Congratulations to our 2023 Matt Beard Scholarship Recipients - Rachael Best and Adin Nahoa Domen! This award is given in memory of Matthew Beard, an FSU student who intended to make the conservation of corals his life's work. The award is given by the FSUCML, with advice from the FSU Diving Control Board, to the student who best embodies all that Matt exemplified as a student of marine science and as a member of the FSU scientific diving community.
Rachael Best has established herself as a senior graduate science diver. Over her six years in graduate school, she has transitioned from a fairly naive science diver to a highly competent subtidal field worker. She has established an independent research program in the Gulf of Mexico investigating phenotypic plasticity in Gorgonian corals found inshore and several miles offshore. Working offshore in the Gulf has substantial challenges, especially doing so independent of her advisor's research program. In addition to her dissertation research, she has been Don Levitan's colleague and dive buddy for three summer seasons in the Virgin Islands and he comments that he "has seen the continued growth in her abilities and professionalism." During her time in the Virgin Islands, in addition to assisting in Levitan's work, she conceived of another project that has blossomed into a new chapter of her dissertation. Throughout her time at FSU, she has been extremely generous with her time assisting other students in their research programs. She has also mentored several undergraduates, one of whom is a co-author on a Gulf Mexico project on cryptic shrimp that will be submitted for publication this fall. She is a strong role model for our graduate students and aspiring undergrads.
Adin Nahoa Domen began his diving career at the FSU Coastal and Marine Laboratory in 2021 when he was awarded the FSUCML Diving Scholarship. Adin’s scholarship enabled him to complete open water training and to enroll in the scientific diver training course, where he quickly emerged at the top of the class, demonstrating unique ability and comfort in underwater task-loading exercises. Through stressful black-water navigation, rescue scenarios, and other exercises designed to induce stress, Adin was reliable and calm, consistent and smart. Adin’s commitment to teamwork was evident throughout the course, earning him the respect of his instructors and classmates. His will to succeed was consistent, his communication was superb, and his work ethic was unparalleled, as he routinely showed up early and stayed late to ensure all tasks were completed.
In completing his scientific diver training, Adin became one of just nine undergraduates at FSU in 2022 to be eligible to contribute to underwater research at FSU as a Scientific Diver. Since then, he has leveraged his unique qualifications to contribute to the University. He became a reliable volunteer for FSUCML’s acoustic array and joined a month-long international research expedition to Bonaire to enable graduate research on coral reef ecosystems. When he returned, he was hired as a technician to work as a lead diver for the Apalachicola Bay System Initiative where he has continued to excel and accepted a second position as a technician in our diving locker. This fall he began grad school, studying under Dr. Sandra Brooke, and has continued to offer his time and skills to the benefit of FSU's scientific diving community.
Ph.D. student 
Congratulations to Ph.D. student, Annais Bonilla-Johnson, on receiving the 2022-2023 Ken & Sonia Smith Memorial Marine Conservation Scholarship! Annais will quantify embryonic maternal investment at key gestational stages in the Atlantic stingray (Hypanus sabina). Further respirometry trials will assess possible differences in the physical performance of pregnant and non-pregnant stingrays with the potential to analyze changes in physical performance as gestation progresses.
Ph.D. student, Barry Walton, was awarded a fellowship with Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute’s Forage Fish Research Program (FFRP). FFRP is a public-private partnership between FWRI, leading academic institutions, and non-governmental organizations designed to provide Florida with much-needed analysis of existing data and foster the development of the next generation of marine scientists. The fellowship is for one year and provides $15,000 for research expenses.
We are thrilled to announce that Ph.D. students Ashley Dawdy and Aaron Ridall have received the American Museum of Natural History’s Lerner-Gray Memorial Fund. Ashley will use this award to continue
Congratulations to MSc. student Jenny Bueno (Dr. Sandra Brooke and Dr. Sarah Lester) on being selected a NOAA Margaret Davidson Fellow!! She has exciting research planned in collaboration with the 
FSU undergraduate researcher Sarah Smith
Congratulations to Ashley Dawdy and Blake Hamilton, 2022 Guy Harvey Scholarship Award winners! The Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation (@guyharveyocean) offers scholarships to university students studying marine science and working to become the future leaders of ocean conservation. Ashley’s scholarship award will support her research on Atlantic cownose rays (Rhinoptera bonasus). She is acoustically tracking the rays in Apalachicola Bay, FL to investigate movement behavior and habitat use across life stages. Blake’s scholarship award will contribute to his research on the movement ecology of blacknose sharks. He is using passive acoustic telemetry to describe their movement patterns, with the hope of identifying potential parturition areas and seasonal migrations in this understudied shark.
Congratulations to FSUCML Ph.D. students Randi Bowman, Sean McCollum, and Aaron Ridall! Randi, Sean, and Aaron recently were awarded the Southern Association of Marine Laboratories Award. Randi will use this award to continue her research in determining which aspects of functional diversity are key to maintaining high-level ecosystem functioning in the face of regularly occurring disturbances. Her goal is to use this research to inform coral reef restoration and management strategies. This award will help fund Sean’s research on seagrass meadows as “blue carbon ecosystems.” Sean’s research focuses on how seagrass meadows help mitigate climate change by burying organic carbon in their sediments and how anthropogenic pressures impact their ability to provide this important ecosystem service. Currently, Sean is investigating how nutrient enrichment in coastal waters will influence the decomposition of buried organic matter within seagrass meadows. Aaron's research will assess how free-living nematodes respond to variable levels of microplastics pollution in their environment and how the presence of bacteria on microplastics alters nematode feeding behavior. While research has shown that meiofauna, like nematodes, consume microplastics, it is still not understood why they would mistake synthetic materials as food items. Aaron's research seeks to test the hypothesis that nematodes are attempting to feed on the bacteria that colonize microplastics and consume the entire particle in the process.
Congratulations to FSUCML Ph.D. student Sean McCollum! Sean recently was awarded a Grant-in-Aid-of-Research from The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. This award will help fund Sean’s research on seagrass meadows as “blue carbon ecosystems.” Sean’s research focuses on how seagrass meadows help mitigate climate change by burying organic carbon in their sediments and how anthropogenic pressures impact their ability to provide this important ecosystem service. Currently, Sean is investigating how nutrient enrichment in coastal waters will influence the decomposition of buried organic matter within seagrass meadows. About the awards, Sean says, “I’m extremely grateful to both the Southern Association of Marine Laboratories and the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology for enabling me to research these amazing and incredibly important ecosystems.”
Congratulations to Ashley Dawdy, recent winner of the Women Divers Hall of Fame Scholarship! Ashley is a PhD student in Dr. Dean Grubbs’ lab studying elasmobranch movement ecology, particularly for species of conservation concern. Ashley is acoustically tracking adult and young-of-year cownose rays in Apalachicola Bay to look at differences in movement and space use across life stage. She will also be using this data to quantify interaction potential between rays and native oysters, as cownose rays have been falsely implicated in the collapse of several commercial bivalve fisheries on the East Coast. This project will fill crucial knowledge gaps regarding species movement ecology that has inhibited a proper species stock assessment.