The Mississippi-Alabama Bays and Bayous Symposium Program Committee is announcing the winners of the 2016 Mike deGruy Bays and Bayous Symposium Student Presentation Awards. Graduate students studying coastal and marine sciences competed for the awards in two categories: oral presentation and poster presentation.
Students in the oral presentation competition presented their research on Nov. 30 as part of the larger Mississippi-Alabama Bays and Bayous Symposium in Biloxi, Miss. They gave 15-minute PowerPoint presentations that were followed by a 5-minute interactive question-and-answer session with the audience.
Judges evaluated the students based on several criteria including presentation style, audiovisuals, organization and timing, understanding of subject matter and clarity of descriptions of their research methods and results.
The student award winners for oral presentations are:
Students who will receive awards for their poster presentations include:
“He would be honored, maybe a little embarrassed, but ultimately thrilled,” said Mimi deGruy about her late husband and the award that bears his name. “Not so much that it be named after him, but that the awards exist in the first place. He always felt strongly about the importance of engaging young people in marine science, and just in relationship with the ocean. He lived to do that.”
Mike deGruy thought that far too few resources were dedicated to understanding and exploring the ocean, she said.
“Particularly after the oil spill in 2010, he was really struck and appalled, actually, by the amount of money and resources dedicated to pulling things out of the earth and out of the ocean, the amount of money spent doing that versus the amount of money spent understanding and caring for the ocean,” she said. “He just was enraged and really determined to bring that to people’s attention, but also to try to do something about it. I think the best place to start is to get kids involved and young scientists involved and encouraging them to pursue study of the oceans and marine science and the coastal habitat understanding. So, this is exactly what he’d be advocating for, so it’s great.”
Mike deGruy held a bachelor’s degree in marine zoology from North Carolina State University. He also studied for three years in a marine biology Ph.D. program at the University of Hawaii.