IAGLR Honors Great Lakes Science Leaders

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 9, 2016

Contacts: Aaron Fisk, IAGLR Past-President, pastpres@iaglr.org; Lars Rudstam, Awards Committee Co-Chair, awardschair@iaglr.org

Guelph, Ontario — The International Association for Great Lakes Research (IAGLR) honored several professionals Thursday for their contributions to IAGLR and Great Lakes science. The following awards were presented at the association’s 59th annual Conference on Great Lakes Research in Guelph, Ont.

The Chandler-Misener Award went to Shannon Fera, Michael Rennie and Erin Dunlop for their paper “Cross-basin analysis of long-term trends in the growth of lake whitefish in the Laurentian Great Lakes,” Journal of Great Lakes Research 41(4):1138-1149. The Chandler-Misener Award is presented annually to the author(s) of the peer-reviewed paper in the most recent complete volume of the Journal of Great Lakes Research judged to be “most notable.” Papers are evaluated on the basis of originality, contribution and presentation. Established in 1974, the award honors D.C. Chandler and A.D. Misener, IAGLR's first presidents.

The Anderson-Everett Award was presented to Michael Twiss from Clarkson University. A long-standing member, Twiss has been instrumental in organizing IAGLR activities, including the Defy Cup hockey game with proceeds contributing to the IAGLR scholarship fund. Twiss is currently serving on the IAGLR Board of Directors. This award recognizes important and continued contributions to the association over a period of years and honors the efforts of David Anderson and Margaret Everett for their significant early contributions to the association and the Great Lakes.

The John R. (Jack) Vallentyne Award went to the late Pranas Pranckevicius, who was an influential regional communicator and technical convenor for more than 30 years with the U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office. Pranckevicius was tragically lost in a cycling accident in 2015. This award recognizes important and sustained efforts to inform and educate the public and policymakers on Great Lakes issues, thereby raising awareness and support for Great Lakes protection and restoration. Its namesake is long-time IAGLR member and environmental scientist and educator, John R. (Jack) Vallentyne (a.k.a. "Johnny Biosphere").

The Lifetime Achievement Award for important and continued contributions to Great Lakes research was awarded to Ronald A. Hites, a distinguished professor at Indiana University in Bloomington. Over the last four decades, Hites has made seminal contributions to IAGLR, the Great Lakes community and the discipline of environmental organic chemistry in North America and worldwide, notably in the areas of mass spectrometry and the detection, sources, transformations, time trends and fate of atmospherically derived organic pollutants in rivers and lakes.

This year's Editor's Award was presented to Stephen Riley, USGS Great Lakes Science Center. The Editor's Award is presented for "outstanding support of the journal's review process." The award recognizes the crucial role played by peer review in assuring the quality of the Journal of Great Lakes Research.

The JGLR/Elsevier Early Career Scientist Award went to Jonah Withers, Purdue University, for his article “Diets and growth potential of early stage larval yellow perch and alewife in a nearshore region of southeastern Lake Michigan,” Journal of Great Lakes Research 41 (Suppl. 3): 197-209. This award, valued at $750, recognizes a scientist at the early stages of his/her career who is first author on the top-ranked article in the Journal of Great Lakes Research. Co-authors include Timothy Sesterhenn, Carolyn Foley, Cary Troy and Tomas Höök.

IAGLR Certificates of Appreciation

Outgoing IAGLR President Aaron Fisk presented certificates of appreciation to the following people for their service to the association:

• The JGLR Outgoing Associate Editor's Appreciate Award went to Thomas Pratt, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Thomas Hrabik, University of Minnesota Duluth, and Erik Christensen, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
• Best Reviewer Award went to Mark Ebener, Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority
• IAGLR Board of Directors Appreciation Award certificates went to Doug Kane, Defiance College, and Ruth Briland, The Ohio State University. They faithfully served on the IAGLR Board and have completed their terms of service.
• The IAGLR Conference Appreciation Award went to Site Chair Joe Ackerman and Program Chair Paul Sibley of University of Guelph.