Previous Award Winners

For more information about AMS student awards, contact the chair of the Student Awards and Education Committee, Tom Duda.

2024 Award Winners

Constance Boone Awards for Best Student Presentations at AMS 2024

Miranda Dennis, Simon Fraser University. “RADSeq coalescent inference reveals Pleistocene divergence but distinct population histories in the pseudocryptic Pacific nudibranch genus Hermissenda”

Jordan James Bond, University of California, Irvine. “The energetic demand of acute thermal stress inducing anticipatory response”

Isabel Ramos, Pomona College. “Developing an experiment to identify food resources critical to land snails in wet Hawaiian cloud forests”

Emily R. Taylor, Oregon State University. “The biocontrol nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita infects and increases mortality of two life stages of Ariolimax columbianus, the Pacific banana slug, in laboratory infectivity trials”

Dee Saunders Dundee Memorial Research Grant – Community Oriented Malacology Research Award

Analette Guinto, Polytechnic University of the Philippines. “Empowering coastal communities for sustainable cone snail conservation in Panglao, Bohol, Philippines: A collaborative approach integrating traditional ecological knowledge and scientific expertise”

Dee Saunders Dundee Memorial Research Grant - Malacology Research Award

Briante Najev, University of Iowa. “Does nutrient limitation influence the trade-off between growth and reproduction in a freshwater snail?”

Casey Richards, University of Chicago. “Characterization of advantageous traits across heterogenous environments in an intertidal bivalve”

Dee Saunders Dundee Memorial Research Grant - Undergraduate Summer Research Opportunity

Isabel Ramos, Pomona College. “Identifying food resources critical to Hawaiian land snail conservation”

Melbourne R. Carriker Student Research Award in Malacology

Lauren Houstoun, Utah State University. “Chemical defense in Ariolimax spp. located in the Pacific Northwest.”

Mel Lemke, Western Washington University. “No free meals? Re-evaluating the 'commensal' relationship between bathymodiolan mussels and symbiotic scale worms at the East Pacific Rise”

Briante Najev, University of Iowa. “Does nutrient limitation influence the trade-off between growth and reproduction in a freshwater snail?”

Mollie Stefanek, University of St Andrews. “Allorecognition strategies in bivalves using Mytilus edulis as a case study”

Katarzyna Vončina, Senckenberg Research Institute and Museum of Natural History Frankfurt. “Uncovering the hidden biodiversity of chitons (Mollusca: Polyplacophora) with the tools of ancient DNA”

Travel Awards

Special travel awards were awarded to help students participate in the AMS 2024 meeting. Awardees were:

Lauren Kallen, University of Guam. “The Genetic characterization of the corallivore Drupella fragum outbreaks on Guam”

Ian Oiler, University of Idaho. “Evolution of Galapagos land snail-associated microbial communities”

Andy (Dick Yee) Tan, University of Colorado. “Evolution of vision-guided defences in file clams (Limidae)"

2023 Award Winners

Constance Boone Awards for Best Student Presentations at AMS 2023

Kaitlyn Abshire, University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Establishing modern tools for developmental study of the brown garden snail, Cornu aspersum (Müller, 1774) (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Stylommatophora)”

Matt Lodato, University of Alabama. “Linking morphology to resource assimilation: An evaluation of the trophic niche, morphology, and their relationship in functionally similar aquatic species”

Yu Kai Tan, University of Michigan. “Cost of living: Morphometry reveals patterns of clinal variations in US freshwater mussels (family Unionidae)”

Meghan Yap-Chiongco, University of Alabama. “Tracing the evolutionary origins of biomineralization: Insights from two aplacophoran genomes”

Dee Saunders Dundee Memorial Research Grant - Malacology Research Award

Kaitlyn Abshire, University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Establishing modern tools for developmental study of the brown garden snail, Cornu aspersum (Müller, 1774) (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Stylommatophora)”

Meagan Haubner, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. “Evolutionary genomics of amphibious snails”

Melbourne R. Carriker Student Research Award in Malacology

Lilja Carden, University of Cincinnati. “Using historically collected museum specimens to test the impacts of Asian clam (Corbicula fluminea) on nutrient availability of native unionids”

Daya Hall-Stratton, George Mason University. “Species confirmation and population genetics of the non-native mystery snails Heterogen japonica and Cipangopaludina chinensis within the eastern United States”

Meagan Haubner, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. “Evolutionary genomics of amphibious snails”

Andy (Dick Yee) Tan, University of Colorado. “Eyeing the enemies: bivalves defence mechanisms and evolution of vision”

Meghan Zulian, University of California, Davis. “Stress-induced calcification trade-offs in critically endangered abalone (Haliotis sorenseni)”

2022 Award Winners

Constance Boone Awards for Best Student Presentations at WCM 2022

Meghan Yap-Chiongco, University of Alabama. “Genomic Insights from the Enigmatic Aplacophora”

Xochitl Vital, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. “Light conditions and acclimation of kleptoplasts modulate the abundance and preference of Elysia crispata”

Dee Saunders Dundee Memorial Research Grant - Malacology Research Award

Melanie Medina, Florida State University. “Mucus as a mechanism for pre-copulatory assessment and mate choice in the simultaneous hermaphrodite Doto chica (Heterobranchia: Nudibranchia).”

Melbourne R. Carriker Student Research Award in Malacology

Alex Franzen, University of Oklahoma, “Riverscape genetics of Fusconaia (Bivalvia: Unionidae) in the Interior Highlands”

Tyler Griffin, University of Connecticut, “Effects of the local environment on the resident and transient gut microbial communities of two mytilid mussels in Long Island Sound”

Taryn Gustafson, University of Central Florida, “Characterizing cell-type specific SLC17 gene family expression in Octopoda: Neurogenomic insights into the evolution of complex cognition in cephalopods”

Kelly Martin, University of Idaho, “Assessing the predictability of speciation in Galápagos Islands Land Snails”

Briante Najev, University of Iowa, “Can phosphorus limitation help explain the maintenance of ploidy polymorphism and sexual reproduction in a New Zealand freshwater snail”

Richard E. Petit Student Research Award for Revisionary Taxonomy and Systematics of Mollusks

Omar Ojeda Gómez, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México “Taxonomy and Systematics of the family Eulimidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) in the Tropical Eastern Pacific”

Travel Awards

Special travel awards were awarded to help students participate in the AMS/WCM 2022 meeting. Awardees were:

Ruiqi Li, University of Colorado, “Chromosomal-level whole genome of the small giant clam Tridacna maxima (subfamily Tridacninae)”

Xochitl Vital, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, “Light conditions and acclimation of kleptoplasts modulate the abundance and preference of Elysia crispata”

2021 Award Winners

Melbourne R. Carriker Student Research Award in Malacology

Melissa J. Betters, Temple University  “Assessing informative traits: Identification of shell and radula variation in deep-sea Provanna snails”

Emily Kunselman, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, “Thermal limits and bacterial associations of the ostreid herpesvirus in economically and ecologically important Pacific oyster in San Diego Bay, CA”

Ruiqi Li, University of Colorado Boulder, “Investigating photosymbiotic bivalve shell evolution via micro CT scans of museum specimens” 

Richard E. Petit Student Research Award for Revisionary Taxonomy and Systematics of Mollusks

Meghan K. Yap-Chiongco, University of Alabama, “Taxonomic revision of the genus Wirenia (Mollusca, Aplacophora): Integrating modern and classical taxonomic techniques”

AMS & Science Atlantic Best Undergraduate Presentation Awards - Poster

Lauren Douglas, Cape Breton University, “An Evaluation of Muskrat Middens as Tools for Monitoring Freshwater Mussel Populations”

Rory MacNeil, Cape Breton University, “Mantle-flap Lure Morphology and Behavior of Lampsilis cariosa (Bivalvia: Unionidae)”

AMS & Science Atlantic Best Undergraduate Presentation Awards - Oral

Daniela Gutierrez Andrade, University of Tampa, “Effectiveness of Ceratal Autotomy in Sacoglossan Placida kingstoni as a Defense Mechanism Against a Crustacean Generalist Predator”

Will Bauer, Acadia University, “A Tale of Two Mussels: DNA Barcoding of Unionids from Guanacaste, Costa Rica”

Constance Boone Award for Best Student Presentation

Alison Irwin, University of Bristol, “Using Visual Behaviour and Retinal Ultrastructure to Explore Visual Function in the Marine Gastropod Conomurex luhuanus (Strombidae)”

Tyler Griffin, University of Connecticut, “Developing Mytilus edulis as an Experimental System for Bivalve Gut Microbiome Research”

Vanessa Knutson, Harvard University, “Most Cephalaspidea Have a Shell, but Transcriptomes can Provide Them with a Backbone (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia)”

Emma Rempel, University of Manitoba, “Insights from Integrative Taxonomy on the Limits of Morphological Delimitation and Species Diversity in Freshwater Snails (Planorbidae: Planorbella and Helisoma)”

Kanmani Chandra Rajan, The University of Hong Kong, “Oyster Biomineralisation in Acidifying Oceans: From Genes to Shells”

Charlie Sturm Award for Best Student Presentation on Bivalves

Laura Steeves, Dalhousie University, “Temporal Mismatch Between Pumping Rate and Food Availability in Mytilus edulis”

The American Malacological Society honored the memory of Charles “Charlie” F. Sturm (1953-2018) by awarding a one-time, special student presentation award that recognizes Charlie’s devotion to the study of bivalves during the 2021 Cape Breton meeting. Charlie was a valued member of the Society and served as President in 2011 and more recently as Treasurer.

2020 Award Winners

Melbourne R. Carriker Student Research Award in Malacology

Allison Rugila, SUNY Stony Brook University, “Using the lipidome to assess resiliency to acidification and oxidative stress in larval and juvenile northern quahogs”

Nicholas Gladstone, Auburn University, “Phylogenomic Reconstruction of the Ornate Rocksnail Complex (Pleuroceridae: Lithasia)” 

Constance Boone Award for Best Student Presentation

Nicholas Gladstone, Auburn University, “Spatiotemporal Patterns of Terrestrial Snails and Slugs in the Contiguous United States”

Honorable mentions:

María Moreno Alacántara, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, “Atlantidae Mollusks as Indicators of Environmental Change in the Southern California Current”

Teresa R. Osborne, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, “Landmark-based Snail Size Measurement Improves Precision and Repeatability of Shell Volume Estimation Over Conventional Shell Size Measures”

Trevor Hewitt, University of Michigan, “Evolution of Diverse Host Infection Mechanisms Delineates a Cryptic Adaptive Radiation of Freshwater Mussels"

2019 Award Winners

Melbourne R. Carriker Student Research Award in Malacology

Michelle Gannon, Drexel University, “Mudsnails (Tritia obsoleta) record nutrient pollution in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey.”

Andrew Villeneuve, University of Massachusetts, “Investigating local adaptation across latitudinal thermal gradients in the Atlantic Oyster Drill (Urosalpinx cinerea).”

2018 Award Winners

Melbourne R. Carriker Student Research Award in Malacology

Sean Keogh, University of Minnesota “Testing for convergent evolution in shell shape of lampsiline freshwater mussels (Unionidae)”

Christopher Moore, East Carolina University “Mudsnails: Partners in coastal habitat restoration”

Constance Boone Award for Best Student Presentation

Melanie Medina, California State University Los Angeles, “Selection on genital morphology as a driver of cryptic diversification in sea slugs proposed as biocontrol agents for Caulerpa”

Rachel Sommer, University of Hawaii, “Life history and microbiome of invasive Veronicella cubensis in the Hawaiian Islands” (2nd place best presentation)

Honorable mentions:

Sean Keogh, University of Minnesota, “Molecules & morphology reveal ‘new’ divergent, widespread North American Lampsiline species (Bivalvia: Unionidae)”

María Moreno Alacántara, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, “The Atlantidae of the Southern California Current (Winter-Spring, 2016)”

Rachel Wade, University of Hawaii, “Implications of Plakobranchus cf. ianthobapsus (Gastropoda, Sacoglossa) kleptoplasty for herbivore ecology, benthic community structure, and invasive species management”

Best Poster Awards:

Kimberly García-Méndez, California State Polytechnic University, “Speciation in Dondice species from the Tropical Western Atlantic” (graduate student)

Courtney Patron, California State University Fullerton, “First records for California and discovery of the brittlestar host for the parasitic eulimid snail, Stilapex cookeana (Bartsch, 1917)” (undergraduate student)

Lily Evans, Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, “The use of scientific illustration in educational outreach, research, and conservation” (high school student)

2017 Award Winners

Melbourne R. Carriker Student Research Award in Malacology

Cristiana Antonino, University of California, Santa Barbara: “Frequency of chemosymbiont occurrence in relation to gill morphology in the Thyasiridae (Bivalvia) on the California Coast”
   
David Charifson, Stony Brook University: “Phenotypic plasticity in gastropod shell remodeling and microstructure”

Theresa Rose Osborne, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry: “Impacts of microhabitat on land snail body size evolution” 

2016 Award Winners

Melbourne R. Carriker Student Research Award in Malacology

S. Bekah Burket, Baylor University “Developing an understanding of bioaccumulation of ionizable contaminants of emerging concern in freshwater bivalves.”

Roxanne Banker, University of California-Davis “Investigation of chalky calcite formation in the oyster Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg 1793).” 

Constance Boone Student Award for Best Student Presentation

Oral presentation:

Enah Fonseca Ibarra, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California: “Patterns of shellfish consumption during the Middle to Late Holocene in the Bajamar-Jatay region of Baja California”

Jessica Goodheart, University of Maryland: “Phylogenomics of Cladobranchia (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia: Nudibranchia) and the evolution of nematocycst sequestration”

Maria Moreno-Alcántara, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, La Paz: “Taxonomic revision of the species of the family Atlantidae (Gastropoda: Pterotracheoidea) in the Mexican Pacific using morphological and genetic analyses”

2015 Award Winners

Melbourne R. Carriker Student Research Award in Malacology

Isabel Porto-Hannes, University of Connecticut “Examining seasonal shifts in retention efficiency and mucosal composition in the blue mussel Mytilus edulis.” 

Diana E. LaScala-Gruenewald, Stanford University “Limpet Searching Behaviors in a Patchy Environment.”

Alyssa Braciszewski, University of California Irvine “Relatedness and differential disease resistance in abalone (genus Haliotis).” 

Mark Phuong, University of California Los Angeles “Evolvability and diversification: testing macroevolutionary predictions in cone snails.”

Constance Boone Student Award for Best Student Presentation

Oral presentation:

Jorge A. Audino, University of São Paulo: “Evolutionary significance and roles of the mantle margin in Pteriomorphian bivalves”

Katie E. Vazquez, University of Pennsylvania: “Phenotypic variation in the dog whelk, Nucella lapillus: An integration of ecology, karyotype, and phenotypic plasticity”

Charlotte Capt, Université de Montréal: “Mussel, sex and mitochondria”

Amanda J. Chambers, Central Michigan University: “The role of life history strategy in predicting extinction risk of freshwater mussels”

AMS Student Travel Awards

Jorge Audino “Evolutionary significance and roles of the mantle margin in pteriomorphian bivalves”

Jer Pin Chong “Comparing the gene flow pattern of the endangered scaleshell (Leptodea leptodon) with widely distributed fragile papershell (L. fragilis) and their host fish”

Lindsey Dougherty “Behavioral function of flashing in Ctenoides ales, “disco” clams”

Jessica Goodheart “Phylogenomics of Cladobranchia (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia: Nudibranchia) and the evolution of nematocyst sequestration.”

Hector Suriano “Analysis of morphological variation of the shells of Argonauta argo Linnaeus, 1758 and Argonauta nouryi Lorois, 1852 (Cephalopoda: Argonautidae) using geometric morphometrics.”

2014 Award Winners

Melbourne R. Carriker Student Research Award in Malacology

Maria Rosa, University of Connecticut: “Examining seasonal shifts in retention efficiency and mucosal composition in the blue mussel Mytilus edulis”

Brian Turner, Portland State University: “Examining inducible defenses to novel predators”

Jorge Alves Audino, University of São Paulo: “Anatomy and morphogenesis of the mantle edge of the scallop Nodipecten nodosus (L. 1758) (Bivalvia: Pectinidae)”

Constance Boone Student Award for Best Student Presentation

Poster presentation:

Christina Burdi, California State University Fullerton: "Sampling slime: A PCR-based assay reliably identifies the west coast limpets Lottia scabra or the morphologically similar L. conus."

Caitlin M. Luebke, University of Wisconsin Stevens-Point: "Curation of the Daniel Bereza mollusk collection at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History."

Oral presentation:

Xochitl G. Vital Arriaga, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México: "Diversity seasonality and distribution of benthic opisthobranchs from a rocky shore in Veracruz, Mexico."