2008 Annual Water Resources Conference Student Presenter Competition

Congratulations to the two winners of AWRA’s 2008 Annual Water Resources Conference Student Presenter Competition held during the conference in New Orleans, LA, Nov. 17-20. Fifty different presentations were evaluated by the conference attendees throughout the oral sessions and the poster session. Attendees used the following criteria to evaluate both oral and poster competitors:

• Efficient use of allotted presentation time or poster space.
• Quality of responses to audience questions in oral or at poster sessions.
• Effective integration of audio-visual materials.
• Perceived preparedness.
• Logic and understandability of material (problem, methods, results, conclusions).
• Adequate description of context for material – conveyed purpose of paper, identified relevant literatures, etc.
• Overall style and presence; effective communicator – enthusiasm or persuasiveness
• Suitability for AWRA/professional audience.
• Significance and originality of the material presented.

Everyone did a terrific job making the decision difficult. However the following two individuals were selected as the outstanding winners:

Gordon Brown, Poster Session, Sustainable Assessment of the Coastal Dune Lakes of Florida (University of Florida, Gainesville, FL ; co-authors: Jehanghir Bhadha, James Jawitz, Aaron Bunch, Mark Brenner, David Kaplan)

Hilary Robinson, Session 16, Assessing the Impact of Development and Customizing Mitigation Practices Using a Distributed Hydrologic Model on Cypress Creek Watershed (Rice University, Houston, TX; co-authors: Andrea Zimmer, Philip B. Bedient)

Again, our congratulations on a job well done to all those students who were in the competition and we wish them all the best in their future endeavors. We look forward to hearing more from everyone at future AWRA conferences!