GERS Student Awards Named for Dr. Wes Tunnell

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GERS awardees
Wes Tunnell Student Award Winners for the GERS 2018 Meeting, Galveston, Texas. From left to right: Haley Gancel, Janelle Goeke, Caitlin Young, Allen Schaefer, Erin Miller, and Victoria Congdon

At the Gulf Estuarine Research Society (GERS) biennial meeting at Texas A&M University-Galveston (TAMUG), held November 8-9, 2018, Student Presentation Awards were named in honor of Dr. Wes Tunnell, who passed away on July 14, 2018. Wes had a four-decade career at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, where he was Professor of Biology in the Life Sciences Department and Endowed Chair of Biodiversity and Conservation Science at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies.

HRI colleague and Chair for Ecosystems and Modeling Dr. Paul Montagna gave a tribute to Wes pointing out his academic accomplishments, and said that it is especially fitting that a student award be named for Wes, because of the many former students who all testified that “Wes had transformed my life...” or that “Wes had completely changed my life for the better…”

GERS President, Anna Armitage, Associate Professor at TAMUG, announced the Wes Tunnell Student Presentation Award Winners, Best Graduate Student Oral Presentations: First Place, Haley Gancel, Dauphin Island Sea Lab; Second Place, Victoria Congdon, University of Texas Marine Science Institute; Third Place, Janelle Goeke, TAMUG. Best Undergraduate Poster Presentations: First Place, Caitlin Young, University of Texas Marine Science Institute; Second Place, Allen Schaefer, Louisiana Tech University; Third Place, Erin Miller, University of Houston.