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WFSC Faculty, Staff, and Student Awards

2018-19 WFSC Departmental Awards

Rubio Award – Faegen Lee
Technical Staff – Eduardo Cunha
Extension Staff – Mary Pearl
Undergraduate Teaching – Thomas Lacher
Graduate Teaching – Perry Barboza
Ph.D. Student – Adrian Castellanos
M.S. Student – Alexis Earl
Freshman – Joseph Richards
Sophomore – Grace Vielleux
Junior – Rebecca Castro
Senior – Bonner Watson

2019-20 WFSC Foundation Scholarships

Caesar Kleberg – Kailey Berger, Haley Ellis, Thesiana Graham, Jordan Guthrie, Scott Heller, Sierra Salinas, Haley Sloan, Lauren Yancy
Cliff Spencer – Allison Pullin
COADC – Shelby Crosby
Daniel Lay – Logan Cornforth, Gage Grantham, Leslie Hollie
Donnie Harmel – Andrea Miranda-Paez, Amanda Stuart, Grace Vielleux, Lauren Yancy
Fred Palmer – Jordan Rogan
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo – Thomas Edwards, Johnathan Ellard, Carson Jenkins, Grant Maresh, Seth Massery, Madison O’Malley, Madison Scroggins, Brandon Ware, Brandon Williams
Jack Crawford – Richard Hoover
Lester Miyajima – Aliyah Watts, Mark Wilder
Nova Silvy – Katrina Keith, Allison Kohler, Amanda Pinion
Richard Baldauf – Jessica Gilbert
Rick Beck – Mark Wilder, Joshua Wright
W.B. Davis – Sarah Ardry, Kelly Bacile, Mitchell Ballis, Savannah Benavides, Lauren Berman, Christina Borquez, Taylor Burson, Charlayna Cammarata, Rebecca Castro, Rachael Connally, Logan Cornforth, Shelby Crosby, Emma Dohnalik, Monica Dooley, Bridgett Downs, Haley Ellis, Michaela Fernandez, Jessica Gilbert, Gage Grantham, Alexandra Hinshaw, Leslie Hollie, Kaylee Hollingsworth, Keegan Hottinger, Ashley Hubbard, Brynn Johnson, Katrina Keith, Delaine Kelley, Allison Kohler, Kole Kubicek, Anna Lad, Lacie LaMonica, Logan Lancaster, Renee LeGros, Jeffrey Martin, Hannah McKenzie, Madison Messina, Andrea Miranda-Paez, Mary Murphy, Mariel Ortega, Hunter Parker, Sohmer Peterson, Camryn Prosen, Bethany Reyes, Joseph Richards, Tomas Rodriguez, Jordan Rogan, Jesus Roman, Layne Scroggs, Kaitlyn Skinner, Haley Sloan, Kyle Smith, Shannon Spragg, Wyatt Stinebaugh, Arianna Tijerina, Aubree Tostado, Madison Trammell, Karleigh Vestal, Grace Vielleux, Corrin Winter
Will Roach – Charlayna Cammarata, Bridgett Downs, Jessica Gilbert, Kaylee Hollingsworth, Adriana Mendez-Jimenez,
Jordan Rogan, Friedrich Keppeler, Kole Kubicek, Yasmin Quintana Morales, Addison Regennitter
William Spalsbury – Rebecca Castro, Madison Messina
William Welder – Scott Heller, Mariel Ortega, Justin Bosse, Beatriz Gil, Crystal Tam
William Wright – Emma Dohnalik, Joseph Richards, Layne Scroggs, Haley Sloan
Jerry Johnston Endowed – Corey Fielder

Undergraduate Awards

Caylie Harris – 2nd Place in Undergraduate Poster competition in the Agriculture and Life Sciences Category at the 2019 Student Research Week
Ayden Reyes – Selected to participate in National Hispanic Environment Council in Glorieta, NM

Graduate Awards

Fernando Yamamoto – 1st Place 2019 Spotlight and USAS Student Travel Award, 2019 Tom Slick Fellowship
Clement de Cruz – 2019 Pentair and USAS Student Travel Award
Stephanie George – 2019 Outstanding Fisheries Student Worker of the Year Award from American Fisheries Society
Erin Nguyen – 2019 Best Student Poster Presentation from American Fisheries Society
Leila Siciliano-Martina – 1st Place Oral Presentation in Graduate Sciences Category for 2019 Student Research Week
Erin Buchholtz – Excellence in Research Special Award at the 2019 Student Research Week, WFSC Travel Award, Conservation Scholar Friends of Sunset Zoo, Student Travel Award from Applied Ecology Section of Ecological Society of America, Professional Enhancement Award from NASA and Michigan State University
Nikki Roach – ABS Collaborative Multidisciplinary Research Award
Faith Hardin – 2018 East Foundation 3MT Director’s Award from the East Foundation
David Saenz – WFSC Graduate Student Travel Award, Graduate and Professional Student Council Travel Award, Neural Systems and Behavior Course Scholarship, 2019 Tom Slick Fellowship
Kristina Chyn – OGAPS Dissertation Fellowship
Jordan Rogan – Fulbright U.S. Student Program Award, Murray Case Sells Scholarship
Kaylee Hollingsworth – Boone and Crockett Fellow, Welder Wildlife Foundation Fellowship
Mickey Parker – ABS Travel Award, ABS Collaborative Multidisciplinary Research Award
Melissa Meierhofer – Fulbright Award to Finland, 2019 Tom Slick Fellowship
Lark Heston – College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Excellence Fellowship

Faculty Awards

Kirk Winemiller – Elected President of the Texas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, 2019 University Distinguished Professor, American Fisheries Society Award of Excellence, Texas AgriLife Research Senior Faculty Fellow
Roel Lopez – Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society Outstanding Technical Paper Award with co-authors, Alison Lund, Addie Smith, Angelica Lopez; Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society Outstanding Book Award with co-authors Israel D. Parker and Michael L. Morrison
Jessica Light – Elected President of the Texas Society of Mammalogists
Miguel Mora – SETAC Fellow
Kevin Conway – Australian Museum/Research Institute Visiting Collections Fellowship

Grants

Global Engagement Grant – $80,000 for “The Costa Rican Core Semester” P.I. Donald Brightsmith, Mariana Mateos, Eugenio Gonzalez, Jane Flaherty, Jennifer Whitfield, Craig Coates, Hojun Song, Cory Arcak, and Ronald Vargas
Texas Parks and Wildlife Grant – Mike Morrison, Roel Lopez, Brian Pierce, Melissa Meierhofer
Rolex Explorers Club Grant – Jeff Martin
Phoenix Zoo Conservation – Erin Buchholtz
Mohamed Bin Zayed Conservation Fund – Erin Buchholtz

Staff Awards

Heather Prestridge – 2019 Presidential Meritorious Service Award

Dr. Kirk Winemiller Named 2019 University Distinguished Professor

Texas A&M University has awarded its highest faculty honor by bestowing Dr. Kirk Winemiller, Regents Professor in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, with the title of University Distinguished Professor. Dr. Winemiller will be formally inducted at a ceremony honoring all of the University’s Distinguished Professors on May 8, 2019.

Dr. Kirk Winemiller, Texas A&M AgriLife Research Scientist and Regents Professor.

The designation identifies faculty members who are preeminent in their fields and who have made at least one landmark contribution to their discipline. Their research and advancements are considered central to any narrative of the field. Past recipients of the lifetime title participate in the selection process, growing the ranks of Distinguished Professors by just a handful of scholars each year.

Dr. Winemiller has a distinguished record of contributions to ecology and fisheries science. In particular, his research on life history strategies and their relationships to population regulation, ecological dynamics, and fisheries management have significantly altered how the scientific community views population and community responses to environmental variations, and how this is influenced by species functional traits. These contributions have advanced both fundamental knowledge in ecology as well as approaches in fisheries management and biological conservation.

Dr. Winemiller has significantly advanced the field of food web ecology through empirical research demonstrating spatial and temporal variation in network properties as mediated by environmental factors and species functional traits. This work has been so fundamental to the field, that it has been featured in recent ecology textbooks.

Dr. Brad Pusey, Director of River Research Pty. Ltd., and Principal Research Fellow for the Northern Australia Environmental Resources Hub, University of Western Australia, said “the field of ecology is typically not one in which substantial intellectual leaps forward are made … that said, two of Kirk’s publications have indeed had a seminal transformative effect on our discipline … life history and … riverine food webs.”

Distinguished Professor James Brown, University of New Mexico, who is a National Academy Member, said Dr. Winemiller “is definitely in the top 2% of active researchers in his area of research: basic and applied ecology of fish” and his authored papers are “transformational” with “enormous influence.” Furthermore, Dr. Brown said Dr. Winemiller “is probably one of the two or three best, if not THE BEST, of the hundreds of scientists working on freshwater fish in the U.S. and around the world.”

Dr. Winemiller received a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1987 and joined the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences faculty at Texas A&M University and AgriLife Research in 1992. Dr. Winemiller has been recognized for his academic success and outstanding contributions in his field and to Texas A&M University and AgriLife Research with multiple awards and professional honors. In 2018 alone, he was elected Ecological Society of America Fellow, American Fisheries Society Fellow, Texas A&M AgriLife Research Senior Faculty Fellow, and received the American Fisheries Society Award of Excellence, the highest award for career research. He was awarded the Ecological Society of America Mercer Award for one of his early contributions in food web ecology, the U.S. Fulbright Fellowship twice, and has been recognized by Texas A&M University System with the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Graduate Teaching, Vice Chancellor’s Award for Undergraduate Teaching, Bush Excellence Award for International Teaching, President’s Award for Service to International Students, AgriLife Faculty Fellowship, and Regents Professorship.

Dr. Winemiller has an outstanding record of accomplishment and has achieved a level of seminal contribution that merits the title of University Distinguished Professor. Please join the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences in congratulating Dr. Kirk Winemiller on this highly prestigious award.

For more, visit http://dof.tamu.edu/Awards-and-Honors/University-Distinguished-Professor.

Texas A&M AgriLife’s Shippen, Winemiller named 2019 University Distinguished Professors

Media contact: Blair Fannin, 979-845-2259, b-fannin@tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M AgriLife’s Drs. Dorothy Shippen and Kirk Winemiller, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences faculty members at Texas A&M University, have been named 2019 University Distinguished Professors.

Dr. Dorothy Shippen, interim department head and professor in biochemistry and biophysics at Texas A&M University. (Texas A&M AgriLife)

Dr. Kirk Winemiller, Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientist and Regents Professor in the department of wildlife and fisheries sciences at Texas A&M University, College Station.

The distinguished university professor is the highest faculty honor and this year seven Texas A&M University scholars received the title. Shippen is an interim department head and professor in biochemistry and biophysics. Winemiller is a Regents Professor and Senior Faculty Fellow in the department of wildlife and fisheries sciences.

The designation identifies faculty members who are preeminent in their fields and who have made at least one landmark contribution to their discipline. Their research and advancements are considered central to any narrative of the field.

Past recipients of the lifetime title participate in the selection process, growing the ranks of distinguished professors by just a handful of scholars each year.

In addition to Shippen and Winemiller, the new University Distinguished Professors are:

  • Francois P. Gabbaï, Department of Chemistry, College of Science.
  • Roger E. Howe, Department of Teaching, Learning and Culture, College of Education and Human Development.
  • Valerie M. Hudson, Department of International Affairs, The Bush School of Government and Public Service..
  • Richard Miles, Department of Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering.
  • Jörg M. Steiner, Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.

For more, visit http://dof.tamu.edu/Awards-and-Honors/University-Distinguished-Professor .

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Heather Prestridge receives President’s Meritorious Service Award…

Heather Prestridge receives President’s Meritorious Service Award

Heather Prestridge is a one of the recipients of the 2019 President’s Meritorious Service Awards. The nomination period was held in January. From the nominations submitted, an anonymous committee, comprised of representatives from across campus, had the difficult task of selecting the award winners from an extraordinary group of nominees.

The President’s Meritorious Service Awards recognize and reward staff for their commendable service to our great university. Recipients of this highly prestigious award have demonstrated their commitment to the Aggie core values of excellence, integrity, leadership, loyalty, respect and selfless service.

Caylie Harris won second place in the Undergraduate Poster competition…

Ms. Caylie Harris won second place in the Undergraduate Poster competition in the Agriculture and Life Sciences Category at the 2019 Student Research Week! Caylie is being advised by Heather Prestridge at the Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collections and her poster was about federally endangered ocelot specimens newly accessioned into the mammal collection.

Caylie Harris won second place in the Undergraduate Poster competition

World Aquaculture Society 2019 Conference

WFSC at the World Aquaculture 2019

Some of the WFSC attendees at the World Aquaculture 2019 Conference

TAMU aquaculture students and faculty attended the World Aquaculture Society 2019 conference in New Orleans, March 7-11.  Graduate Students Fernando Yamamoto and Clement de Cruz were recognized at this year’s show. The conference is the largest aquaculture meeting in the world, with close to 4,000 in attendance. Fernando Yamamoto received the Best Abstract/Travel Award from the World Aquaculture Society and in addition earned a victory in the Student Spotlight Presentation Competition.  His presentation on “Growth and Physiological Effects of Replacing Fish Meal By Dry Extruded Seafood Waste Blended With Plant Protein Co-Products In Diets For Advanced Red Drum Sciaenops ocellatus Juveniles” was selected as best overall student presentation.  Clement de Cruz won the 2019 Pentair and USAS Student Travel Award.  Numerous other students from WFSC gave outstanding oral presentations and poster presentations on their current research.

Fernando Yamamoto and Clement de Cruz with their awards.

Fernando Yamamoto and Clement de Cruz with their awards.

East Foundation 3MT Director’s Award

The results are in.

 The East Foundation’s Board of Directors has made their selection for the winner of the 3MT Director’s Award.  A big congratulations to Faith Hardin (“Southern Texas Ecosystem Engineers: How the Golden-fronted Woodpecker can Improve Avian Species Richness”) for winning the 2018 East Foundation 3MT Director’s Award of $3,000.  Very…well…done!

 The voting was extremely close between the top 2 presentations, and the Directors also wish to acknowledge the runner-up, Jason Lombardi (“Change of Woody Cover Affects Ocelot Recovery in the Rio Grande Delta”), with an award of $1,000. 

 A big thanks to all the student presenters and faculty advisors who mentored students.  Overall, we believe this event was a huge success and we will be looking for ways to enhance it in the future.

 Again, congratulations to all the winners Faith Hardin (Director’s), Jason Lombardi (Director’s Runner-up), AnnMarie Blackburn (People’s Choice), and Abe Woodard (Proposal)!

(Originally posted by Tyler A. Campbell)

Winemiller honored by the American Fisheries Society

Winemiller honored by the American Fisheries Society

Posted: 31 Aug 2018 06:00 AM PDT

Media contact: Blair Fannin, 979-845-2259, b-fannin@tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION – Dr. Kirk Winemiller has received the American Fisheries Society Award of Excellence and was inducted as a Fellow at the society’s 2018 annual meeting in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Dr. Kirk Winemiller, Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientist and Regents Professor in the department of wildlife and fisheries sciences at Texas A&M University, College Station, has received the Award of Excellence and was inducted as a Fellow of the American Fisheries Society. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

Winemiller is a Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientist and Regents Professor in the department of wildlife and fisheries sciences at Texas A&M University, College Station.

American Fisheries Society President Steve L. McMullin presented the award at the meeting’s plenary session.

The Award of Excellence is presented to a living person for original and outstanding contributions to fisheries and aquatic biology. It is the Society’s highest award for scientific achievement.

“We applaud the distinguished contributions of Dr. Winemiller and thank him for his continuous efforts to share the value of fisheries and aquatic biology,” McMullin said.

Winemiller’s research activities and interests focus on multiple areas, including ecology, evolution, systematics, biology, fisheries management, and biodiversity conservation. His publications in these fields have led to major advances in fisheries and aquatic ecosystem management.

Winemiller has published more than 250 peer-reviewed articles with his most cited papers concerning fish life history. Winemiller’s life-history model predicts how demographic tradeoffs influence fish population responses to environmental variation—particularly to altered flow regimes and harvest levels. He has also advanced the science of fish food-web ecology, fish functional traits and fish density dependence, according to the society.

Winemiller received the George Mercer Award in 1992 from the Ecological Society of America for an outstanding ecological research paper published by a researcher younger than 40 years old.

Winemiller has also been recognized as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America.

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Texas Master Naturalist program garners Texas Wildlife Society award

Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, s-byrns@tamu.edu
Contact: Contact: Michelle Haggerty, 830-896-2504, mmhaggerty@tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION — The Texas Master Naturalist program was recently honored by the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society with its Outstanding Achievement Award.

The award was presented during the recent Texas chapter’s annual conference for the program’s impacts on the conservation industry throughout the program’s 20-year history, according to a news release distributed by the society.

The program, led by Michelle Haggerty, Texas Master Naturalist program state coordinator at Kerrville, and Mary Pearl Meuth, assistant coordinator, College Station, is designed to develop a corps of well-informed volunteers to provide education, outreach and service dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities for the state of Texas.

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department sponsor the program, which is supported by an extensive network of experts from both agencies. Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society stated the program teaches advanced training and also supports the outreach and stewardship projects of its more than 11,000 volunteers.

Dr. Neal Wilkins, past president of the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society and current executive director of the East Foundation, presented the award commenting, “The Texas Master Naturalist program has been an unbelievable asset to this state. Volunteers for the program are committed. They are the heart and soul of what really goes on out on the landscape.”

The Texas Master Naturalist program was also honored as it “brings skilled volunteers together and works with communities and organizations across the state to implement youth outreach programs, operate parks, nature centers and natural areas, and provides leadership in local natural resource conservation efforts,” Wilkins said during the presentation, according to the release.

The Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society was established in 1965 and represents the state’s interest in involving resource professionals and stimulating involvement by all concerned individuals in science-based conservation practices.

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