Congratulations to the SEASPACE 2006 Scholarship Winners!

These students have demonstrated excellence in their academic records and need for financial assistance. This year nine university students were chosen to share proceeds this year generated by the hard work of our SEASPACE staff and volunteers. The scholarship committee members were Jesse Cancelmo (chairman), Dwight Coles, Claudia Ludwig, Carolyn Peterson, Robyn Rhea, Jean Truax, Jim Ward, and Dick Zingula.

Undergraduates

Abigail Bradley attends the University of Delaware and is a student in Biological Sciences. Specifically, she studies the horseshoe crab which is important in assessing the purity of medications and vaccines. She was instrumental in getting the horseshoe crab recognized as Delaware’s official State Marine Animal in 2002. She plans to pursue a PhD in Marine Biology.

Lauren Cooney is a student in Mechanical/Ocean Engineering at Massachusetts Insitute of Technonlogy. At present she is designing the joystick control system for the Flapping Foil Vehicle (ROV) and has worked on the redesign of the power/on-board computer housing for this vehicle. Lauren would like to enter graduate school at M.I.T. Her dream career involves designing innovative underwater vehicles that will explore the depths of the oceans. She was a 2005 SEASPACE award recipient.

Claudia Friess studies Marine Resource Management at Texas A&M University in Galveston. Her research interests are in conservation, life history, distribution, and movement patterns of marine fishes, especially large pelagic predators. She would like to earn a PhD in ecology and conservation and then work in academia.

Graduates

Melissa Baustian is a doctoral student in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences at Lousiana State University. She is conducting research on the low oxygen area known as the "Dead Zone" off the central coast of Louisana. Areas of low oxygen are occurring globally so her research is not just important on a local level. Melissa would like to become a marine science research and teaching professional.

Alexis Catsambis is pursuing a PhD in Nautical Archaeology from Texas A&M in College Station. His research involves the study of artifacts from the Sheytan Deresi shipwreck off the coast of Turkey excavated by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology. Early indications are that this wreck may belong to the Bronze Age making it the oldest wreck excavated by the I.N.A. After graduation he would like to return to Greece to form the country’s first university program in underwater archaeology patterned after the Texas A&M Nautical Archaeology program.

Jennifer Culbertson, a PhD candidate in Biology, attends Boston University. Over the past three years she has been studying the effect of the 1969 Wild Harbor oil spill on the salt marsh ecosystem in Falmouth, MA. After 37 years oil remains in the marsh sediments. She hopes to determine the chronic effects of prolonged oil exposure on taxa living within the marsh. Post graduation, Jennifer would like a career helping to form public policy concerning contaminants in the coastal ecosystems.

Alexander Fedotov is a Master's student at Stephen F. Austin State University. He is majoring in Biotechnology, specifically bioremediation. His current research involves studies of several oil spill sites on the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico. By using molecular biology techniques Alexander hopes to identify new strains of indigenous microorganisms capable of effective oil degradation. He intends to enter Boston University's PhD Marine program after receiving his Master's.

Michele LaVigne is a doctoral candidate in Oceanography at Rutgers University. Her research focuses on the potential for trace metals which are incorporated into annually banded coral skeletons. This reveals a paleoceanographic record of dust influx into a region of the ocean. Information generated by this study could be used in the investigation of global-scale processes related to wind-driven continental weathering. Michele plans to pursue a career in research and teaching.

Nadine Lysiak studies Marine Biology at Boston University in its PhD program. She is researching the migratory, feeding, and mating behaviors of the North Atlantic right whale. Her study exploits the natural isotope patterns in the food in the whale’s habitats, using them as natural tags to indirectly detect their migration patterns. Nadine plans to become an educator working as a college professor or at an aquarium/zoo focusing on community environmental education.

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