Congratulations to the SEASPACE 2007 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

Maya Yamato is a senior at Princeton University and is majoring in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Her research is focused on noise pollution threatening baleen whales that include the highly endangered blue whale and North American right whale. For the past two summers she has been studying baleen whale hearing ranges at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution through biomechanical and structural modeling using CT scanning, classical dissection and histology. So far she has successfully created 2D and 3D models of baleen whale cochleae and arrived at preliminary calculations of the minke and blue whale hearing ranges. Maya hopes that her research will help provide a scientific basis for future policy decisions on human-produced noise pollution in the ocean.

Janelle Young is a senior at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Her major is zoology and her areas of study include the adaptations of deep sea organisms to the conditions of the deep sea and the ecology of sharks, specifically the goblin shark, a seldom seen deep water animal. She is interested in increasing our knowledge of the population levels, migration patterns and diets of these relatively unstudied animals of the mid- to deep-ocean environment.

Graduates

Amanda Thronson is seeking a Master’s degree in Biology at Texas A&M University in College Station. She is studying the effect of pollutants and low dissolved oxygen concentrations in the Galveston bay system. She intends to determine if the non-lethal levels of dioxin in the Ship Channel combined with low levels of dissolved oxygen cause a detrimental effect on the population of red drum causing fish kills.

Jennifer Salerno is conducting doctoral research at the University of Hawaii and majoring in zoology. Her research involves use of molecular methods to investigate the diversity and abundance of bacteria associated with healthy and diseased corals across an area of disturbance in the Pacific Ocean that includes the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The goal of her research is to enable resource managers to better predict a coral reef’s susceptibility to disease.

Pearce Creasman is pursuing a PhD in Nautical Archeology at Texas A&M University in College Station. His dissertation is a comprehensive approach to the study of ship timbers in an attempt to uncover better information about the people who built the ancient wooden ships - their communication networks, trade patterns, technology, etc. His research employs four case studies in the following periods: ancient Egypt during the Middle Kingdom; Athens during the Classical period; the Iberian Peninsula during the Age of Discoveries; and the New World pre-American Revolution.

Laura Carney is a doctoral student majoring in Marine Ecology at San Diego State University. The aim of her research is to better understand the ability of giant kelp to recover from mass-mortality caused by El Nino. Laura’s research investigates the role that microscopic, long-lived juvenile stages of kelp play in the recovery process. A better understanding of the recovery process will allow more efficient management of this important resource affecting marine fishes, invertebrates and mammals. Her studies will be performed in the Point Loma giant kelp forest off San Diego.

Ben Ford is majoring in anthropology at Texas A&M University in College Station. His research work supports the Lake Ontario Maritime Cultural Landscape Project. The project team is recording the archeological evidence of human occupation on and around Lake Ontario for the past 5000 years to assess the effect of the environment on the placement and nature of sites on the lake’s margins, and to assess the impacts of human occupation on the shore environment.

Rolando Santos is a graduate student majoring in environmental science and geography and seeking his Master's degree at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The purpose of his research is to create a methodology for designing marine protected areas that can be cost effective for the developing countries in the Caribbean Region. His case-study will be conducted in Guayanilla Bay and Tallaboa Bay on the southern coast of Puerto Rico, an area with sensitive marine ecosystems that was highly industrialized in the past. Findings of his research have potential for improving the coastal management of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean Region.

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