Ecosystem Resilience and
Restoration in a Changing World
November 8-10, 2018 :Biennial Conference : Galveston,Texas
GERS 2017-2019 Officers
Anna Armitage – President
Zack Darnell – Secretary/Treasurer
Megan La Peyre – President-Elect
Michael Murrell – Past president
Kelly Darnell – Member at Large
Mark Woodrow – Member at Large
Erin Kinney – Media Coordinator
Melissa McCutcheon – Student Representative
GERS 2018 Program Officers
Conference chair: Anna Armitage
Scientific program chair: Megan La Peyre
Scientific program committee: Patrick Larkin, Jamie Steichen, Marc Hanke, Melissa McCutcheon, Victoria Congdon
Fundraising: Kelly Darnell
Student judging: Zack Darnell
Student travel awards: Mike Murrell
Career panel lead: Brian Roberts
About the Gulf Estuarine Research Society
The Gulf Estuarine Research Society (GERS) is one of seven regionally based Affiliate Societies of the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF). GERS is a not for profit educational organization for people interested in estuarine and coastal issues centering on the Gulf of Mexico. The fundamental goal is to promote research in the Gulf of Mexico. GERS is a very active research society with a current membership of about 175 scientists, researchers, and students from universities, agencies, and research labs along the Gulf coast.
At its scientific meetings, GERS also encourages students to present papers on their research in marine related areas. Awards are presented at each meeting for the best student papers. GERS also funds student travel to regional and national meetings.
GERS is proud to have a voice in coastal research and management, as human impacts on estuarine and coastal environments continue to escalate rapidly, presenting major challenges in characterizing and understanding ecosystem responses to such impacts. As society, and the scientific community in particular, faces these challenges, coastal research organizations such as the Gulf Estuarine Research Society are poised to assume strong leadership positions as representatives for scientists involved in such research.
Plenary speakers
Dr. Denise J. Reed is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in coastal marsh sustainability and the role of human activities in modifying coastal systems with over 35 years of experience studying coastal issues in the United States and abroad. Dr. Reed has served as a Distinguished Research Professor at the University of New Orleans, and spent five years as Chief Scientist at The Water Institute of the Gulf. She has served on numerous boards and panels addressing the effects of human alterations on coastal environments and the role of science in guiding restoration, and has been a member of the USACE Environmental Advisory Board and the NOAA Science Advisory Board. Dr. Reed received her B.S. degree in Geography from Sidney Sussex College, and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from University of Cambridge.
Denise Reed, Professor and Interim Director of the Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Sciences, The University of New Orleans
Marcus Drymon, Assistant Extension Professor, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Mississippi State University
Dr. Marcus Drymon is an Assistant Extension Professor at Mississippi State University. He is a fisheries ecologist whose research has focused on the ecological role of upper trophic level fishes in coastal ecosystems. He is particularly interested in the dynamics of coastal shark assemblages, which he examines through studies of their relative abundance, distribution, movements, and feeding habits. Most of his research has been conducted in the northern Gulf of Mexico, an ecosystem with an exciting diversity of sharks, skates and rays. Through collaborations with recreational anglers and commercial fishermen, his primary research motivation is to provide the most current and applicable science to the managers of our coastal marine resources. This engagement is facilitated through participation on the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council’s Outreach and Education Advisory Panel, and well as NOAA Fisheries Highly Migratory Species Advisory Panel. Dr. Drymon earned Bachelor of Science degrees in Marine Science and Biology from Coastal Carolina University in 2000, a Master’s Degree in Marine Biology from the College of Charleston in 2003, and a Ph.D. in Marine Sciences from the University of South Alabama in 2010.
Congratulations to our Student Travel Award Recipients
Thank you to our student travel award sponsors who made these awards possible!
SPONSORS
Associate Sponsors
