Category: Academics

This spring, Halmos College of Arts and Sciences marine biology major Nikolas Kuncis was awarded the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship. Given to only 120 undergraduates a year, Mr. Kuncis is conducting research with Halmos faculty member Joshua Feingold, Ph.D. This is NSU’s second winner of this prestigious award.

The Hollings Scholarship Program provides successful undergraduate applicants with awards that include academic assistance (up to $9,500 per year) for two years of full-time study and a 10-week, full-time paid ($700/week) internship at a NOAA facility during the summer. The internship between the first and second years of the award provides the scholars with hands-on, practical experience in NOAA-related science, research, technology, policy, management, and education activities. Awards also include travel funds to attend a mandatory NOAA Scholarship Program orientation and the annual Science & Education Symposium, scientific conferences where students present their research, and a housing subsidy for scholars who do not reside at home during the summer internship.

https://www.noaa.gov/office-education/hollings-scholarship

Rose Leeger

This spring, Halmos College Marine Biology, Environmental Science, and Biology Major Rose Leeger was awarded the NOAA Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions Undergraduate Scholarship. This prestigious scholarship is only awarded to eight undergraduates per year.

Ms. Leeger is a member of the Farquhar Honors College and is currently conducting research with HCAS faculty member J. Matthew Hoch, Ph.D. on mosquitofish population dynamics in the everglades.

The EPP MSI Scholarship Program provides successful undergraduate applicants with awards that include academic assistance (up to $9,500 per year) for two years of full-time study and students complete an 11 week paid ($700/week) summer internship and training at NOAA in Silver Spring, MD, between May and July of the first summer. During the second summer, students complete a 10 week paid internships at NOAA facilities across the country. The internships provide the scholars with hands-on, practical experience in NOAA-related science, research, technology, policy, management, and education activities. Students are paid a stipend and receive a housing allowance during summer internships. Student scholarship recipients attend a two-week orientation at NOAA in Silver Spring, MD, and begin their first summer internship in early June. At the end of both summer internships, students present the results of their projects at the annual Education and Science Symposium, scientific conferences where students present their research, in Silver Spring, MD (travel expenses paid).

EPP/MSI Undergraduate Scholarship Program | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (noaa.gov)

Danny Lewin

This year, University School alumni won the Danny Lewin Best Student Paper Award 2021 from SIGACT (Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory). SIGACT is an international organization which promotes the discovery and dissemination of high quality research in theoretical computer science.

While he was a student at the University School that took a number of mathematics courses with us as a high school student.  Afterwards he went to Cal Tech.  Zachary is now a D. Phil. student in Mathematics at Oxford working in the area of additive combinatorics where he has been quite productive.

Two of the department’s faculty were especially remembered by Zachary.  “Having the opportunity to take NSU courses while a U-School student was crucial to my development as a mathematician. Beyond elementary number theory and differential equations increasing my passion for mathematics, I was introduced to proof writing, which made the transition to undergraduate courses significantly easier. The encouragement of Professors Ricardo Carrera and Evan Haskell was especially helpful to my career.”

In January 2021, Halmos faculty member David Kerstetter, Ph.D. was reappointed as Technical Advisor to the U.S. ICCAT Advisory Committee (IAC). The IAC meets twice per year, usually in the Washington, D.C. region. Kerstetter has been serving on the committee as a Member or Technical Advisor since 2007.

This is a federally appointed position that helps set U.S. international management and

David Kerstetter, Ph.D.

policy positions in the Atlantic. ICCAT is the international fishery management organization for all Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS), including tunas, billfish, swordfish, and open-ocean sharks like our mascot’s shortfin mako.  The U.S. ICCAT Advisory Committee is charged with helping formulate our international policy towards the management of these species, and only 20 member appointments are made over two-year terms to represent the various U.S. HMS commercial, recreational, environmental, and scientific constituencies.  As you know, my lab works primarily with HMS fishes and the commercial HMS fisheries, including being one of the founding members of the Pelagic Ecosystem Research Consortium funded by NOAA Sea Grant.

Last month, HCAS marine science graduate students Brittany Savercool and Sean Wilms were honored with the “Best Student Poster-Runner Up” and the annual meeting of the Florida Chapter of the American Fisheries Society. The poster was entitled, “Preliminary Trials to Assess Bycatch Reduction Potential for Deep-Set Pelagic Longline Gear in the U.S. Atlantic Fishery”. Their advisor is Marine and Environmental Science faculty member David Kerstetter, Ph.D.

The Florida Chapter of the American Fisheries Society was established in 1980 as the result of a number of dedicated Florida fisheries scientists, who were active members of the parent society, deciding that networking with each other would strengthen fisheries management and research in the sunshine state.

Most Chapter members come from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, various universities (including UF, FSU, UM, UCF, USF, UNF, FIT, FAU, and NSU among others), and the Federal Government (for example, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Forest Service). However, we welcome individuals from commercial aquaculture, commercial fisheries, fishing guides, tournament fishermen, outdoor writers, manufacturers/retailers of fisheries products and anyone else interested in enhancing and sustaining Florida fisheries.

Chapter Meeting