Michael Castagna Student Grant for Applied Research

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The Michael Castagna Student Grant for Applied Research is a competitive grant that is awarded annually to recognize a student's excellence in the area of shellfish research with an emphasis on applied research. It is named in honor of one of the Association's most distinguished past Presidents (1976-7), a recipient of the Wallace Award (1983) and an Honored Life Member (1990). The award is a competitive grant program to which NSA student members can apply for a $1,250 grant for non-travel related expenses associated with undertaking their Master's thesis or Ph.D. dissertation research. The award is granted once per year with applications due November 1 annually. Click here for application information.  Not a student member of the NSA?  Join now.

 

Grant Recipients

Grant Proposal Title:

Hollis Jones

(2024) University of California - Davis

Air priming as a management tool for transitioning hatchery produced oysters to the intertidal zone

Alexandra Mitchell

(2023) University of Charleston

Understanding reproductive development in female white shrimp, Penaeus setiferus, in support of sustainable fisheries management

Tara Plee

(2022) University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography

Determining key factors that prevent sustainable growth of the threatened green sea urchin industry
Elizabeth Bouchard

(2021) Rutgers University, Ecology and Evolution Graduate Program

The effect of oyster aquaculture on the distribution of horseshoe crab eggs in Delaware Bay and its implications for the threatened rufa red knot

Emily Cooksey

(2020) University of Arizona, Environmental Health Science

Prevalence and human health risk associated with Vibrio spp. in Pacific oysters

Daniel Bowling

(2019) North Carolina State University, Environmental Science and Marine Biology

Research and extension in support of a stock assessment survey for oysters in North Carolina.

Caitlin O’Brien

(2018) Western Washington University, Biology

Genetic evaluation of pinto abalone, Haliotis kamtschatkana, at long-term restoration sites in the San Juan Island Archipelago, Washington.
Evan Durland

(2017) Oregon State University, College of Agricultural Science

 The genetic contribution to larval fitness in the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas and long term genomic response to domestication.
Lillian Kuehl

(2016) Western Washington University, Biology

The effect of diet on pinto abalone (Haliotis kamtschatkana) postlarval survival, growth, and radula morphology.
Lydia Bienlian

(2015) Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Aquatic Health Sciences

Influence of Perkinsis marinus infection on levels of human-pathogenic Vibrios in aguacultured oysters.
Laura Newcomb

(2014) University of Washington, Biology

Monitoring Risk: The role of ocean warming and acidification on mussel fall off from aquaculture lines.
Allison Marie Colden

(2013) Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Department of Fisheries Science

Structural effects of restored oyster reefs on persistence and ecological function.

Julie Davis

(2012) Auburn University

Effect of Gear Orientation and Stocking Density on Eastern Oysters, Crassostrea virginica, in an Adjustable Long Line System.

Hilde Zenil Becerra

(2011) Florida Atlantic University, Environmental Sciences.

Passive acoustics as a monitoring tool for evaluating oyster reef restoration.

Andrew Ray

(2010) The University of Southern Mississippi, Coastal Sciences Department.

The effects of physical substrate area and carbohydrate addition on shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) production and nitrogen cycling in superintensive, zero-exchange culture systems.

Aaron W.E. Galloway

(2009) University of Washington, Aquatic and Fishery Sciences.

Culture practices and structure effects of intertidal geoduck aquaculture operations in Puget Sound: an evaluation of influence on mobile macrofauna.

Brandon Puckett

(2008) North Carolina State University, Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences

Assessing the efficacy of marine reserves for oyster restoration: theory and application.

James Reinhardt

(2007) University of Connecticut, Department of Marine Sciences

Grant proposal title: The control of biofoulers in shellfish aquaculture: the use of acetic acid and gastropod biocontrols.

Helene Hegaret

(2006) University of Connecticut, Department of Marine Sciences

The persistence of cysts and cells of harmful dinoflagellates after ingestion by bivalve molluscs and their transport through transplanting of bivalves.

Scott Gifford

(2005) University of Newcastle

Influence of pollutants on pearl quality in the Akoya pearl oyster, Pinctada imbricata.

Megan Stewart

(2004) University of Auckland

The impacts of habitat change on cockle (Austrovenus stutchburyi) populations.

Lisa Milke

(2003, inaugural year) Institute for Marine Biosciences

Algal diets and nutritional requirements of early life-history stages of the commercially important sea scallop, Placopecten magellanicus, and bay scallop, Argopecten irradians.