, and a tireless advocate for meaningful and innovative educational experiences. Her focus on education throughout her career and her desire to continue to learn, through life, and through science, makes her an important resource for the coastal and estuarine community at large, because she uses her skills to teach students, and to teach other scientists and educators how to better reach students and the public. Such dedication to the science and art of education truly embodies the spirit of the William A. Niering educator award and makes Dr. Walters a leader in estuarine education. 


Cronin Award for Early Career Achievement - Isaac R. Santos

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.

The Cronin Award recipient for 2011 is Isaac R. Santos, a senior lecturer at the Centre for Coastal Biogeochemistry, Southern Cross University, Lismore, Australia. Isaac completed his PhD in December 2008 at Florida State University under Prof. William Burnett's supervision before moving to Australia early in 2009 to take a postdoctoral position with Prof. Bradley Eyre at Southern Cross University. Isaac has 35 peer-reviewed publications (21 first-authored), many of which are in top journals. His H-index of 11 for someone less than 3 year post-PhD demonstrates the high impact of Isaac's research and his potential to be a leader in coastal and estuarine research.
Isaac's versatile research uses novel approaches to bridge different disciplines and gain insights into how coastal systems function. His PhD work provided new insights into the drivers and implications of submarine groundwater discharge into the coastal ocean. His more recent work has linked the hydrology and biogeochemistry of coral reefs and he is currently investigating how porewater flows may enhance carbonate sediment dissolution. Isaac is a well-deserved recipient of this year's Cronin Award.

Donald W. Pritchard Award for Estuaries and Coasts Geophysics Paper
“Thermal variability in a tidal river”

by Stephen G. Monismith, James L. Hench, Derek A. Fong, Nicholas J. Nidzieko, William E. Fleenor, Laura P. Doyle & S. Geoffrey Schladow

This award was established to honor Dr. Donald W. Pritchard, whose insightful research on the physical dynamics of coastal systems set the stage for much of the research in physical oceanography that is being conducted today. The Pritchard Award recognizes the author(s) of the best physical oceanography paper published in Estuaries and Coasts within the two-year interval between CERF conferences.

The paper “Thermal variability in a tidal river” by S.G. Monismith, J.L. Hench, D.A. Fong, N.J. Nidzieko, W.E. Fleenor, L.P. Doyle, and S.G. Schladow (2009, Estuaries & Coasts 32:100-110) presents a case study of a critical, though understudied, estuarine variable: water temperature. In their novel analysis, the authors began with an extensive observational program of longitudinal temperature variations in the tidal San Joaquin River, a large, complex, branched-channel environment. They paired their measurements with a rigorous analysis of heat sources, losses, and transport, backing out remarkably large estimates for the longitudinal dispersion coefficient. This intense dispersion, which is significantly more rapid than would be expected based on classical estimates of shear flow dispersion, was attributed to the presence of numerous junctions of the main river stem with side channel branches. Tidal dispersive heat fluxes were shown to be comparable to surface heat exchanges. This rapid dispersion represents a mechanism relevant to the transport of biota, contaminants, and other variables, and provides an order of magnitude estimate of tidal dispersion that might be expected for other similarly complex environments.
With their observations in hand, the authors then derived a simple, general analytical model describing sub-tidal, along-channel variations in temperature as a function of river flow, dispersion coefficient, channel dimensions, and atmospheric heat flux, explaining how and why the shape of the longitudinal temperature profile changes with those factors. They completed their analysis by comparing their new, general theory to their observations, demonstrating that the theory works well when assumptions are roughly met.
Understanding of water temperature variability in tidal ecosystems is critically relevant to unraveling and predicting the dynamics in pelagic and benthic populations, and is expected to become increasingly relevant with climate change. This paper provides mechanistic insight and a general tool for describing, explaining, and predicting that variability.