2018 CLARK HUBBS RESEARCH AWARD WINNERS
Molly Stevens is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Miami whose dissertation research focuses on linking dynamic cohort-based fishery simulation models to the economic productivity of Florida’s coral reef fisheries. Her work strives to optimize management strategies based on joint biological-economic criteria.
Jacob Kasper is a Ph.D. student at the University of Connecticut. His research investigates alternative management strategies for marine fisheries and uses the Tautog recreational fishery as a model system. Previously, he lived in Iceland where he earned a Master of Resource Management Degree and studied Lumpfish at the Marine Research Institute.
Steven Baker is a M.S. student in the Department of Biology at the University of Central Florida. For his thesis he is using acoustic telemetry to study the movement patterns and habitat use of red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) around the Kennedy Space Center and Indian River Lagoon, FL. More broadly his research interests focus on exploring the interactions among environmental variables and behavior, and understanding how these factors influence residency and movement patterns of marine fishes.
Amanda Guthrie’s research goal is to integrate ecology, fisheries, and social sciences to support sustainable natural resource use. Her Ph.D research investigates forage fish habitat at planted marshes (living shorines) versus natural marshes and assesses the factors that influence property owner shoreline development decisions.
Kyler Hecke is a PhD student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville under the advisement of Dr. Brian Alford, where his dissertation research focuses on assessing the extinction and conservation of native fish in the upper Tennessee River drainage. His research interests are in aquatic-fauna conservation, ecology, and management. Kyler is currently working on determining the current distribution and conservation status of the Sickle Darter Percina williamsi, a species endemic to the upper Tennessee River drainage.